4 July 2013: The Caribbean Regional Preparatory Meeting for the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) adopted the Kingston Outcome, which will be the basis of the Caribbean regional position at the upcoming Inter-regional Preparatory Meeting. The outcome document details gaps and constraints related to implementing the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) and Mauritius Strategy for Implementation (MSI), and offers recommendations on strengthening the implementation framework.

The Caribbean meeting took place in Kingston, Jamaica, from 2-4 July 2013. It addressed “SIDS Sustainable Development Agenda from a Caribbean Perspective” and “Regional issues on the SIDS Sustainable Development Agenda,” through panels on climate change and natural and man-made disasters, sustainable energy, macroeconomics and trade, social policy, and protection, conservation and sustainable use of the region’s natural resources.

The meeting also included presentations and interactive dialogue with the UN system and regional organizations on ensuring integrated approaches regarding the emerging new UN institutional framework (post-Rio+20 outcomes and the post-2015 development agenda) and the positioning of SIDS within it. An interactive dialogue took place with Major Groups of the region on their contribution to the implementation of the BPOA/MSI.

Participants noted a unique historical opportunity this year to advance SIDS’ sustainable development agenda, including through processes on reforming the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), establishing the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development (HLPF), the technology and finance mechanisms, creation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 2014 Conference, and the election of John Ashe from Antigua and Barbuda as President of the 68th UN General Assembly (UNGA).

The next step in the 2014 preparatory process is the Pacific regional preparatory meeting, taking place in Nadi, Fiji, from 10-12 July, followed by the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea (AIMS) regional preparatory meeting in Victoria, Seychelles, from 17-19 July, and the inter-regional preparatory meeting in Barbados, on 26-28 August. Hiroko Morita-Lou, Chief, SIDS Unit, DESA, said the Secretariat will work on a draft synthesis of the three regional meetings with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) working group in New York, but this will continue to be a SIDS-owned and SIDS-led process. [IISD RS Meeting Coverage] [IISD RS Overall Coverage of 2014 Preparatory Process] [DESA Website on 2014 Conference]