Honourable Prime Minister,
Honourable Ministers,
Honourable CEO, Representative of AOSIS Chairs,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to be here with you today, in Alofa, at the Pacific SIDS regional preparatory meeting.
This is the third and the final regional preparatory meeting for the 4th International Conference on SIDS before we move to Cabo Verde, for the inter- regional meeting.
I thank the Government and people of the Kingdom of Tonga for agreeing to host this important meeting, and for their warm and hospitable welcome to this beautiful island nation.
Excellencies,
The Pacific region represents a rich and diverse heritage, with strong ties and a special relationship with and reliance on the natural environment. This relationship has become strained by growing economic, social and environmental challenges, while at the same time guiding your way forward.
For the past 30 years, Pacific island nations have worked together with international partners, to advance economic development and social progress for your peoples.
But your efforts have been consistently constrained by the environmental, economic, and social realities that you face as small island developing States.
You have been battered by the impacts of a rapidly changing climate as sea-level rise and increased intense weather events wreak havoc on your already fragile ecosystems, compounding the challenges to food and energy security faced by nations of small size in remote locations. A narrow economic base fuels unemployment and brain drain, and high levels of indebtedness limit your fiscal and policy space.
Much of these challenges are driven by external factors that heighten your inherent vulnerabilities, and the world must step up to work with you to ensure that you are not left behind to solve these dilemmas alone.
Excellencies,
The 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, which you developed in 2019, spoke well to the interconnected nature of the challenges before SIDS and the importance of international action in shaping lasting solutions.
Your efforts at implementation were since impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the confluence of crises which followed, and from which we are still trying to recover. But this meeting and the 4th SIDS conference to be held in Antigua and Barbuda next year provide an opportunity to reinvigorate and accelerate this and similar initiatives that can drive the achievement of sustainable development in this and other SIDS regions.
At the same time, we have to acknowledge that we have a steep climb ahead.
At the midpoint of the Sustainable Development Goals, only about 15 per cent of SDG targets with data are on track to be reached by 2030. The regional assessment report prepared by the Secretariat to inform this meeting generally confirm these trends in the Pacific region.
The UN Secretary-General has proposed several measures to bring us back on course. Among them is the SDG Stimulus and reform of the international financial architecture so that it operates as a global safety net, providing access to affordable long-term finance. New measures for concessional finance, such as MVI, will also be crucial, and we must move beyond an income-only perspective of development and graduation readiness.
Excellencies,
The international community has provided long-standing cooperation and support to SIDS as your island nations have worked to make progress. But much more remains to be done to match the magnitude of the challenges encountered.
As the Secretary-General of the Conference, I can promise that the UN system stands ready to support you in all ways that we can. I will work closely with the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, in her capacity as Special Advisor for the Conference, as well as with the entire UN system, to ensure that SIDS4 culminates in a meaningful, action-oriented outcome laying the groundwork for a sustainable future.
Finally, I thank all those that have worked tirelessly, to support this regional preparatory meeting, the UN Country Teams, the Resident Coordinator Offices in the Pacific, and the CROP Agencies. I appreciate especially the presence of the Executive Secretary for ESCAP and thank the ESCAP Pacific Team for the substantive support to preparations in this region.
The next few days offer the opportunity to crystalize regional priorities and propose transformational actions for all SIDS, especially for the Pacific SIDS.
I look forward to a productive meeting.
Thank you.