Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - SAMOA Pathway

Small Island Developing States Call for Enhanced Support for a Resilient Post COVID-19 Recovery

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 18:21:00 +0000

haiti_karen_kasmauski_mcsp_and_jhpiego.jpg

Haitian patients arrive for regular check-ups and vaccinations. Due to COVID-19 they now might face disruptions to health services.

Karen Kasmauski, MCSP and Jhpiego

NEW YORK 20 and 21 October 2020 – Island leaders expressed concern about the widespread impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small island developing States (SIDS) in a joint roundtable organized by Belize, Fiji and the United Kingdom.

At the virtual meeting, island representatives called upon development partners to look beyond “one size fits all” solutions and to provide more tailor-made financial support to SIDS. They also reaffirmed the need for a collaborative effort between public, private creditors, International Financial Institutions as well SIDS in addressing the challenges posed by COVID-19 and climate change.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, H.E. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, emphasised the “importance of debt relief for vulnerable countries and the need to develop new flexible development finance instruments which will support responsible, resilient and inclusive growth.”

The meeting heard that SIDS are currently facing severe health, social, economic as well as environmental challenges, all exacerbated by COVID-19.

In her keynote address, UN Deputy Secretary-General and Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, Amina J. Mohammed said “It is time for the international community to help SIDS in meeting their challenges as they deserve the future that they want as we look for the future that we want.”

H.E. Baroness Sugg, UK Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development, reaffirmed that "an ongoing collaborative effort is needed which must be sustained even after COVID-19."

Increased access to finance for SIDS was a key theme of the meeting and solutions put forward included additional grants, concessional loans with longer maturities, debt swaps, use of blended finance through increased public-private partnerships and the development of green and blue bond markets for SIDS.

Complex mechanisms and bureaucratic processes were identified as challenges for SIDS to access development finance from donors like the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Adaptation Fund.

As one solution to this problem, a proposed Vulnerability Index was discussed, which would help codify the real-world vulnerabilities of SIDS and be used by bilateral and multilateral donors to assess SIDS’ eligibility for development finance.

SIDS noted the recent extension by the G-20 of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Trust Fund by the IMF as potentially helpful in pandemic recovery and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. However, most SIDS are not actually eligible for the initiative.

United Nations High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu, said that

“This unprecedented perfect storm should be met with unprecedented cooperation and development funds. However, despite available evidence of the need for support for vulnerable states, the necessary commitments by development partners are insufficient, in particular for SIDS.”

She concluded, “We need to focus our common efforts on practical and impactful solutions to not only keep SIDS afloat but also for the successful implementation of the SAMOA pathway, the Paris agreement and the flourishment of SIDS and their citizens.”

Front Page Article:

Opening Statement at the Virtual Island Summit 2020

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 15:30:00 +0000

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

8 September 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my privilege to address this Virtual Island Summit.

An impressive range of stakeholders has come together to share expertise and knowledge on island communities at a time where uncertainties, new challenges, and structural transformations call for innovation.

As High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, a key role is advocacy.

Beyond that, I myself, come from an island nation.

For all, but especially also the island communities, 2020 has been and continues to be a challenging year like few others have been in our lifetime.

Last year, we held high-level mid-term review of the SAMOA Pathway, which, together with the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation, are blueprints for achieving a sustainable development of SIDS.

What became evident is that while some tangible progress has been made over the past five years, major gaps and challenges remain. I call it us having a glass half full.

The gaps and challenges in themselves pointed once more to the unique vulnerabilities of SIDS, caused by both endogenous and exogenous factors.

The SIDS continue to grapple with their lasting structural constraints in their efforts to mobilize domestic resources for sustainable development.

The resources needed to address poverty and social inclusion; to remedy persistent challenges around food security and nutrition, health and non-communicable diseases, violence against women, youth unemployment, and inequality just are not there or not sufficient.

SIDS continue to face increasing and more frequent exogenous challenges from ranging from the adverse impacts of climate change, to exogenous economic and financial shocks.

To make the situation even more complex, many SIDS are considered middle or high-income countries, and this limits their access to development financing.

Of course, none of us could foresee the unfolding of this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a new and additional set of challenges to SIDS while aggravating existing ones.

What is now threatened is the hard-won progress in meeting sustainable development goals.

Countries now face the challenge to manage an unprecedented state of economic and social affairs.

In the immediate, COVID-19 has laid bare the weaknesses of the health sector in SIDS.

It has negatively affected the education sector, especially for the most vulnerable with unequal access to digital technology infrastructure.

The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on already very limited social protection systems.

It has triggered large-scale unemployment, which like everywhere else disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable.

Over the past few months, SIDS have experienced an exceptional decline in economic activity.

A key employer and income earner is tourism.

With the rapidly plummeting tourism and remittance flows, and with none of us knowing when once again travel can resume safely, I am sure I do not need to paint the picture to you !

Add to this the disruption of global supply chains, shrinking ODA, major loss of foreign investment, and challenges related to debt servicing, we have a near perfect storm.

The bottom line is a severely constrained fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better, including in the face of increasingly frequent and devastating extreme weather events.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The time is now to extend targeted and effective support to the SIDS.

Innovative and bold changes are needed.

Changes that can boost resilience to exogenous shocks, including COVID-19, and help build more diversified economies.

To achieve that, true partnerships, genuine international support, notably from multilateral organizations and bilateral partners, must step in now.

Significant technical and financial resources, including new and innovative financial instruments, are needed.

SIDS need immediate and effective commitments for long-term debt relief and restructuring.

A key driver has to be the building of resilience including resilience to respond to climate change and extreme natural events.

In its response to the pandemic, the United Nations has prioritized the most vulnerable countries and they include the SIDS.

What we can see so far is that the socio-economic responses at national and regional levels have aided in boosting health systems.

Social protection measures have ensured to a degree that people’s needs for basic services are met, especially the most vulnerable groups in society such as women, children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.

Economic interventions have supported the informal sector, workers, small and medium-sized businesses.

Everything must be done so that hard won gains are preserved and that people can see a future to look forward to post-crisis.

Many of the responses have been based on multilateral collaboration to ensure macroeconomic stability and support for financing decisions.

Efforts are made to improve resilience and capacity building so that societies may emerge greener, digital, and more resilient to future shocks.

At the global level, OHRLLS supports these efforts.

Beyond our advocacy role we focus on strengthening coherence in the UN response to the crisis.

We established a SIDS National Focal Point mechanism, which has become a critical force in steering the focus and efforts of the UN system to deliver targeted support and policy advice in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway and the SDGs.

We recently held virtual meetings for three SIDS regional groups: the Caribbean, Pacific and the Atlantic and Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS) regions.

These meetings have allowed our national focal points to remain engaged at a time when the sharing of information, lessons learned, and best practices are perhaps more important than ever.

They have also reminded us that country nuances matter and that we must respond to these unique needs. There is no one size fits all.

A common theme across the focal point meetings was the need to leverage the health crisis to build back better.

SIDS know that the crisis beyond its threats, is the opportunity to diversify narrow or single sector economies and move away from the reliance on fossil fuels.

SIDS know they must advance new sectors such as renewable energy, digital infrastructure, and they must give greater prioritization to investment in green and blue economies.

But SIDS need the fiscal space to make these things happen.

They need fiscal liquidity and they need concrete solutions to address their immediate and longer-term debt challenges.

They need tailored partnerships in a number of areas, including the development of statistical systems, to better plan, monitor and evaluate the implementation of their sustainable development goals.

OHRLLS continues to advocate for and promote partnerships in SIDS on these issues.

On access to concessional financing, we are engaged in a number of work streams.

We work with the International Financial Institutions and the G20.

We are engaged with the World Bank Group to review access to IDA and IBRD resources on an exceptional basis.

We know how vitally important it is to expand access to concessional financing and existing emergency financing instruments to meet the considerable needs of SIDS during this crisis and beyond.

OHRLLS in close partnership with other UN agencies, also works on the development of a multi-dimensional vulnerability index.

We see this as crucial to redefine eligibility to concessional financing.

We are committed to bring this important policy tool as fast as we can to Member States for their consideration.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me turn to the debt issue.

The United Nations Secretary General has initiated a broad financing for development process, together with Jamaica and Canada.

The objective is to present an ambitious menu of policy options to Heads of State and Government.

The policy options are to help countries recover from the current crisis in the short term; mobilize the financial resources to achieve the SDGs; as well as build the resilience and the sustainability of countries, and the global financial architecture over the medium to long term.

In this context, OHRLLS, together with AOSIS, organized a special discussion on the debt risks in SIDS.

The outcome of the discussions fed into the menu of options to be presented to Ministers of Finance, and then Heads of State and Government, later this month.

We will follow up with a special high-level meeting on SIDS’ debt sustainability early next month to bring much needed attention to the needs of the SIDS.

This will particularly be the case in the lead up to the Fall Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group.

With respect to partnerships, we continue to promote outreach with the private sector, including through our SIDS Global Business Network (GBN).

The biennial Forum of the GBN will take place later this year in Palau in the margins of the Our Oceans Conference.

You all know the saying how island states are big ocean nations.

We really must drive home the importance of the ocean as a cross-cutting sector for sustainable development in SIDS.

The recovery from COVID-19, the 2020 SIDS GBN will focus on ocean partnerships to enhance resilience across a range of areas, including ocean energy and the use of marine resources, as well as sustainable and diversified tourism.

Further information on the Forum will be available on our new website www.un.org/ohrlls in due course.

Incidentally, we hope that you will find the website to be an important resource for information on events, reports and activities carried out by the Office.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I conclude, I thank the organizers for holding such an important and exciting Summit, and I look forward to listening to you and learning for your insights.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: AIS Region

Anonymous — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

4 August 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to this meeting of the National Focal Points of SIDS in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Seas (AIS) region.

I thank you all for getting together on this virtual platform at a time when the challenges of your countries are most severe.

The annual meetings of the national focal points are increasingly important in enhancing the coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes, including at the national, regional and global levels. They are also a more and more critical force in steering the focus and efforts of my Office and the UN system in general to deliver targeted support and policy advice at the regional and global levels.

In this connection, I would like to express my gratitude to the colleagues from the UN and other international and regional organizations for your active participation and your spirit of partnership in this endeavor.

This year, with the impact of the COVID pandemic, we are not able to hold the regular in person meeting of the national focal points, which he had planned to convene in the Caribbean for the first time, in Antigua and Barbuda.

Further, with the time differences, and other technical constraints, we have had to convene separate regional meetings, which do not allow for the cross-regional discussions and face-to-face networking that are so important to this mechanism.

We have already convene the virtual meetings for the Pacific and Caribbean regions, over the last few weeks, and they have only served to confirm exactly how necessary and useful these virtual meetings are. They allow our national focal points to remain engaged at a time when the sharing of information, lessons learned and best practices is perhaps more important than ever.

The meeting for the Pacific and the Caribbean region reminded us that country nuances matter; that we must respond to unique needs.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last year, the high level Mid Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway revealed that while some tangible progress had been made over the past five years in implementation, there were still major gaps and challenges that need to be addressed.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens this hard won progress. The pandemic has also resulted in a new array of challenges to implementation, while aggravating existing ones.

COVID-19 has laid bare the weaknesses of the health sector in SIDS. It has negatively affected the education sector, especially for the most vulnerable with unequal access to digital technology infrastructure. The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on already limited social protection systems and has triggered large-scale unemployment, which disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable.

Over the past few months, SIDS have experienced an unprecedented decline in economic activity, with rapidly plummeting tourism and remittance flows, and the disruption of global supply chains. Already shrinking ODA, major loss of foreign investment challenges, and challenges related to debt servicing have resulted in limited fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better, including in the face of growing environmental challenges and pressures of climate change.

Indeed, in the AIS region, COVID-19 has further exacerbated the vulnerabilities with which these countries are already confronted. Further, The AIS region is made up of a group of diverse countries, which comes with its own set of challenges. With no formal coordinating mechanism, the development of regional platforms for the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway in AIS has proven to be a complex undertaking. This also speaks to the challenges in coordinating among these countries toward taking better advantage of possible regional platforms for lesson learning and sharing best practices in the face of COVID-19.

This notwithstanding, the AIS region is also made up of a group of innovative, creative and resilient countries that will no doubt overcome these challenges. The region has produced thought leaders and taken key actions in many areas, including sustainable energy and tourism, innovative financing, climate change and resilience-building. And it is this type of thinking, which will undoubtedly help these countries on a path to recovery.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is clear that however that SIDS will also need targeted and effective international support, in order to innovate and implement bold changes that would boost economic resilience to exogenous shocks, including COVID-19, and to build diversified economies.

In this connection, the UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels. My Office continues to advocate for and promote partnerships in SIDS on a range of issues, including on access to concessional financing, debt sustainability, sustainable energy solutions and food security.

In the context of the focal point mechanism, we are working to build capacities to respond to the range of shocks facing SIDS, toward the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway. We will be circulating the SIDS National Focal Point Guide in due course, and will continue to explore ways to implement the capacity building strategy that we have shared with you earlier in the year.

As a part of this effort, we will be working with Malta and the Small States Centre for Excellence toward the recovery of the tourism sector in SIDS. We will also work with the Maldives on a high-level dialogue, later in the year, on how the sector has been impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate best practices in re-starting the sector. We will share more on this in the coming weeks.

We are also working toward finalizing the toolkit that we considered during last year’s focal point meeting.

As you may be aware, the toolkit is provide guidance to national governments and relevant stakeholders on effective and harmonized monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway, in alignment with the monitoring and reporting frameworks of other international agreements, including the SDGs and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction.

One of the biggest challenges of finalizing the toolkit is the lack of a clear reporting framework, with validated targets and indicators, for those areas of the SAMOA Pathway that do not overlap in categorization and focus with the SDGs or Sendai Framework.

Last year, the United Nations General Assembly called upon the Secretary-General to identify those SAMOA Pathway priority areas not covered by the SDGs or the Sendai Framework, and to develop targets and indicators for those priority areas. This work will build on the work done by OHRLLS on the toolkit and provide the validation process for these targets and indicators.

OHRLLS is working with DESA to complete this work by the next year September, which would also allow for the finalization of the reporting toolkit. This will in turn allow us to better evaluate and track success in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway, which is even more critical as we face these multiple and ongoing crises.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This meeting provides us with the opportunity to reflect on these and other responses that have been put in place, as well as those that are still needed to put us back on track to realize the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda in SIDS.

It will feature resource persons and country representatives from across the region, who will share their challenges, strategies and approaches in response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we launched our new website week before last under the UN online umbrella at www.un.org/ohrlls. We hope that you will find the website to be an important resource for information on events, reports and activities carried out by the office, relevant official documentation and other reports covering the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS and on how global trends, from COVID-19 to climate change, are playing out in the world’s most vulnerable countries.

This website will also be fully integrated to the advocacy and social media work of the office, providing a forum for information exchange on ways to move forward.

Now, I look forward to listening to you.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Caribbean Region

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 14:07:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

29 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome you to our meeting of National Focal Points of the Caribbean region SIDS.

I must thank you all for gathering on this virtual platform at a time when the challenges to your countries are severe.

In this connection, I would like to express my gratitude to the colleagues from the UN and other international and regional organisations for your active participation and your spirit of partnership in this endeavour.

This year, with the impact of the COVID pandemic, we are not able to hold the regular in person meeting of the national focal points, which had planned to be convened in the Caribbean for the first time, in Antigua and Barbuda.

We decided to organize a virtual meeting in the meantime, in anticipation of the face to face meeting still to take place in Antigua & Barbuda at a later date.

The time differences, and certain technical constraints, have made it unfortunately necessary to convene separate regional meetings. Regrettably this does not allow for the cross-regional discussions and face-to-face networking that are so important to this mechanism.

Our first virtual meeting for the Pacific region, which was held last week, however, only served to confirm exactly how necessary and useful these virtual meetings are, providing the opportunity for our national focal points to remain engaged at a time when the sharing of information, lessons learned and best practices is perhaps more important than ever.

The meeting for the Pacific region reminded us that country & regional specifics matter; that we must respond to unique needs.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens this hard won progress. The pandemic has also resulted in a new array of challenges to implementation, while aggravating existing ones.

Over the past few months, SIDS have experienced an unprecedented decline in economic activity, with rapidly plummeting tourism and remittance flows, and the disruption of global supply chains. Already shrinking ODA, major loss of foreign investment and challenges in mobilizing resources in capital markets for some SIDS, have resulted in limited fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better.

In the Caribbean, COVID-19 has further exacerbated the vulnerabilities with which these countries are confronted, including those in relation to the negative impacts of climate change, ever more frequent and brutal extreme weather events, and crippling debt-to-GDP ratios.

It is clear that SIDS will need targeted and effective support SIDS, in order to innovate and implement bold changes that would boost economic resilience to exogenous shocks, including COVID-19, and to build diversified economies.

In this connection, the UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

My Office continues to advocate for SIDS on a range of issues, including on access to concessional financing, debt sustainability and food security.

As a part of this effort, we will be working with Malta and the Small States Centre for Excellence toward the recovery of the tourism sector in SIDS. We will share more on this in the coming weeks.

We are also working toward finalizing the toolkit that we considered during last year’s focal point meeting.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This website will also be fully integrated to the advocacy and social media work of the office, providing a forum for information exchange on ways to move forward.

Now, I look forward to listening to you.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Opening Remarks at the Virtual Meeting: Responding to COVID-19 in the SIDS - Access to Concessional Finance

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 05:43:00 +0000

Opening Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

22 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I must thank the United Kingdom for your collaboration with OHRLLS on this very important initiative for SIDS.

I also express my gratitude to H.E. Ambassador Young, the Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations and the Chair of AOSIS.

I thank you for your opening remarks.

It is not just now that SIDS, that OHRLLS and many others call for international support to address the severe vulnerabilities of SIDS long recognized. In fact, calls have been made for decades.

The most comprehensive call goes as far back as the global Barbados conference in 1994!

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I would say we were well on the way to a glass half- full. Now we run the risk of a glass half-empty.

Indeed, even prior to the advent of COVID-19, UNCTAD estimates implied that a mix of additional loans and enhanced economic growth would not suffice to ensure that developing countries could meet the financing needs for the 2030 Agenda.

And this would in particular is the case for such highly indebted countries like many SIDS.

Many, including analysts from the International Financial Institutions, have warned that a deep and prolonged global recession is inevitable. The SIDS will be among the hardest hit.

The SIDS face a near perfect storm with commodity price shocks, loss of export revenue, major loss of foreign investment and remittances, and almost collapsed tourism sector, debt servicing costs, deteriorating credit ratings and ensuing challenges in mobilizing resources in capital markets for some SIDS.

SIDS always had to manage within limited fiscal space. This time, I fear, there just is not the space to simultaneously respond to COVID-19 and to build back better.

In short, the progress so far achieved in implementing the 2030 Agenda in SIDS, as well as the SAMOA Pathway is threatened.

The UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

UN-OHRLLS, even if we now have to mainly work virtually, is doing its best to accelerate our advocacy regarding the urgent need for dedicated funds for SIDS. This includes advocating with the International Financial Institutions.

We work on a number of initiatives to ensure a comprehensive and innovative action package for immediate and long-term debt sustainability.

The top priority is for actions that help creating the fiscal space needed for recovery and doing so by investing in sustainable development.

But what is the present situation ?

SIDS are forced to overcome their ever increasing challenges with decreasing access to ODA grants and concessional borrowing.

This is why the focus of this meeting and the upcoming conferences to be hosted by the United Kingdom with support from OHRLLS are so timely and critical.

Together, we must find solutions for how vulnerable SIDS can have their access expanded to much needed concessionary financing.

There is a range of possible actions to increase external financing for sustainable development in SIDS.

A key driver will be solidarity, will be sufficient political will among large economies and other developing states.

It is truly NOW that we must discuss practical and shared solutions to the challenges ahead of the SIDS.

We cannot afford to slip back. We must focus on going forward. We cannot exclude the SIDS, we must include the SIDS.

For a forward looking discussion and ensuing action grounded in fact, we need readily available and authoritative indicators from SIDS and partners.

We must ensure that partners have access to the reality of SIDS unique vulnerabilities.

In short, a key basis for all of us to move forward has to be a shared understanding of what is needed to move forward.

Excellencies,

I look forward to this meeting and the upcoming discussions.

As I said, time is NOW and it is time for ACTION.

I hope we can focus on practical and thus achievable solutions – which can focus our common efforts and engagement both with other developing countries and partners.

In closing, I again wish to express my appreciation for this timely initiative by the United Kingdom.

I thank all participants for contributing to this event.

Front Page Article:

2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting - Pacific Region

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 20:52:00 +0000

Tuesday, 21 July 2020 - 5:00pm to 7:00pm

INTRODUCTION

The SIDS National Focal Points Network (NFP), established and inaugurated in 2018, facilitates the strengthening of coherence and coordination at the national, regional and global levels on SIDS-related issues and fosters peer-learning and exchange of best practices on the implementation and follow up of the SAMOA Pathway, the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other global frameworks.

As the COVID-19 response will continue to constrain the fiscal space of SIDS and exacerbate their vulnerabilities to natural disasters brought about by climate change, international support is critical. This also requires a concerted effort to promote coherence and coordination at the national, regional and global levels of the COVID-19 response, in line with the objectives of the SIDS national focal point network.

OBJECTIVES

To share experiences and best practices on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic at the national, regional and global levels; and;
To continue to share experiences and best practices on mainstreaming the SAMOA Pathway and SDGs into national development processes as well their implementation and follow up, in the context of COVID-19, in line with the principle to “build back better.”

CO-ORGANISERS

The event was organized by UN-OHRLLS

DOCUMENTS

Background Materials

Presentations

Ms. Fekita ‘Utoikamanu (Opening Remarks)
Papua New Guinea
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Pacific Sustainable Development Steering Committee
Ms. Fekita ‘Utoikamanu (Closing Remarks)

Meeting Summary

Photo: Students make the most of new high-speed broadband in Tonga. Tom Perry / World Bank

tags:

Small Island Developing States

National Focal Points

SAMOA Pathway

COVID-19

Categories:

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 14:22:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome you to our meeting of National Focal Points of the Pacific region SIDS.

I thank you for coming together via this virtual platform at a time when the challenges to your countries are severe. But maybe that is precisely why we must meet because the time is NOW for action.

Yes, we face a health pandemic but a pandemic that shows so many interconnected features!

So, you, the national focal points, and your work are more important than ever to enhance coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes be it at the national, regional or global levels.

You are a critical force in steering the focus and efforts of OHRLLS in particular but also to the UN system so that targeted support and policy advice are provided.

I also express my gratitude to the colleagues from the UN and other international and regional organisations for your active participation and your spirit of partnership in this endeavour.

Given the COVID pandemic, we are not able to hold our regular in person meeting of the national focal points, which was originally scheduled to be held in Antigua & Barbuda at the end of the month.

We decided to organize a virtual meeting in the meantime, in anticipation of the face to face meeting still to take place in Antigua & Barbuda at a later date.

The time differences and certain technical constraints have made it unfortunately necessary that we convene separate regional meetings.

Regrettably, this does not allow for the cross-regional discussions and face-to-face networking that are so important to this mechanism.

In spite of these constraints and shortcomings, it is essential to convene these virtual meetings.

It is essential that you the national focal points remain the driving force on sharing of information, lessons learned and best practices. This is perhaps more important than ever.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last year, the high level Mid Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway revealed that while some tangible progress had been made over the past five years in implementation, major gaps remain and challenges must be addressed with urgency.

We saw the glass as half full. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens hard won progress and to turn the glass into half empty.

The pandemic triggers a new array of challenges to implementation, while aggravating existing ones.

In the immediate, COVID-19 has laid bare the weaknesses of the health sector in SIDS.

It has negatively affected the education sector.

This is especially the case for the most vulnerable with unequal access to digital technology infrastructure.

The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on already limited social protection systems and has triggered large-scale unemployment, which disproportionately impacts on women and the poor and vulnerable.

Over the past few months, SIDS have experienced an unprecedented decline in economic activity.

Global supply chains are disrupted.

A major income earner, tourism, has almost come to a standstill.

The all important remittance flows have dwindled.

Add to this, commodity price shocks, major loss of foreign investment and challenges in mobilizing resources in capital markets for some SIDS,.

Never before as far as I can recall have we seen such limited fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better.

The storm is near perfect.

With the closure of borders, many of the more remote small island communities are simply cut off and have become even more vulnerable.

Travel and related restrictions add to insurmountable hurdles such as how to address the most recent category 5 cyclone Harold in the Pacific.

A cyclone which once more has greatly affected lives, livelihoods, and infrastructures in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and my own country Tonga.

It is clear that SIDS will need targeted and effective support - and they need it NOW.

The UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

OHRLLS continues to advocate for SIDS on a range of issues, including on access to concessional financing, debt and food security.

Together with and through the focal point mechanism, we are working to build capacities to respond to the range of shocks facing SIDS.

We must do that because we must get back on track in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.

The SIDS National Focal Point Guide will be circulated in due course.

We will also continue to explore ways to implement the capacity building strategy that we have shared with you earlier in the year.

As a part of this effort, we will be working with Malta and the Small States Centre for Excellence toward the recovery of the tourism sector in SIDS. We will share more on this in the coming weeks.

We also work toward finalizing the toolkit that we considered during last year’s focal point meeting.

This toolkit is there to provide guidance to national governments and relevant stakeholders on effective and harmonized monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.

A key feature is to align with the monitoring and reporting frameworks of other international agreements, including the SDGs and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction.

Once more, let me say the driver has to be SIMPLIFICATION.

Last year, the United Nations General Assembly called upon the Secretary-General to identify those SAMOA Pathway priority areas not covered by the SDGs or the Sendai Framework.

The request asked to develop targets and indicators for those priority areas.

This work will build on the work done by OHRLLS on the toolkit and provide the validation process for these targets and indicators.

OHRLLS is working with DESA to complete this work next year September.

This, I really hope, will allow us to better evaluate and track success in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway. Given the multiplication of challenges from COVID to climate change related disasters this is more critical than ever.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our meeting is our opportunity to take an honest look at responses put in place and those that are still needed because we must get back on track to realize the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda in SIDS.

With us are resource persons and country representatives from across the region. I thank you all for sharing your challenges, strategies and approaches in response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

The situation the SIDS and their peoples face demand that we have an open, frank and action-oriented discussion.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we launched our new website last week under the UN online umbrella at www.un.org/ohrlls. We hope that you will find the website to be an important resource for information on events, reports and activities carried out by the office, relevant official documentation and other reports covering the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS and on how global trends, from COVID-19 to climate change, are playing out in the world’s most vulnerable countries.

This website will also be fully integrated to the advocacy and social media work of the office, providing a forum for information exchange on ways to move forward.

I look forward to listening to you.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Briefing Remarks to UN Permanent Representatives of SIDS Highlighting the World Bank Group COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 19:42:00 +0000

Briefing Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

1 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

First, I wish to thank Ms. Laura Jaitman for her close cooperation in convening this briefing.

Allow me to also congratulate you on your appointment as Special Representative of the World Bank Group to the UN.

I look forward to our continued strong collaboration with the World Bank in support of the most vulnerable countries.

I also thank H.E. Ambassador Young for her opening remarks.

All of us are probably beyond aware of the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysts, and this of course includes the World Bank, continue to warn that a deep and prolonged global recession is inevitable.

The small island developing States (SIDS) will be among the hardest hit.

For weeks now, we have noted in numerous fora the dire situation that the island nations and their peoples will be among those hardest hit.

The commodity price shocks, loss of export revenue, near to non-existing tourism, major losses of foreign investment and remittances, deteriorating credit ratings making it even more challenging to mobilize resources in capital markets in some SIDs characterize in a snapshot the situation.

The bottom line is: SIDS will have limited fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better.

The economic and social impacts will be long lasting.

Prior to the pandemic, the SIDS already struggled to address the often devastating impacts of climate change. They already were faced with high debt burdens.

Now, they will have to ramp up spending to mitigate against the severe shocks of the pandemic – not as a luxury but to save lives and to ensure the basic livelihoods of their peoples.

All this must be done with limited access to ODA grants and concessional and market-based borrowing.

Excellencies,

The situation was already challenging, but the challenge has beyond just doubled. Yes, there are short- term, immediate requirements but we must respond to COVID-19 without losing sight that we must also achieve the SDGs.

The pandemic threatens progress so far achieved in implementing the 2030 Agenda in SIDS, as well as the SAMOA Pathway.

The international community is urgently called upon. We must together undertake targeted and effective measures to support SIDS. We cannot leave them behind, we cannot deprive them of the most fundamental of human rights: sustainable development.

We cannot leave them behind alone to bear the brunt in responding to the crisis and bringing about recovery.

The UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

We work on a number of initiatives in this regard. This includes high up on the agenda, comprehensive and innovative actions for immediate and long-term debt sustainability.

The focus is on creating fiscal space for recovery and fostering investments in sustainable development.

We also look at the special needs of SIDS in the administration of the United Nations Response and Recovery Multi-Stakeholder Trust Fund.

We continue our work to advocate for dedicated funds for SIDS, including within the context of the International Financial Institutions.

I cannot stress enough how vitally important it will be to expand access to concessional financing and existing emergency financing instruments for the SIDS.

It is all about complementing domestically financed stimulus packages. The domestic stimulus packages will not be sufficient on their own to address the considerable needs of SIDS during this crisis and beyond.

It is against this challenging and complex background, that I very much look forward to our discussions here today.

At this point, the World Bank is to be commended for their considerable response to the COVID crisis, from which some of the SIDS have benefited.

In moving forward, we must above all listen to and factor the concerns of these vulnerable countries even more into our policy instruments and initiatives.

I express my sincere gratitude to the panelists for agreeing to brief us on what the World Bank is doing in this regard.

I look forward to listening to you and to our exchanges.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Opening Remarks for the Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 17:25:00 +0000

Opening Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

9 June 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I warmly welcome you all to this Steering Committee meeting on partnerships for Small Island Developing States.

I really must extend my gratitude to the Co-Chairs, Ambassador Webson and Frazier, for your great efforts to bring us together during these complex and rapidly evolving times. Of course, there is a lot of short- term and reactive response these days, plans change left, right and center.

So, it is great to see how you the co-chairs have continued to actively pursue tangible opportunities for the SIDS from this forum.

I would like to appreciate the leadership of the former co-chairs, Amb Geraldine Nason, and Amb Lois Young over the past two years.

I think none of us at the start of the year imagined how the first half of 2020 would turn out. It is an understatement to say we now work with changed circumstances.

More than ever, partnerships for and with SIDS are crucial.

COVID-19 already has impacted and will do so for quite a while on all priority areas of SIDS. Be it the debt crisis, the economy, social needs and human security, and climate action. The list is long!

New and still emerging challenges are now intertwined with the old ones.

More than ever a sustainable and inclusive development affording all a life in dignity has to be at the center of our efforts. When you look at projections how many people potentially now can fall back into extreme poverty, we need to move beyond fear to action.

We can already see several opportunities for sharing lessons already learned and best practices. For example, how do you close and open economies safely to further sustainable development in all of its dimensions.

SIDS and partner countries find themselves at different phases of the pandemic, and therefore also different stages of economic reopening.

While of course each situation is unique, there are some common threads and your evolving knowledge and experience is crucial for SIDS to emerge from the current crisis. But not just to emerge short- term but to do so with a view on realizing their priorities, in particular the 2030 Agenda, the SAMOA Pathway and the Paris Climate agreements.

This is not a time to pause. This is a time to adopt new ways of working.

Let us be creative and use virtual meetings to bring new partners and initiatives to the table. Let us involve much more actively SIDS practitioners and decision makers. It can be very cost- effective and allow for much more participation than often costly physical meetings. Let us take a page from the global medical community.

Excellencies,

Allow me now to turn to a key topic for SIDS - oceans.

All of us are too aware how our oceans are so severely affected by the climate crisis, over-fishing, pollution and biodiversity loss. Imagine, a recent deep dive into the Mariana Trench found plastic bags at the deepest to humankind known ocean depth! SIDS are land and ocean and we must rapidly scale up existing, new and transformative ocean partnerships.

Last year, OHRLLS hosted a high-level dialogue on ocean partnerships for SIDS at the margins of the Our Ocean Conference, in Oslo.

There, President Tommy Remengesau Jr. of Palau underscored the importance of SIDS partnerships and the role of the SIDS GBN in driving partnerships to match countries and regions with interested and willing partners.

I am pleased to share that we have a work programme for the SIDS-GBN to strengthen the role of the private sector in the implementation of sustainable development priorities of SIDS. I am equally pleased to share with you that the 2020 SIDS Global Business Network Forum will convene with the theme “Ocean partnerships for SIDS” . This will take place during the Our Ocean Conference in Palau in December.

The Forum will provide a platform for governments, private sector, and knowledge institutions to explore and build new opportunities and forge new partnerships with SIDS.

Leading up to the Forum, OHRLLS will reach out to the private sector through series of webinars focusing on the ocean sector . This will be done in close consultation with the Steering Committee.

As part of the SIDS GBN project, OHRLLS will develop a knowledge product looking at private sector engagement and partnerships in SIDS. The knowledge product will be published to provide an assessment of trends of current levels of private sector engagement in SIDS.

Additionally, the knowledge product is intended to support capacity development in SIDS and serve as a guidance for SIDS stakeholders,on how to engage with the business community. It is all about how to develop, establish and manage partnerships locally. This would not have been possible without the generous contribution we have received from the Government of Denmark and the Government of Ireland to further the work of the SIDS GBN. Thank you so much!

Last but certainly not least, OHRLLS in cooperation with UN-DESA stands ready to support the Steering Committee and the co-chairs in implementing the programme of work for this year. I hope today’s discussions and the follow-up activities will pursue creative and innovative solutions. Solutions based on strong partnerships where all will benefit from joining forces so that we make sure not to leave the peoples of the SIDS behind.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Statement at the Special Body on Least Developed, Landlocked Developing and Pacific Island Developing Countries

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2020 20:52:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 May 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is good to join you all and I thank ESCAP for inviting OHRLLS to participate.

Just twelve months ago, I am sure none of us would have thought we would meet under these circumstances. Everybody, everywhere for weeks and months now lives an unsettling and extraordinary situation.

So many uncertainties are now ahead of us !

Every country, community, and every single individual in the world is affected in some way or other by COVID-19.

This pandemic teaches us many lessons but it surely has already revealed what economic and social inequalities drive in a pandemic.

We have few certainties at this stage. But we can be certain that the manifold impacts on Least Developed countries , Landlocked Developing countries, and Small Islands Developing States will be disproportionate and that they will be long-lasting.

Already, millions of people are out of employment in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.

There are hardly any safety nets. The typical safety net is the family but if all in a family are impacted, there is dire hardship and we can expect the number of poor and malnourished peoples to double.

Governments already prior to this pandemic had limited fiscal space. Now they are struggling to meet just basic
public health requirements and where they exist, this will further erode existing social protection systems.

Let me not even vision the income and overall economic impacts with country-wide lockdowns. We only have estimates and they do not look good on the devastation this will bring to their narrow and already vulnerable domestic industries and services sectors.

Export earnings are falling at never before witnessed speed. Export orders for billions of dollars have been lost. Remittances diminish rapidly. The tourism sector has collapsed. The coming global recession will further exacerbate this already dire situations.

Sadly, we have a perfect economic and social storm to manage! It is a truly humanitarian crisis.

All this goes way beyond the immediate and medium-term health sector challenges.

Peoples’ very livelihoods are in jeopardy and all sectors of economies and societies are impacted.

Many countries already lagged on the 2030 agenda prior to this pandemic.

Now, it is almost certain that without robust and far reaching global and regional responses, countries and people will be left behind!

Countries urgently need special and FAST action lest we accept to leave them behind!

THE TIME IS NOW.

So, what is OHRLLS doing?

In an immediate action response, we organized a series of virtual briefings.

Our Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, held dialogues with representatives of the distinct LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS groups last month.

The Group of LDCs & LLDCs have already finalized a statement on COVID-19 outlining their special challenges and needs to address the impacts of the pandemic and how to build back better.

The SIDS also made their challenges known to the world.

The DSG assured all possible support of the United Nations system to address and to overcome the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of our advocacy role, OHRLLS has set up a webpage on the impacts of COVID-19 on LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.

Excellencies,

Of course, in such challenging times we must focus on the short - term, on people and if I can say so the land they live on. But if we want to build back better, we must look beyond the individual trees and look at the forest. Our planet is more ocean than land and so the ESCAP theme study before us takes this broader look.

I congratulate ESCAP for your theme study on promoting economic, social and environmental cooperation on oceans for sustainable development.

All our constituent countries but especially the SIDS need enhanced support in all areas identified in the study namely statistics on the oceans, the deteriorating fish stocks and the gaps in fishery management.

I would specifically draw the attention of the international community to SDG targets 14.7 and 14.a .
They call for increasing the economic benefits to SIDS and LDCs from the sustainable use of marine resources. They call for increasing scientific knowledge, develop research capacity and transfer marine technologies.

There is no denying it, and you may join me probably in this thought: keeping things going and often going virtually right now is at times a challenge. BUT WE MUST KEEP GOING.

So, OHRLLS has pushed along with the preparations for LDC5.

Of course, the preparatory meetings scheduled for the next few months, including the regional review meetings in Malawi and Bangladesh, and the joint ECOSOC-PGA meeting had to be postponed.

These were important dialogue meetings and designed to provide critical inputs to the First PrepCom meeting that was to be held in New York from 27 to 30 July 2020.

Member States have started discussing the possibility of rescheduling the Conference and the PrepCom meetings. Once we have the new dates of these events, we will work out the dates of all the Preconference events, including the Asia-Pacific Regional Review meeting.

BUT, our preparations for the Conference are ongoing!

What is already ready or under imminent finalization is:

The report of the Secretary-General on the 10-year implementation of the IPoA,
the synthesis of national reports submitted by LDCs,
a report on UN System Best Practices on Supporting the LDCs, and
the 2020 Policy brief on Advancing SDG7 in LDCs.

We also push head with the preparation for the academic exchange conference, which will be held in Helsinki, Finland.

On LLDCs, we are more than halfway into the implementation timeline of the Vienna Programme of Action.

The Midterm Review, held last year, adopted a political declaration.

The declaration identified critical areas requiring enhanced efforts. This concerns infrastructure and connectivities ranging from transport, ICT to energy.

The declaration called inter alia for:

full implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement;
structural economic transformation and productive capacity building;
private sector development; and strengthening of climate change adaptation and resilience.

The need for enhanced financial resource mobilization was clearly highlighted.

My Office is developing a UN Roadmap for Accelerated Implementation of the VPoA, building on the outcome of the Midterm Review.

On SIDS now.

The High-level Review of the SAMOA Pathway, held last year, once again stressed the need for the international community to mobilize additional development finance. This is necessary to facilitate much needed access to science, technology and innovation.

As you all know, SIDS are heavily impacted by climate change.

We are working with UN- DESA to develop a voluntary disaster fund or financial instrument for SIDS. We also review the Green Climate Fund support for SIDS.

We also support the work of the steering committee on SIDS partnerships to foster existing and build new partnerships to accelerate the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.

In all this, we have one shared thread: the time is NOW and the time is for DEEDS!

More than ever we need to work together. 2020 has already driven home in a sad but very poignant way how we are a shared humanity. It has driven home the very basics on which the United Nations was built some 75 years ago.

More than ever we need the spirit of global solidarity and partnerships.

Our credibility is at stake.

We must ensure that the growth trajectory of the most vulnerable countries does not fall back and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda does not fail in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS.

Thank you all.

Front Page Article:

Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - SAMOA Pathway

Small Island Developing States Call for Enhanced Support for a Resilient Post COVID-19 Recovery

haiti_karen_kasmauski_mcsp_and_jhpiego.jpg

Opening Statement at the Virtual Island Summit 2020

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

8 September 2020 New York, USA

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: AIS Region

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

4 August 2020 New York, USA

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Caribbean Region

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

29 July 2020 New York, USA

Opening Remarks at the Virtual Meeting: Responding to COVID-19 in the SIDS - Access to Concessional Finance

Opening Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

22 July 2020 New York, USA

2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting - Pacific Region

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVES

CO-ORGANISERS

DOCUMENTS

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020 New York, USA

Briefing Remarks to UN Permanent Representatives of SIDS Highlighting the World Bank Group COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Briefing Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

1 July 2020 New York, USA

Opening Remarks for the Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States

Opening Remarks by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

9 June 2020 New York, USA

Statement at the Special Body on Least Developed, Landlocked Developing and Pacific Island Developing Countries

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 May 2020 New York, USA

8 September 2020
New York, USA

4 August 2020
New York, USA

29 July 2020
New York, USA

22 July 2020
New York, USA

21 July 2020
New York, USA

1 July 2020
New York, USA

9 June 2020
New York, USA

21 May 2020
New York, USA