TORTOLA, BVI – The representatives of 16 Caribbean governments have established the Caribbean Subregional Sustainable Development Network (CSSDN) aimed at strengthening regional cooperation on sustainable development. The network was formalised after a virtual debriefing on the eighth meeting of the forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.
The network will facilitate closer engagement between officials actively involved in the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the CSSDN will also support the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) and provide a platform for ongoing collective engagement with the wider UN system on relevant sustainable development issues in the subregion.
Vice chair of UN ECLAC and British Virgin Islands special envoy Benito Wheatley chaired the meeting and was selected to serve as CSSDN interim chair, while Latoya Clarke, programme director and SDG Focal Point at the Planning Institute of Jamaica, was selected to serve as interim vice chair.
The debriefing also provided participants with official updates by UN agencies that included:
- A progress report on the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) delivered by representatives of the SIDS Unit of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ (UN DESA), who included Sainivalati Navoti, chief of the SIDS Unit; Emanuela Calabrini, senior sustainable development officer; and Anya Ihsan Thomas, sustainable development officer.
- A presentation of the outcomes of the 8th meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development and the current status of the SDGs in the Caribbean, delivered by Abdullahi Abdulkadri, coordinator, statistics and social development unit, ECLAC and Diane Quarless, chief of the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean in Port of Spain.
- A presentation on productive development policy, delivered by Paul Wander, economic affairs officer, division of production, productivity and management, ECLAC.
Special recognition was given at the close of the meeting to the outgoing chief of the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean in Port of Spain, Diane Quarless, for her outstanding contribution to the sustainable development of the Caribbean during her tenure in office.
The debriefing was convened by the British Virgin Islands with the support of ECLAC and attended by the government representatives of Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Curacao, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sint Maarten, and Suriname.
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