Antigua and Barbuda is hoping for a full turn out of Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) countries when it hosts the fourth International Conference on Small
Island Developing States (SIDS) in May this year.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne said regional countries have been invited to
participate in the “excellent” conference that will be held in St. John’s from May
27-30 under the theme “Charting the Course Toward Resilient Prosperity”.
The United Nations is committed to supporting islands in their quest for a more
resilient and sustainable future. They may be geographically remote, but their
problems are not theirs to face alone,” said Li Junhua, the Under Secretary General
for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs.
The SIDS conference was among items discussed on the first full day of the
CARICOM summit that ends here later on Wednesday and Prime Minister Browne
told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that it is a very important conference
for SIDS globally.
“It is literally an inflection point as we seek to accelerate the attainment of the
SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals),” he said, noting that the SDGs had been
derailed “to some extent by the myriad crises that they had to contend with.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by all United Nations
member states in 2015 and provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for
people and the planet, now and into the future.
At its heart are the 17 SDGs, which are an urgent call for action by all countries –
developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending
poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve
health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while
tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
“We are hoping that within this decade in which Antigua and Barbuda will take
leadership that we will certainly introduce strategies and programmes to achieve
the SDGs to make sure that we all achieve some level of resilient prosperity within
the various SIDS states,” Browne said.
He said he had taken the opportunity during the summit to “invite all of my
CARICOM colleagues. SIDS must show solidarity with each other. So high level
attendance is very important.
“We expect all of the CARICOM heads to attend the conference in Antigua, which
as I said before is poised to become a very impactful and certainly a very exciting
conference for SIDS globally.”
He said in terms of issues, the agenda will include climate change, “certainly debt
which is a major problem for SIDS…and areas which we can really adapt to
mitigate against climate change, increase accessibility to funding”
Prime Minister Browne told CMC that youth crime and violence, which is a major
issue among developing countries, will also be addressed during the conference.
According to the UN, SIDS are in the crossfires of multiple crises, climate change,
the economic and social repercussions of COVID-19, and a crisis of debt.
