September 2003: Representatives from seven Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and the South China Sea (AIMS) Island countries gathered from 1-5 September 2003 in Cape Verde, together with representatives from other countries and numerous intergovernmental, international, regional and national organizations. Participants heard presentations on national assessment reports, describing achievements on sustainable development in the AIMS region, challenges for implementing the Barbados Programme of Action (BPOA) and new and emerging issues. The meeting also explored ways and means to improve regional cooperation and constraints for the AIMS group not shared by the other regional groups of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Delegates acknowledged the diversity of the region, characterized by geographic dispersion and differences in levels of development, and reflected in varying degrees of implementation of the BPOA in the region.
The results of the SIDS regional meetings will form the basis for discussion at the interregional preparatory meeting to be held in Nassau, Bahamas, in January 2003. A preparatory meeting will then convene in New York, New York, from 14-16 April 2004. The International Conference on Small Island Developing States will meet in Mauritius in August/September 2004. [http://www.sidsnet.org]