Antigua and Barbuda and other countries around the world are falling short of their targets to attain the United Nations designated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) by the 2030 target date due to the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s the assessment of the country’s Director of International Trade and National Focal Point on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), Joy-Marie King, who was speaking at a capacity building workshop on Monday at the UWI FIC.
“With the 2030 deadline for the achievement of the SDGs fast approaching, the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and growing climate crisis have severely hindered SDG progress.
“According to the SDGs Progress Report 2024, the world is falling short of achieving the 2030 agenda with only 17% of the SDG targets on track and a significant portion showing insufficient or regressing progress,” she reported.
According to King the time is now for the strategic exploitation of opportunities to foster accelerated implementation of the goals including facilitating greater synergy with the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS).
King said the workshop and the associated DA16 project provide the country with that unique opportunity in exploring the above.
