In his address to the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, President Donald Ramotar today railed against the “graduation and differentiation” policies by the developed world which he says is wrongfully denying developing countries access to concessionary financing.
Ramotar also said military intervention in Syria would not bring a solution to the civil war in that country and he welcomed an agreement between the US and Russia to immunize Damascus’ chemical weapons arsenal. He also said that terrorists fighting in Syria should be declared as such – a clear reference to groups fighting the Assad regime. He said these fighters couldn’t be described as terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq but be deemed freedom fighters in Syria.
He also lashed out at Western powers for tacitly approving the ouster of the Islamic government in Egypt by the army.
On the question of graduation and differentiation, Ramotar said: “Even as we continue to grapple with the effect of the financial crises, we are now faced with the “graduation and differentiation” imposed by some of our international partners. We are told that as middle income countries – measured by GDP per capita – we are no longer entitled to concessionary financing. This is a recipe for reversing the gains made over years of hard work and sacrifice. We call for a rethink of this position and urge that greater consideration be given to the special vulnerabilities of our region, where a country can see one hurricane wiping out its entire GDP. Clearly, what we need is increased cooperation with the international community and our development partners and not less.”
