缅北禁地

Excellency Asim Ahmed,

Excellency Patricia Ann Hermann,

Excellency Matthew Wilson,

Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

Good afternoon.

I am very pleased to meet with you all here in Geneva. I thank the Permanent Missions of Maldives and Barbados for co-organizing this meeting with us. I appreciate this opportunity to engage with the Permanent Missions of SIDs in Geneva for enhancing our collaboration. As the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, I am honoured to support the sustainable development goals of 90 most vulnerable countries of the world. Given the multidimensional vulnerabilities of the SIDS and the upcoming SIDs conference, these countries are now very high on the agenda of my Office.

Fourth Conference

Excellencies,

We are a critical of the SIDS development Agenda. As the SAMOA Pathway comes to end, we must take a comprehensive stock of our achievements and challenges in ensuring its full and effective implementation. We must learn from the lessons of the last 10 years and use those to deliver on a new agenda for SIDS. This new agenda needs to be more ambitious, and action- oriented, and better equipped to address the key impediments of the SIDS to achieve sustainable development. As you are aware, the Fourth International Conference on SIDS will take place in 2024 in Antigua and Barbuda. This will be preceded by a robust preparatory process in 2023 led by the Permanent Representatives of New Zealand and Maldives. The Secretary-General has appointed me as Special Adviser for the Conference with specific responsibilities. I assure you of my full commitment to carry forward these responsibilities. I would do my utmost to ensure the widest possible coalition of support for the Conference and UN-system wide coordination, in partnership with the Secretary General of the Conference, my Colleague, the USG of DESA. OHRLLS is also supporting the preparatory process for the Conference, which includes regional meetings in Mauritius for the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Seas (AIS) SIDS, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines for the Caribbean SIDS, and tentatively in Vanuatu for the Pacific SIDS. These meetings will take place over the course of July and August.

There will also be an interregional meeting in Cabo Verde in late August, early September. We need to leverage these and other important moments in the lead-up to the Conference, like the SDG Summit in September and UNFCC COP28 in November, to create necessary momentum. We also need to set new ambitions for the next POA, especially in the areas where we could not achieve expected level of progress in the context of the SAMOA Pathway and the SDGs. The issue of SIDS’ access to concessional financing is one such area.

On this issue, my Office is coordinating efforts of the High-Level panel appointed by the PGA to develop a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI) for SIDS. An MVI that enjoys broad political consensus can be an important enabler for addressing the issue of access to concessional financing for SIDS.

Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

OHRLLS is also developing knowledge products that can feed into the preparatory process for the Conference. This will include a report on trade and a report on digital transformation.The trade report will explore promising sectors in SIDS and identify good practices on how SIDS can tap into unexplored opportunities in these sectors to boost economic growth and reduce external economic dependence. The report on digital transformation will focus on a particular country in each SIDS region and explore further how to create a more enabling environment in SIDS for harnessing the power of science, technology, and innovation. Both reports will include concrete policy recommendations, which can form the basis for further discussions during the negotiations of the new Programme of Action for SIDS. We would be pleased to provide further information on these workstreams. Going forward, we invite you to share with us your valuable reflections and perspectives to on these important issues and help us further deepen and consolidate our thoughts and ideas.

Partnerships

Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

Multi-stakeholder partnerships will be crucial not only for achieving an ambitious and forward-looking Programme of Action for the SIDS but also to create its full and effective implementation. With the Conference taking place next year, we need to seize every opportunity to create necessary impetus and renewed commitment to mobilize enhanced resources and partnerships for SIDS.

In our broad mandate to support the SIDS, we have invested a lot of our efforts to create a broad coalition of partnerships for the SIDs. We are especially happy to spearhead the SIDS Global Business Network under the SIDS Partnership Framework. The Network is a driving force to stimulate public-private partnerships with a view to creating innovative solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of SIDS. In April last year, my Office convened the Fourth SIDS Global Business Network Forum on the margins of the ‘Our Ocean Conference’, together with the Republic of Palau, and with the generous support of the governments of Denmark and Ireland. The Forum focused on ocean partnerships and renewed the call for enhanced private sector partnerships in ocean-based sectors with a view to unlocking new opportunities for economic diversification and resilience in SIDS. In 2022, we also launched a report on ocean partnerships under the SIDS Global Business Network, which identified concrete recommendations toward better multi-stakeholder collaboration for ensuring a sustainable future for all.

OHRLLS is looking forward to convening the next SIDS Global Business Network Forum in the Caribbean next year ahead of the Fourth Conference. The Forum will bring together SIDS governments, private sector actors, and other stakeholders to stimulate the formulation of public-private partnerships. The 2024 Forum will also bring multi-stakeholder perspectives on private sector development and partnerships in the new SIDS agenda. This will be the last Forum held under the SAMOA Pathway, which offers a unique opportunity to take stock of the Network’s first decade and identify ways to strengthen it going forward.

To that end, we plan for a preparatory process with sessions and other activities that will enable us to hold focused discussions with Network’s stakeholders to identify ways and means to reinforce further the work of the Network. We invite your valuable inputs into this process and would welcome your active engagement.

Excellencies,