Jamaica continues to strengthen its traditional partnerships, while building new ones with like-minded countries around the world that see the global benefits in countries big and small, rich and poor, working together to solve issues too big for any of them to solve alone, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
He pointed to Jamaica's role in representing the Caribbean Community at outreach sessions of the G7 and BRICS summits, as well as G20 meetings, as an indication of its growing pivotal standing at global fora with influential groupings of countries,
"Jamaica believes that groupings like these have a unique opportunity, working alongside the international development partners, to address the problems that face weaker economies across the globe. Jamaica, therefore, welcomes the opportunity to share perspectives with our strong economic partners, to ensure they gain an understanding of the risks that we face in our region of small developing states, most of which are island states."
Jamaica stands ready to continue working and is prepared to expand its role in the transformation of global thinking to find effective solutions within a fair, rules-based multilateral system, supportive of policies which will ensure the emergence and empowerment of small and developing states - truly leaving no country and no one behind, the prime minister said.
However, Holness said, realising these goals will required concerted action, grounded in the following actions:
- Effective strategies to bolster the global financial system;
- A robust, global campaign to identify funding for the implementation of Agenda 2030 and;
- Resilience and adaptation measures to address the devastating effects of climate change and natural disasters.