Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the 2014 Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

The meeting opened Wednesday, 10 July 2013. In the morning, participants heard a keynote address from the Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama. Other speakers were Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General for the Third International Conference on SIDS; Marlene Moses, Chair of the Alliance Of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Permanent Representative of Nauru to the UN; and John Ashe, Permanent Representative of Antigua & Barbuda to the UN and President-elect of the UN General Assembly.

Delegates adopted the meeting agenda, and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) presented findings from 14 national assessments of progress on sustainable development, particularly in relation to the BPOA, MSI and MDGs. Iosefa Maiava, ESCAP Pacific Centre, said the report identified three clusters of goals: addressing climate change impacts, especially ocean acidification and disasters; critical enablers including good governance and sustainable economic management; and means of implementation (MOI) including development partnerships, development financing and triangular cooperation. He highlighted new and emerging issues of importance to Pacific countries, including: health and non-communicable diseases (NCD); social inclusion, especially of women, youth and people with disabilities; population pressures; information and communication technologies; and transportation.

In the late morning and afternoon, member states met in three closed sessions on: an overview of national processes and outcomes; progress to date and remaining gaps in the implementation of the BPOA and the MSI; and practical and pragmatic actions for further implementation of the BPOA and MSI. A parallel session for Major Groups and intergovernmental organizations also met in the afternoon.

Full web coverage available here: 10 Jul

On Thursday morning, while Member States met in closed sessions, ambassadors Robert Aisi, Papua New Guinea, Sofia Borges, Timor-Leste, and Marlene Moses, Nauru, briefed others on progress made in Wednesday afternoon's closed deliberations, which they said had dealt primarily with climate change. Shun-ichi Murata, UNESCAP, chaired the open discussion and circulated a table of priorities from the regional synthesis report on national assessments. The identified priorities were: climate change; health, especially NCDs; social inclusion; infrastructure and urbanization, including water, energy, ICTs and transport; and sustainable resource management, including oceans and fisheries, food security, land, agriculture, forestry, tourism and biodiversity.

Major Groups and partners then discussed topics and strategies for a statement to be presented in an open dialogue with Member States later in the day.

In an open session in the afternoon, Chair Amena Yauvoli, Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Fiji, presented the priorities identified by the parties during the closed meetings. Among the priorities were climate change-related issues and impacts, including oceans and disasters; social inclusion, which covers poverty, education, youth, gender and disability issues; energy; oceans; and sustainable resource management, including food security, forestry, and tourism.

Major Groups and partners presented a statement, and youth delegates called on governments to build strong partnerships with young people, comparing efforts towards sustainable development to the traditional canoes of Tokelau, saying, "We are all family on this great canoe of the world, journeying together towards a better future."

Full web coverage available here: 11 Jul

On Friday morning, Member States continued their discussions with Major Groups and development partners, as Chair Amena Yauvoli (Fiji) invited participants to discuss the presentations made by Major Groups and development partners the previous day. Delegates praised the quality of the partners' statement, while some parties called for a greater focus on implementation. They discussed issues including transparency and aid effectiveness, deep sea mining, gender equality, and building strong partnerships with youth. They expressed hope that the outcome of the document would reflect a distinct Pacific perspective, feeding into preparations for the global SIDS conference in Samoa in September 2014.

Samoa proposed that "SIDS Sustainable Development: Genuine and Global Partnerships" be the theme for the global SIDS conference in 2014, highlighting that her country will graduate from Least Development Country (LDC) status at the end of 2013, and noting the quality and strength of its partnerships. The meeting agreed by acclamation to forward the proposed theme to the Inter-regional Preparatory Meeting in Barbados.

A drafting group worked on outcome text in the afternoon, and the meeting reconvened at 6:40 pm. Chair Yauvoli explained to delegates that the outcome text was being cleaned up and would be distributed to them shortly, with a one-week window remaining for any final comments to be made before the draft would be final. He said the working draft was acknowledged as adopted.

In his closing remarks, Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, thanked the Government of Fiji for hosting the meeting, and congratulated the delegates on the outcome, which he said addressed a range of sustainable development challenges including climate change impacts, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the need for renewable and sustainable energy.

Shun-ichi Murata, UNESCAP, and Filimone Waqabaca, Permanent Secretary for Finance, Fiji, also delivered closing remarks. The meeting closed at 7:04 pm.

Full web coverage available here: 12 Jul