Mr. President, Colleague Heads Of State & Government, Mr. Secretary General, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, 1 wish, at the outset, to extend heartiest congratulations on your election to the presidency of the Sixty-Ninth Session of the General Assembly. Antigua and Barbuda looks forward to your leadership and guidance throughout this session.
I also offer congratulations to your predecessor. His Excellency Ambassador Dr. John Ashe, on a job well done and for his unrelenting service to the UN community
particularly small island developing states.
Mr. President,
1 stand before you as perhaps the newest Head of Government at this 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The political party that 1 have the honour to lead was democratically and overwhelmingly elected as the government ofAntigua and Barbuda just three months ago.
I am probably also among the youngest of the Heads of Government at this distinguished gathering.
But though 1 may be relatively young and my government new, I have been a steadfast believer in the worth of the United Nations from the moment of my adult consciousness.
The idea that there could be a world without a machinery for leaders to gather in one place, with the single purpose of improving the lives of all mankind, conjures images of chaos, of carnage, and of catastrophe; too frightening to contemplate.