Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS)
Remarks
by
Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya
Under-Secretary-General
High Representative
for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing States
at
High-level Breakfast Event on Partnerships for SIDS
Private Dinning 6, Delegates Dinning Room,
22 September 2016
New York
Excellencies, Heads of Governments,
Honourable Ministers,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is Gyan Chandra Acharya. I am the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.
It is my honour to be your moderator for this morning.
My office, UN-OHRLLS, is honoured to support, together with DESA, the work of the steering committee on SIDS partnerships. The committee, chaired by Ambassadors Sareer and Cardi of Maldives and Italy have already begun their work, including in following-up on the over 300 partnerships that were announced in 2014 in Apia, Samoa, at the Third International Conference on SIDS.
Partnership has always been the cornerstone upon which international discourse and action on SIDS sustainable development is premised. This was reaffirmed and acknowledged by SIDS and the international community over the last 22 years from Barbados, through to Mauritius and Samoa. The theme for the Third International Conference on SIDS convened in Apia, Samoa, on – The Sustainable Development of SIDS through Genuine and Durable Partnerships – epitomized this.
The mandate for my office also dictates that advocacy efforts we undertake in favour of SIDS are done in partnership with ‘the relevant parts of the United Nations as well as with the civil society, media, academia and foundations’.
Some recent examples of these partnerships through our advocacy work include our increased dialogue and engagement with the IFIs on SIDS specific issues and will continue to do so. We have convened a number of joint activities with UN system entities on SIDS priorities including on, coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes, disaster risk reduction, climate change and renewable energy. We have collaborated with foundations on issues concerning ocean conservation in SIDS. We have collaborated with other SIDS partnership entities like GLISPA. We have partnered with EU backed Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to promote sustainable agriculture in SIDS. We have jointly convened a symposium on SIDS biodiversity with the American Museum of Natural History. We will continue to do this.
Recognizing that sustainable development involves a broad coalition, including the private sector, my office has been increasing its advocacy efforts towards the private sector as well, to encourage this important stakeholder to be more involved in the sustainable development of SIDS.
In Samoa, we convened, jointly with the government of Samoa, a private sector partnerships forum in a pre-conference event that established the SIDS Global Business Network, and saw the announcement of 20 initiatives and partnerships in the areas of ocean conservation, connectivity and transportation, sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, disaster risk reduction, and renewable energy.
Last March, in Aruba, we convened, jointly with the government of Aruba and the Aruba PPP centre with support from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a follow-up of the Samoa private sector partnerships forum, with a conference on Public Private Partnerships. We also officially launched the SIDS Global Business Network web platform. In this connection I would like to thank the government of Denmark for their support in the development of the web platform.
The global network will act as a global resource hub to complement and connect the national and regional work done by SIDS private sector, global businesses, governments, civil society and local communities on strengthening private sector partnerships in SIDS in areas including oceans, connectivity, sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, disaster risk reduction, renewable energy and finance. The global network will build a bridge between the private sector from small islands and their development partners from the North and the South.
Going forward UN-OHRLLS will continue to promote the SIDS Global Business Network as a platform through which both global and SIDS private sector.
The need for coherence and alignment of our work with the private sector partnerships with the broader SIDS Partnerships Framework and the steering committee is self-evident.
I thank you for your kind attention.
by
Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya
Under-Secretary-General
High Representative
for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing States
at
High-level Breakfast Event on Partnerships for SIDS
Private Dinning 6, Delegates Dinning Room,
22 September 2016
New York
Excellencies, Heads of Governments,
Honourable Ministers,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is Gyan Chandra Acharya. I am the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS.
It is my honour to be your moderator for this morning.
My office, UN-OHRLLS, is honoured to support, together with DESA, the work of the steering committee on SIDS partnerships. The committee, chaired by Ambassadors Sareer and Cardi of Maldives and Italy have already begun their work, including in following-up on the over 300 partnerships that were announced in 2014 in Apia, Samoa, at the Third International Conference on SIDS.
Partnership has always been the cornerstone upon which international discourse and action on SIDS sustainable development is premised. This was reaffirmed and acknowledged by SIDS and the international community over the last 22 years from Barbados, through to Mauritius and Samoa. The theme for the Third International Conference on SIDS convened in Apia, Samoa, on – The Sustainable Development of SIDS through Genuine and Durable Partnerships – epitomized this.
The mandate for my office also dictates that advocacy efforts we undertake in favour of SIDS are done in partnership with ‘the relevant parts of the United Nations as well as with the civil society, media, academia and foundations’.
Some recent examples of these partnerships through our advocacy work include our increased dialogue and engagement with the IFIs on SIDS specific issues and will continue to do so. We have convened a number of joint activities with UN system entities on SIDS priorities including on, coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes, disaster risk reduction, climate change and renewable energy. We have collaborated with foundations on issues concerning ocean conservation in SIDS. We have collaborated with other SIDS partnership entities like GLISPA. We have partnered with EU backed Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) to promote sustainable agriculture in SIDS. We have jointly convened a symposium on SIDS biodiversity with the American Museum of Natural History. We will continue to do this.
Recognizing that sustainable development involves a broad coalition, including the private sector, my office has been increasing its advocacy efforts towards the private sector as well, to encourage this important stakeholder to be more involved in the sustainable development of SIDS.
In Samoa, we convened, jointly with the government of Samoa, a private sector partnerships forum in a pre-conference event that established the SIDS Global Business Network, and saw the announcement of 20 initiatives and partnerships in the areas of ocean conservation, connectivity and transportation, sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, disaster risk reduction, and renewable energy.
Last March, in Aruba, we convened, jointly with the government of Aruba and the Aruba PPP centre with support from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a follow-up of the Samoa private sector partnerships forum, with a conference on Public Private Partnerships. We also officially launched the SIDS Global Business Network web platform. In this connection I would like to thank the government of Denmark for their support in the development of the web platform.
The global network will act as a global resource hub to complement and connect the national and regional work done by SIDS private sector, global businesses, governments, civil society and local communities on strengthening private sector partnerships in SIDS in areas including oceans, connectivity, sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, disaster risk reduction, renewable energy and finance. The global network will build a bridge between the private sector from small islands and their development partners from the North and the South.
Going forward UN-OHRLLS will continue to promote the SIDS Global Business Network as a platform through which both global and SIDS private sector.
The need for coherence and alignment of our work with the private sector partnerships with the broader SIDS Partnerships Framework and the steering committee is self-evident.
I thank you for your kind attention.