Trinidad and Tobago
Statement on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
by
H.E. Mr. Rodney Charles
Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations
At the
11th Session Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals
on
Cluster 4
Energy, Economic Growth, Employment and Infrastructure
********************************
7 May 2014
United Nations Headquarters
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the fourteen member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
CARCIOM associates with the statement made by the representative of Bolivia on behalf of the G77 and China and the statement made by the Permanent Representative of Nauru on behalf of AOSIS on these focus areas. Energy
CARICOM supports the approach taken by the co-chairs on Energy in the working document.
We would emphasize that indicators in support of the achievement of targets in this goal area should be disaggregated to take into account the different roles played by men and women in relation to energy as well as the needs and circumstances of marginalized groups and rural communities.
The means of implementation on this issue may be addressed as follows:
By 2020 improve the provision of finance, technology transfer and capacity building to developing countries, in particular SIDS for the development of infrastructure, transportation, industry and ICT for the provision of modern energy services.
By 2020 improve access to appropriate technology for the production of base load and peak electric power from sources other than petroleum and for its efficient use in the production of goods and services for SIDS. Increase by 2020 the financial mechanisms available to support capacity building and investment in the transformation to a low carbon energy economy which takes into account the unique and particular circumstances of SIDS. Economic Growth, Employment and Infrastructure On economic growth, employment and infrastructure, whereas we see some value in combining the focus areas of economic growth and employment we are of the view that infrastructure could be addressed as a cross-cutting issue throughout the goal framework with focused treatment in the context of a goal on sustainable cities and human settlements. We will address further comments on infrastructure under the focus area on sustainable cities and human settlements.
In the context of the subtitle of the focus area we would prefer to see "decent work for all" as stated in target B and which is agreed language, rather than the term "decent jobs". On target B we would wish to delete the words "who seek employment" as the need for the inclusion of this phrase is unclear. On target E we would wish to replace SMEs with the phrase "micro, small and medium sized enterprises". Our group has repeatedly made the point that micro enterprise development is
extraordinarily important for our micro economies. We would also re-phrase this target to ensure that it is more specific and measurable so that it would read "Average annual increase of x% in proporition of GNI generated by micro, small and medium sized enterprises through to 2030". We believe that such a target could be measured by data that is already available and that indicators may be disaggregated to focus on specific groups. We agree with the sense of target J, however it remains very vague and may pose substantial challenges for implementation in many countries, including for some in our own region where the statistics indicate that the informal sector actually exceeds the formal sector in size. While we've noted that clustering the focus areas of economic growth and employment could produce valuable synergies it seems that some issues have been omitted. In particular those that relate to systemic and global actions to be taken in support of economic growth and job creation. We would therefore propose the following additional targets for this focus area: - Steadily increase the number of new industries related to environmentally sustainable products and services. - Promote policies and measures to reduce the transaction costs of remittances - Ensure favourable market access for industrial products and processed commodities of developing countries Means of implementation in this area should address: - Enhancing debt sustainability in small, vulnerable, highly indebted middle income countries; - Promoting the development of creative models for concessionary financing for highly indebted middle income countries; - Prioritization of the development and use of alternatives to GDP and GNI as measures of overall development. Alternative measures must take into account the economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities faced by countries such as those in the CARICOM sub-region and other SIDS. I thank you.
by
H.E. Mr. Rodney Charles
Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations
At the
11th Session Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals
on
Cluster 4
Energy, Economic Growth, Employment and Infrastructure
********************************
7 May 2014
United Nations Headquarters
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the fourteen member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
CARCIOM associates with the statement made by the representative of Bolivia on behalf of the G77 and China and the statement made by the Permanent Representative of Nauru on behalf of AOSIS on these focus areas. Energy
CARICOM supports the approach taken by the co-chairs on Energy in the working document.
We would emphasize that indicators in support of the achievement of targets in this goal area should be disaggregated to take into account the different roles played by men and women in relation to energy as well as the needs and circumstances of marginalized groups and rural communities.
The means of implementation on this issue may be addressed as follows:
By 2020 improve the provision of finance, technology transfer and capacity building to developing countries, in particular SIDS for the development of infrastructure, transportation, industry and ICT for the provision of modern energy services.
By 2020 improve access to appropriate technology for the production of base load and peak electric power from sources other than petroleum and for its efficient use in the production of goods and services for SIDS. Increase by 2020 the financial mechanisms available to support capacity building and investment in the transformation to a low carbon energy economy which takes into account the unique and particular circumstances of SIDS. Economic Growth, Employment and Infrastructure On economic growth, employment and infrastructure, whereas we see some value in combining the focus areas of economic growth and employment we are of the view that infrastructure could be addressed as a cross-cutting issue throughout the goal framework with focused treatment in the context of a goal on sustainable cities and human settlements. We will address further comments on infrastructure under the focus area on sustainable cities and human settlements.
In the context of the subtitle of the focus area we would prefer to see "decent work for all" as stated in target B and which is agreed language, rather than the term "decent jobs". On target B we would wish to delete the words "who seek employment" as the need for the inclusion of this phrase is unclear. On target E we would wish to replace SMEs with the phrase "micro, small and medium sized enterprises". Our group has repeatedly made the point that micro enterprise development is
extraordinarily important for our micro economies. We would also re-phrase this target to ensure that it is more specific and measurable so that it would read "Average annual increase of x% in proporition of GNI generated by micro, small and medium sized enterprises through to 2030". We believe that such a target could be measured by data that is already available and that indicators may be disaggregated to focus on specific groups. We agree with the sense of target J, however it remains very vague and may pose substantial challenges for implementation in many countries, including for some in our own region where the statistics indicate that the informal sector actually exceeds the formal sector in size. While we've noted that clustering the focus areas of economic growth and employment could produce valuable synergies it seems that some issues have been omitted. In particular those that relate to systemic and global actions to be taken in support of economic growth and job creation. We would therefore propose the following additional targets for this focus area: - Steadily increase the number of new industries related to environmentally sustainable products and services. - Promote policies and measures to reduce the transaction costs of remittances - Ensure favourable market access for industrial products and processed commodities of developing countries Means of implementation in this area should address: - Enhancing debt sustainability in small, vulnerable, highly indebted middle income countries; - Promoting the development of creative models for concessionary financing for highly indebted middle income countries; - Prioritization of the development and use of alternatives to GDP and GNI as measures of overall development. Alternative measures must take into account the economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities faced by countries such as those in the CARICOM sub-region and other SIDS. I thank you.
Stakeholders