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His Excellency Mr. Charles Fernandez, Minister of Tourism, Aviation, Transportation and Investment of Antigua and Barbuda and co-host of today’s event,

Her Excellency, Ms. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados,

Excellencies, Distinguished Participants,

I am very pleased to welcome you to the Private Sector Roundtable of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States.

I have the honour to present to you the outcomes of the SIDS Global Business Network (GBN) Forum, convened by my Office, OHRLLS, this weekend.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Governments of Denmark and Ireland for their generous support to hold the Forum.

My Office has steered the work of the GBN since its inception in 2014.

Over the last ten years the network has not only: 

• connected SIDS, the private sector, civil society, and other stakeholders; but also
• formed new partnerships to harness the resources, expertise, and innovation needed to bring about structural transformation.

The biennial GBN Forum is the flagship activity of the Network, and this year it was held as a special event of the SIDS4 Conference.

The Forum brought together representatives from governments, the private sector, and other stakeholders with the objective of forging new partnerships to advance the implementation of ABAS.

The discussions focussed on four key themes:

• strengthening innovative blue-green economies,
• empowering local communities for revitalizing economies,
• strengthening an enabling business environment, and
• securing financing and investment for the private sector in SIDS. 

The Forum concluded with some concrete recommendations.

Allow me to briefly present the key takeaways and share some reflections:

Firstly, the meeting highlighted the critical importance of leveraging private sector innovation to unlock untapped opportunities for blue and green economies, especially in the areas of marine renewable energy, zero carbon shipping, and sustainable fisheries and eco-tourism.

Proposals included: setting up of a blue-green development fund for SMEs; better IP protection, and a multi-stakeholder forum to promote blue-green plans for SIDS.

The discussion emphasized on leveraging technologies and innovative financing, blue bonds, impact investment, and public-private partnerships, to enhance the resilience and sustainability of blue and green economies.

Secondly, we heard about the need to empower local communities to strengthen the resilience of islanders and help diversify their economies.  Such partnerships should harness local expertise, and value the cultural context.

We also heard about the need to promote local products and brands, as well as locally-led and owned creative industries, and to support digital connectivity and networking between local and global entrepreneurs.

However, this will require the right partnerships to provide local entrepreneurs with the necessary training, skills, and resources. Women and youth entrepreneurs should be prioritized in any such endeavours.

The tourism models need to prioritize local culture and heritage, and ensure that tourism revenues directly benefit local communities.

Third, we heard about the importance of enabling business environment in the SIDS.

To promote this, it would be important to:

• enhance the capacity of local chambers of commerce and business associations to provide support and advocacy for SMEs,
• implement policies that improve labour conditions and opportunities,
• leverage regional collaboration to expand markets and reduce barriers to business operations,
• create more inclusive and collaborative platforms for dialogues between Governments and Private Sector to break silos, and
• strengthen data capacity of SIDS by operationalizing the SIDS data hub under the Center of Excellence, as called for in ABAS.

Fourth, more needs to be done to attract financing and investment into businesses in SIDS. 

We heard a concrete proposal to establish a SIDS Development Fund for Public-Private-Community Partnerships (PPCPs) to enable MSMEs to grow.

It is indeed a high priority for SIDS to improve access to finance and affordable credit for MSMEs. Microfinance, credit unions, and government-backed loan programmes can be important instruments in this regard. The IFIS, MDBs, and RDBs also need to have enhanced focused on this issue.

The share of blended finance flowing to SIDS needs to increase, to offset perceived high risk and overcome the challenges of the small scale of projects.

And  fiscal policies are  critically important for supporting investments, especially by providing tax breaks and subsidies for investments in sustainable practices and technologies.

Finally, the potentials of the proposed Island Investment Forum under the Centre of Excellence for SIDS came up in the discussions very prominently.

We will explore ways in which the GBN can advance the operationalization of the Investment Forum.

The support of the development partners and other stakeholders will also be critical in this regard.

Excellencies, Distinguished Participants,

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a summary of the key recommendations from the Forum. I hope this will serve as important inputs to the discussions here today.

These outcomes will constitute important elements for the 缅北禁地Secretary-General’s recommendations for the strengthening of the SIDS Partnership Framework and the SIDS Global Business Network, as requested by the ABAS.

We intend to work with the Steering Committee of the SIDS Partnership Framework to enhance synergies in implementation, monitoring and reporting.

I reaffirm my [Office’s] commitment to work together with all of you to further leverage the transformative power of the private sector to realize the ambitions of SIDS for a sustainable, resilient, and prosperous future.

I thank you.