KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, October 21, 2009: - Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves, Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, was a panelist during the first National Homecoming Conference, held at the new National Library. The Homecoming Conference was part of the activities of "Vincy Homecoming 2009."

The panel discussion focused on the Impact of the Global Financial Crisis. Ambassador Gonsalves was joined on the panel by Professor Justin Robinson of the University of the West Indies and Ormiston "Ken" Boyea, one of the leading businessmen in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Ambassador Gonsalves' prepared remarks were on "The Global Financial and Economic Crisis: The International Response; and the Impact on Remittances to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines."

In June 2009, Ambassador Gonsalves was selected as one of two facilitators for the United Nations Conference of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.

Referring to data on declining remittances in the wake of the global financial and economic crisis, Ambassador Gonsalves said it was unclear exactly how severe the impact of the crisis would be on Vincentian remittances. "The truth is that we are in uncharted waters when it comes to the real effect of this global crisis on remittances," said the Ambassador. "The conventional wisdom on remittances - that they are more stable than private financial flows and foreign direct investment, or that they are countercyclical in nature - are being tested by the depth and all-encompassing nature of this crisis," he said.

Ambassador Gonsalves also pointed to data suggesting that remittances from overseas Vincentians did not offset the losses due to skilled migration. "Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is therefore not only experiencing a brain drain, but a quantifiable economic drain because of the flight of skilled workers overseas," he said.

Pointing to the response of the international community to the economic crisis, Ambassador Gonsalves questioned whether the G20 was a sufficiently inclusive body to fashion solutions to the crisis. He also pointed out the vulnerability of his country in the aftermath of the crisis. "The crisis has therefore brought into sharp relief the deficiencies in the global financial and economic architecture," said the Ambassador. "It has also laid bare the vulnerabilities of countries like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. We played no role in causing the crisis, but we disproportionately affected by its impacts and inadequately assisted in our recovery," he said.

"The colonial economy that we inherited from the British is obsolete and ill-suited to the challenges of a modern globalised world," he said. "It is also woefully out of step with the needs and expectations of our people." "

We should migrate because we want to, not because we have to. Our remittances should be welcomed as an added benefit to supplant local earnings, not as a bulwark against poverty. And we must make our voice heard and respected in the international struggle to disassemble neocolonialist structures," said Ambassador Gonsalves.

"Our economic independence - much like our country's education revolution and its home grown constitutional reform effort - is a fundamental pillar in our future development, and an indispensible verse in our own redemption song," he said.

The panel discussion was followed by a lively question-and-answer period with the audience.