Sixteen Caribbean governments have formed a new network designed to strengthen regional collaboration on sustainable development.
The Caribbean Subregional Sustainable Development Network was formalised recently at a virtual debriefing on the Eighth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, according to Virgin Islands Special Envoy Benito Wheatley.
“The network will facilitate closer engagement between officials actively involved in the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” explained a press release from Mr. Wheatley. “In collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the CSSDN will also support the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee and provide a platform for ongoing collective engagement with the wider UN system on relevant sustainable development issues in the subregion.”
Mr. Wheatley, who chaired the virtual meeting as vice chair of UN ECLAC, was selected to serve as CSSDN interim chair.
Latoya Clarke, programme director and Sustainable Development Goals focal point at the Planning Institute of Jamaica, was selected to serve as interim vice chair.
The debriefing also provided participants with various updates from UN agencies:
• a progress report on the implementation of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States delivered by representatives of the SIDS Unit of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs;
• a presentation on the outcomes of the Eighth 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 region; and
• a presentation on productive development policy. The debriefing was convened by the VI with the support of ECLAC, and it was also attended by government representatives from Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, the Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Curacao, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten and Suriname, according to Mr. Wheatley.
