Mon | Jun 17, 2024

Foreign minister signs joint ministerial SIDS declaration

Published:Monday | May 27, 2024 | 12:10 AM
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, signs the joint declaration to address supply chain issues affecting SIDS in the presence of Chief, Transport Section of Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD, F
CMC
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, signs the joint declaration to address supply chain issues affecting SIDS in the presence of Chief, Transport Section of Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD, Frida Youssef.

BRIDGETOWN (CMC):

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds has joined with other ministers of small island developing states (SIDS) and ministers and presidents of territorial collectivities to sign a joint declaration to address supply-chain issues affecting SIDS.

The declaration was signed in the margins of the recently concluded United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Global Supply Chain Forum held here.

The document acknowledges that SIDS are heavily reliant on trade, particularly imports, for meeting their consumption needs and that ports play a critical role in transporting goods and services.

It also states that SIDS are at a high and growing risk of climate-change impacts, and these factors are increasing the exposure of SIDS to food and energy insecurity. Therefore, SIDS and their development partners must place the transport and logistics sector at the forefront of their developmental priorities.

By signing the document, Barbados and other signatory countries, including Curaçao, Marshall Islands, Seychelles, and Tuvalu, affirm their commitment to the following strategic directions and priorities.

They are enhancing connectivity and accessibility; strengthening resilience and sustainability; addressing the transport, energy, and food-security nexus; mobilising sustainable finance and investment; promoting innovation, digital transformation, and capacity building; partnerships, international cooperation, and monitoring; and ensuring inclusivity and equity.

The joint declaration also calls on all countries to fully adhere to and implement the principles and objectives of relevant international commitments that underscore the unique situation of SIDS and their special sustainable development needs.

These include the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030); 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goals; Paris Agreement on Climate Change; Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development; as well as the forthcoming outcome document, Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS of the Fourth International Conference on SIDS.