Excellencies,Distinguished Participants,Dear ColleaguesLadies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to welcome you to this 6th Ambassadorial Meeting of the Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the first for 2020.
My special greetings and congratulations to Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, Permanent Representative of Malta, and Ambassador Walton Webson, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, on assuming the co-chairmanship of this Steering Committee. Excellencies, we look forward to your leadership and you can certainly count on DESA’s full support.
I also wish to express my appreciation to the outgoing Co-Chairs, Ambassador Lois Young, Permanent Representative of Belize, and Ambassador Geraldine Bryne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland, for their energetic leadership and capable stewardship during the past year.
Today’s meeting aims to review the Committee’s activities and to approve its 2020 work programme. Our meeting takes place amidst a global health, social and economic crisis caused by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis has led to unprecedented challenges and growing uncertainty for the prospects of sustainable development around the world. The situation is exacerbated by the continued effects of climate change and ensuing risks of natural disasters.
Many SIDS have been able to take swift responses to the COVID-19 spread. They put in place the health, education, social, economic and security protocols needed to reduce the social and economic impact on their countries. However, the pandemic has aggravated the existing challenges confronting SIDS. The closing of borders, the trebling of unemployment in some cases, and the reduction in revenues from tourism and remittances have created grave challenges. These could potentially inhibit the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SAMOA Pathway.
Yet, while the COVID-19 pandemic is an all-consuming health and socio-economic crisis, it also presents opportunities to innovate and to ‘build back better’. For SIDS, it means a call for structuring recovery efforts to become more resilient to exogenous shocks. And to fundamentally alter the trajectory of national development towards more diversified economies.
There are several sectors that are already ripe to lead the way – in creating new jobs, building economic resilience, and diversification from reliance on tourism and other traditional sectors. These include the global services sector, creative industries, and the green and blue economies. These sectors are also ripe for fostering the types of genuine and durable partnerships that could be attractive to investors in SIDS economies – if backed up by the enabling business environment.
Generating the magnitude of resources that would be required for implementing such bold resilience-building reforms, requires coordinated international support and genuine and durable partnerships. Such partnerships will need to be specifically targeted toward the resilience-building programmes in SIDS.
Wherever possible, new partnerships should be encouraged. The previous development gains must not be eroded. We must ensure that implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SAMOA Pathway are not stymied as a result of the pandemic.
Any such partnerships should take into account the SIDS S.M.A.R.T partnership criteria, the external debt burdens of SIDS, and their special vulnerabilities and challenges. It should be recognized that external exogenous shocks, such as the current COVID-19 crisis – combined with detrimental effects of climate change – may have devastating consequences for their economies and societies.
Excellencies,
You have set an ambitious work programme for the Partnership mechanism. This will provide an opportunity to discuss and strategize on the best way forward in the new normal of the post COVID-19 environment. I encourage you to be bold and innovative in your deliberations.
I wish you a very fruitful discussion this afternoon.
Thank you.
I am pleased to welcome you to this 6th Ambassadorial Meeting of the Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the first for 2020.
My special greetings and congratulations to Ambassador Vanessa Frazier, Permanent Representative of Malta, and Ambassador Walton Webson, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, on assuming the co-chairmanship of this Steering Committee. Excellencies, we look forward to your leadership and you can certainly count on DESA’s full support.
I also wish to express my appreciation to the outgoing Co-Chairs, Ambassador Lois Young, Permanent Representative of Belize, and Ambassador Geraldine Bryne Nason, Permanent Representative of Ireland, for their energetic leadership and capable stewardship during the past year.
Today’s meeting aims to review the Committee’s activities and to approve its 2020 work programme. Our meeting takes place amidst a global health, social and economic crisis caused by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis has led to unprecedented challenges and growing uncertainty for the prospects of sustainable development around the world. The situation is exacerbated by the continued effects of climate change and ensuing risks of natural disasters.
Many SIDS have been able to take swift responses to the COVID-19 spread. They put in place the health, education, social, economic and security protocols needed to reduce the social and economic impact on their countries. However, the pandemic has aggravated the existing challenges confronting SIDS. The closing of borders, the trebling of unemployment in some cases, and the reduction in revenues from tourism and remittances have created grave challenges. These could potentially inhibit the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SAMOA Pathway.
Yet, while the COVID-19 pandemic is an all-consuming health and socio-economic crisis, it also presents opportunities to innovate and to ‘build back better’. For SIDS, it means a call for structuring recovery efforts to become more resilient to exogenous shocks. And to fundamentally alter the trajectory of national development towards more diversified economies.
There are several sectors that are already ripe to lead the way – in creating new jobs, building economic resilience, and diversification from reliance on tourism and other traditional sectors. These include the global services sector, creative industries, and the green and blue economies. These sectors are also ripe for fostering the types of genuine and durable partnerships that could be attractive to investors in SIDS economies – if backed up by the enabling business environment.
Generating the magnitude of resources that would be required for implementing such bold resilience-building reforms, requires coordinated international support and genuine and durable partnerships. Such partnerships will need to be specifically targeted toward the resilience-building programmes in SIDS.
Wherever possible, new partnerships should be encouraged. The previous development gains must not be eroded. We must ensure that implementation of the 2030 Agenda and SAMOA Pathway are not stymied as a result of the pandemic.
Any such partnerships should take into account the SIDS S.M.A.R.T partnership criteria, the external debt burdens of SIDS, and their special vulnerabilities and challenges. It should be recognized that external exogenous shocks, such as the current COVID-19 crisis – combined with detrimental effects of climate change – may have devastating consequences for their economies and societies.
Excellencies,
You have set an ambitious work programme for the Partnership mechanism. This will provide an opportunity to discuss and strategize on the best way forward in the new normal of the post COVID-19 environment. I encourage you to be bold and innovative in your deliberations.
I wish you a very fruitful discussion this afternoon.
Thank you.
File date:
Tuesday, June 9, 2020