In the framework of the 80th United Nations General Assembly currently underway, our correspondent Jorge Gestoso interviews the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who speaks on climate change, Palestine and multilateralism. teleSUR
00:00Hello and join us as we go live to New York City with our correspondent in the United States, Jorge Gestoso, who is joined by a very special guest, Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Granadines. Let's see.
00:25Thank you. We are at the United Nations and we have the honour to have with us the honourable Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Granadines, Mr. Ralph Gonsalves. Mr. Gonsalves, a warm welcome to the programme.
00:43Thank you very much.
00:44Mr. Gonsalves, your statement that you are going to be saying at this time at the General Assembly.
00:52Mr. Gonsalves, a warm welcome to the General Assembly.
00:54Well, there are several issues which we have to highlight. First of all, we have to set the backdrop, the context of the difficult period in which we are going through, difficult condition in the world, awash with a lot of contradictions.
01:14There are pushes in one direction where we are leading to more and more conflict, disruptions of trade with the tariffs, great uncertainty, alliances are being cast aside.
01:32And that's taken place, while at the same time, there is hope for a lot of people that we can have a better world.
01:44There are these two contrasting positions in the world. Of course, the one which is ascendant at the moment is the one of confusion and difficulties and challenges of all kinds.
01:58In the political economy, in the competition between major countries across the world. And of course, issues of climate change and artificial intelligence and sustainable development, the uneven development in the world.
02:16That's a context, background. All of that very important and each of those elements critical.
02:22And then there are particular issues which we must highlight. Certainly, top of the list, has to be the genocide which has taken place before our very eyes on television in Gaza and the West Bank.
02:38The continued problems between the continued problems between the United States and Cuba and the blockade and the tightening of the screws, so to speak, by the Americans in relation to the trade embargo and other activities concerning Cuba.
02:58And then there is Venezuela and the parade of the U.S. military in the seas around Venezuela and upsetting the sacrosanct principle of the Caribbean being a zone of peace, Latin America being a zone of peace.
03:17And then there is Haiti, which is an ongoing problem. And even though the United Nations Security Council sees the fit, you have not the extent of the resources being put to it, and certainly the political will is not there to have a solution.
03:43And of course there is Ukraine. And of course there is Ukraine. There are several things that are taking place in Africa, the conflict. So it's a real complicated, difficult world which we are facing amidst hope among eight billion people in the world.
04:04One eighth of the world's population, one eighth of the world's population doing pretty well and the rest not doing so well.
04:20And the differences between both and the differences between both and the different responses of both and realignments are taking place, complicated, difficult, putting a lot of pressure on leaders, countries, peoples,
04:42as to how we have to get through these particular challenging times.
04:53Your country is placed in the Caribbean. You are neighbour of the Caribbean other countries.
05:01And you are having an army of the U.S. quote unquote displaced or displayed over the Caribbean, thousands of American marines and even a nuclear submarine and so on and so forth.
05:19How the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines feel to have that sort of display so close?
05:28We don't like it. The people in the Caribbean don't like it. The overwhelming majority of people in Latin America don't like it.
05:35We have had statements from individual governments, we have had from CARICOM, we have had from CILAC,
05:40community of states of Latin America and the Caribbean. Because, I want to re-emphasize,
05:47Latin American governments and Caribbean governments have repeatedly affirmed and reaffirmed
05:53that Latin America and the Caribbean, we are a zone of peace.
05:57By all means, we have to work together to tackle transnational crime,
06:01and especially the trade in narcotics, in cocaine and fentanyl and the like.
06:10But you don't need this kind of excessive militarisation to achieve that.
06:16In fact, the excessive militarisation clearly complicating the matters.
06:22So, there must be some other geopolitical considerations beyond the question of fighting traffickers in drugs.
06:34You have been a key player in the integration sort of movements.
06:40We are talking about CARICOM, CILAC, we are talking about BRICS.
06:45How do you see, for example, BRICS playing a role in the world?
06:51The role that BRICS is playing is still uncertain.
06:56Because BRICS has to have a clear definition as to what it is for,
07:02as distinct from what it is against.
07:08BRICS doesn't like a unipolar world.
07:16And there are competing power centres developing.
07:23But BRICS is not cohesive.
07:29And any time that BRICS would meet,
07:33clearly the elephant not in the room is the United States of America.
07:39So that's one issue at the broad political level.
07:44In economic terms, BRICS and other countries in the world don't like the weaponising of the dollar and the payment system.
07:54So that BRICS looking towards having an alternative currency and payment systems in which people should trade.
08:06But yet, substantially still 65-70% or more of the trade is still conducted in US dollars.
08:17Even though we have seen agreements between, say, Saudi Arabia and China in respect of oil.
08:25We have seen arrangements between China and India and Russia in rubles.
08:31We have seen different currencies come into play.
08:33South Africa has entered that picture too.
08:36But yet, even though there's a building of powers, a possible alternative power centre,
08:46the US is still the dominant force, even though you're beginning to see the cracks.
08:55Part of the challenge which I believe faces President Trump is this.
09:04He's saying that the United States of America is disadvantaged by forces.
09:14Some of them dark forces, as he would see it.
09:18And that in this condition of being disadvantaged, what is the solution?
09:29Not cooperation he's advancing for the improving advantage.
09:35He's using the existing strength of the US economy.
09:40The US military, its scientific and cultural dominance, its control over the mass means of communication globally,
09:52including increasingly AI.
09:55In other words, it says that it's lost power.
09:59But it's using its considerable advantage in power, or with power, to strengthen its condition of advantage,
10:12while proclaiming that it's disadvantaged.
10:16So that is an issue there.
10:20And this is not only one in relation to countries which are looking to challenge in competitive terms.
10:33US power.
10:35Even among allies, because we see the battles it's having with Europe.
10:40So there is great uncertainty in all of this.
10:45And I think President Trump, being an intelligent man, will see those contradictions,
10:51and he will probably say, well, it's through that contradictory process that I'm going to reassert US dominance.
10:58Maybe.
10:59Your country, if there is a country that has suffered from climate change, is yours.
11:05Yes.
11:06And Vincent and the Grenadines.
11:07Very much so.
11:08And we have heard Mr. Trump saying that it's a con job.
11:14It's a hoax.
11:15No, I don't agree with him on that.
11:17Tell me, how much is affecting climate change, your country, and what is your vision about how we should tackle climate change?
11:27OK.
11:28I've been in office since March 2001, almost 25 years.
11:33And this is 24 years plus.
11:36We have had 12 major weather-related events.
11:40We have had a series of volcanic eruptions in April 2021.
11:46The last major hurricane was on last year, July the 1st, which caused loss of life and damage and loss, amounting the damage and loss, amounting to one-third of our GDP of our gross domestic product.
12:06Now, that's one big blow.
12:09You had nearly 20% of the housing stock, either completely destroyed or severely damaged.
12:16Now, that's big.
12:19I mean, that's huge in any country.
12:22We have to be rebuilding stronger and better.
12:25The problems of sea defenses and river defenses, and so on and so forth.
12:31So, we see the real impact of climate change.
12:34And the science is there.
12:36The world is getting, the earth is getting warmer.
12:43We have to keep the temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
12:53We have pushed, we have gone beyond that now.
12:56Already.
12:57Already.
12:58And by 2050, it would be a number getting close to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
13:10Now, that is bringing about real chaos in the world.
13:17So, I think on that particular issue, I think President Trump is not as well advised as I think he should be.
13:25He's a man who has made a lot of money.
13:30He's a businessman.
13:31He deals with facts.
13:34I don't see how he can say in the face of all the science, and there's no complete consensus on this,
13:42about global warming and the deleterious effect of climate change.
13:47He's wrong on that.
13:48So, finally, when you are going to be leaving and hitting home this time, what is the message that you are going to remember that you've got with you from this 80th General Assembly?
14:05Well, it is important amidst all the to-ing and fro-ing, there has to be a clear recognition that the major challenges in the world cannot be dealt with unilaterally.
14:22We have to deal with them together.
14:25Together.
14:26Together.
14:27Together.
14:28You know, I've been quoting Marcus Mosiah Garvey, National Hero of Jamaica, leader of the largest movement for black people in the diaspora ever, in the 1920s.
14:44He said, if you want to go fast, go alone.
14:49If you want to go far, go together.
14:52And you will find that when you go far together, you will go faster than if you go alone.
14:59I think there's a lot of wisdom there.
15:02We can't tackle climate change without multilateralism, working together, cooperating.
15:10We can't do that with just climate financing or financing for development or artificial intelligence
15:17or dealing with the sustainable development goals, nuclear weapons and all the major conflicts and wars.
15:25We can't tackle these things unless we work together.
15:30Now, this earth, though we have eight billion people, is still a small integrated planet.
15:40And what happens in one part of it affects the other.
15:45So I think this is an important message.
15:48And now we have to get our American friends to grasp this, to understand this.
15:56And I think it's a mistake they're making in thinking that unilateral action can redress the power balance decidedly for them.
16:09And at the same time, for they themselves to have their view of the world being the only view, that's not going to happen.
16:22That's not how human beings function.
16:25The United States of America is still the major power in the world economically, militarily, culture, technology.
16:34No other country is close to it, even though China is closing the gap.
16:44But China has its own challenges. We haven't spoken about those.
16:48Its population, the slowing down of its economy, the unevenness internally in development in China.
16:58Because China has very modern areas and then still has a lot of backwardness.
17:06So it's a complicated situation even there internally and it has its own set of baggage from history.
17:17And I'm not ill speaking to anybody here.
17:20I'm just having an honest conversation with an honest journalist about problems in the world.
17:27And we ourselves as small countries, we have to bring this honesty to the table.
17:33So that competing powers can hear some truth which they may not hear in their own echo chambers.
17:44Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much for joining us.
17:47Thank you very much.
17:49We had the pleasure to interview Mr. Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines
17:58We are live to New York City as our correspondent in the United States, Jorge Gestoso, interviewed Ralph Gonsalves,
18:14Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the framework of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly underway with its second day of general debates.
18:24This is all for the moment, but stay tuned with Telesur English for more.
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