29 April 2014: UN Member States concluded the second reading of the Zero Draft of the Outcome of the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), ending the intersessional meeting of the Preparatory Committee.

The intersessional meeting opened on 21 April 2014, at UN Headquarters in New York, US. Topics addressed included: Sustainable economic development; Oceans and Seas; Disaster Risk; Health and NCDs; Food Security; Water; Sustainable Consumption and Production; Sustainable Tourism; Climate Change; Sustainable Energy; Sustainable Transport; Forests; Desertification, land degradation and drought; Biodiversity; Management of chemicals and waste, including hazardous waste; Social Development; Partnerships; Financing; Trade; Capacity Building; Technology Transfer; Data Collection and Management; Institutional Support to SIDS; and Monitoring and Accountability.

Consultations reflected areas of convergence seemed to include Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Food Security, Health and NCDs, Sustainable Consumption and Production, Sustainable Tourism, and Water. Member States also supported Gender Equality, welcoming the EU’s proposal to integrate gender equality and women empowerment in the Food Security section.

Delegates considered Priorities for the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Technology Transfer as important cross-cutting issues, but underscored that these areas are being discussed in parallel in other UN fora. In order to avoid duplication, they recommended less emphasis on them at this point in the process.

On Partnerships and Financing, Australia, Canada, the EU and the US underlined that the Conference should focus on exploring innovative partnerships, especially with the private sector and including South-South cooperation. In this respect, they highlighted the importance of finding the right balance in the tone of the document, stating that the current draft is too prescriptive. They also noted that the diversity among SIDS should be accurately reflected in the document. Nauru, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China (G77/China), emphasized that the new global partnership for development should be based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR), with North-South cooperation and official development assistance (ODA) at the core.

At the end of the intersessional meeting, which concluded on 29 April at the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the UN, co-facilitators Karen Tan of Singapore and Philip Taula of New Zealand reminded the group that the ultimate objective is to finalize the outcome document at the second and final meeting of the PrepCom, taking place on 23-27 June 2014.

In order to advance negotiations on the language, they proposed to work with relevant groups of States on different parts of the text, constantly bringing the language back to the entire group. Until PrepCom 2, the co-facilitators said they will focus their efforts on streamlining, consolidating and structuring the outcome document. [IISD RS Story on Suspension of Intersessional] [Website of Intersessional Meeting] [IISD RS Sources]