UN calls for south-south cooperation in small islands development

PORT LOUIS, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A high-level United Nations official Monday called for South-South cooperation in small islandstates' (SIDS) development in an international SIDS meeting on theIndian Ocean island of Mauritius, saying it could enhance their sustainable development efforts.

Anwarul Chowdhury, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, who's also the secretary general of the UN International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, made the remarks in the opening session of the meeting.

"Increased South-South cooperation, particularly among SIDS themselves, has the potential to enhance their sustainable development efforts," Chowdhury said.

Delegates from over 40 SIDS countries are convening in Mauritius to review a program of action for sustainable development agreed ten years ago in Barbados. The Barbados Programof Action focused mainly on environmental problems such as climatechange, natural disasters, wastes, resources, freshwater, energy, biodiversity, transport, tourism and science/technology.

Small islands and donor nations had initially agreed in Barbados to tackle islands' challenges in partnership, but the Barbados Program of Action has been only partially implemented, partly due to a reduction in foreign aid. While foreign aid represented 2.6 percent of small islands' gross national income in1990, it gradually diminished to only 1.0 percent in 2002.

At the same time, small islands did not attract the levels of foreign private capital and foreign direct investments they had anticipated, according to the United Nations.

"Despite the efforts made by the small island developing states,the expectations for international support and cooperation for theBarbados Program have not materialized," Chowdhury said.

Major donors such as the European Union and the United States all sent delegates to the meeting. According to a Mauritian official at the meeting, the donor community will at least "witness" their plight during the conference, if not making any pledge to help. Enditem