MESSAGE
FROM
ANWARUL K. CHOWDHURY
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL AND HIGH REPRESENTATIVE
FOR THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, LANDLOCKED DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND
SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES,
AND
SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE MAURITIUS INTERNATIONAL MEETING

29 March 2004

As the Secretary-General of the International Meeting for the ten-year review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States in Mauritius from 30 August to 3 September 2004, I send you my warm greetings and best wishes for a successful outcome of the eighth special session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Jeju, Republic of Korea from 29 to 31 March 2004.

UNEP is playing a key and constructive role in promoting and highlighting issues of concern to the Small Island Developing States. The special event on Small Island Developing States being organized during the Council/Forum meeting is an important step on the road to Mauritius. The outcome of your deliberations should surely contribute to the preparatory process.

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) met in January in The Bahamas and articulated their expectations of the outcome of the Mauritius Meeting in a Strategy Paper. The Preparatory Committee meeting in April during the twelfth session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York will, inter-alia, receive reports on special events like yours as contributions to our preparations for Mauritius..

I am making every effort so that the international community adopts a worthwhile outcome in Mauritius that we can all implement in reducing the vulnerability of the Small Island Developing States and in contributing to the improvement in the quality of the lives of men, women and children of these countries.