Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - Pacific Region

Closing Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 19:02:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you Simona for so ably moderating the last session and your summary of our discussions.

I thank all focal points and our partners for your substantive and productive contributions.

We have taken a step forward.

Our exchanges have provided us with a wealth of information on the situation of SIDS in the wake of COVID.

Most importantly, we have gained insight into how we can move forward together.

Your assessments will be reflected in the work of OHRLLS.

This will already be so when we move forward with the focal point meetings of the Caribbean and AIS regions in the coming weeks.

These important takeaways will feed into , as much as possible, other regional meetings, and there will be a summary report, which will be made available in due course. I hope fast !

Thank you all so much again.

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Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 14:22:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome you to our meeting of National Focal Points of the Pacific region SIDS.

I thank you for coming together via this virtual platform at a time when the challenges to your countries are severe. But maybe that is precisely why we must meet because the time is NOW for action.

Yes, we face a health pandemic but a pandemic that shows so many interconnected features!

So, you, the national focal points, and your work are more important than ever to enhance coherence of SIDS issues in UN processes be it at the national, regional or global levels.

You are a critical force in steering the focus and efforts of OHRLLS in particular but also to the UN system so that targeted support and policy advice are provided.

I also express my gratitude to the colleagues from the UN and other international and regional organisations for your active participation and your spirit of partnership in this endeavour.

Given the COVID pandemic, we are not able to hold our regular in person meeting of the national focal points, which was originally scheduled to be held in Antigua & Barbuda at the end of the month.

We decided to organize a virtual meeting in the meantime, in anticipation of the face to face meeting still to take place in Antigua & Barbuda at a later date.

The time differences and certain technical constraints have made it unfortunately necessary that we convene separate regional meetings.

Regrettably, this does not allow for the cross-regional discussions and face-to-face networking that are so important to this mechanism.

In spite of these constraints and shortcomings, it is essential to convene these virtual meetings.

It is essential that you the national focal points remain the driving force on sharing of information, lessons learned and best practices. This is perhaps more important than ever.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Last year, the high level Mid Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway revealed that while some tangible progress had been made over the past five years in implementation, major gaps remain and challenges must be addressed with urgency.

We saw the glass as half full. The COVID-19 pandemic threatens hard won progress and to turn the glass into half empty.

The pandemic triggers a new array of challenges to implementation, while aggravating existing ones.

In the immediate, COVID-19 has laid bare the weaknesses of the health sector in SIDS.

It has negatively affected the education sector.

This is especially the case for the most vulnerable with unequal access to digital technology infrastructure.

The pandemic has put tremendous pressure on already limited social protection systems and has triggered large-scale unemployment, which disproportionately impacts on women and the poor and vulnerable.

Over the past few months, SIDS have experienced an unprecedented decline in economic activity.

Global supply chains are disrupted.

A major income earner, tourism, has almost come to a standstill.

The all important remittance flows have dwindled.

Add to this, commodity price shocks, major loss of foreign investment and challenges in mobilizing resources in capital markets for some SIDS,.

Never before as far as I can recall have we seen such limited fiscal space to both respond to COVID-19 and to build back better.

The storm is near perfect.

With the closure of borders, many of the more remote small island communities are simply cut off and have become even more vulnerable.

Travel and related restrictions add to insurmountable hurdles such as how to address the most recent category 5 cyclone Harold in the Pacific.

A cyclone which once more has greatly affected lives, livelihoods, and infrastructures in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and my own country Tonga.

It is clear that SIDS will need targeted and effective support - and they need it NOW.

The UN system has prioritized the most vulnerable countries, including SIDS, in its response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

OHRLLS continues to advocate for SIDS on a range of issues, including on access to concessional financing, debt and food security.

Together with and through the focal point mechanism, we are working to build capacities to respond to the range of shocks facing SIDS.

We must do that because we must get back on track in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.

The SIDS National Focal Point Guide will be circulated in due course.

We will also continue to explore ways to implement the capacity building strategy that we have shared with you earlier in the year.

As a part of this effort, we will be working with Malta and the Small States Centre for Excellence toward the recovery of the tourism sector in SIDS. We will share more on this in the coming weeks.

We also work toward finalizing the toolkit that we considered during last year’s focal point meeting.

This toolkit is there to provide guidance to national governments and relevant stakeholders on effective and harmonized monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway.

A key feature is to align with the monitoring and reporting frameworks of other international agreements, including the SDGs and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction.

One of the biggest challenges of finalizing the toolkit is the lack of a clear reporting framework, with validated targets and indicators, for those areas of the SAMOA Pathway that do not overlap in categorization and focus with the SDGs or Sendai Framework.

Once more, let me say the driver has to be SIMPLIFICATION.

Last year, the United Nations General Assembly called upon the Secretary-General to identify those SAMOA Pathway priority areas not covered by the SDGs or the Sendai Framework.

The request asked to develop targets and indicators for those priority areas.

This work will build on the work done by OHRLLS on the toolkit and provide the validation process for these targets and indicators.

OHRLLS is working with DESA to complete this work next year September.

This, I really hope, will allow us to better evaluate and track success in the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway. Given the multiplication of challenges from COVID to climate change related disasters this is more critical than ever.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our meeting is our opportunity to take an honest look at responses put in place and those that are still needed because we must get back on track to realize the SAMOA Pathway and the 2030 Agenda in SIDS.

With us are resource persons and country representatives from across the region. I thank you all for sharing your challenges, strategies and approaches in response to COVID-19 at the national, regional and global levels.

The situation the SIDS and their peoples face demand that we have an open, frank and action-oriented discussion.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you that we launched our new website last week under the UN online umbrella at www.un.org/ohrlls. We hope that you will find the website to be an important resource for information on events, reports and activities carried out by the office, relevant official documentation and other reports covering the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS and on how global trends, from COVID-19 to climate change, are playing out in the world’s most vulnerable countries.

This website will also be fully integrated to the advocacy and social media work of the office, providing a forum for information exchange on ways to move forward.

I look forward to listening to you.

Thank you.

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Opening Remarks at the Online Briefing Session on Sea-Level Rise and Maritime Boundaries in the Pacific

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 20:26:00 +0000

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

2 July 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I welcome you to our online briefing session.

We are here together in the follow up to an expert workshop OHRLLS organized last year together with DPPA on “Climate change, conflict prevention and sustainable peace. Perspectives from the Pacific”. The workshop was made possible with the support of the Permanent Mission of Nauru and the Permanent Mission of New Zealand.

I am genuinely delighted that today’s event reflects the continuation of the partnership with DPPA, together with the Pacific Island Forum Chair and the Office of Legal Affairs.

A big thank you to all our partners for your steady collaboration.

It is this kind of collaborations and partnership that can advance the Secretary-General’s vision of the UN working more effectively together on interconnected issues.

Today’s briefing covers two vital issues , two interconnected issues for SIDS: sea level rise due to climate change and maritime boundaries.

Allow me to repeat once more a key fact: SIDS may be small but are big ocean countries!

SIDS face a common threat from climate change and atoll nations are at especially high risk from sea-level rise.

Maritime boundaries, including their Exclusive Economic Zones, are of critical importance to so many facets of SIDS livelihoods .

The issues range from economies, to marine resource management including mining and fisheries and jurisdiction and tourism, to mention but a few.

Members of the Pacific Islands Forum have made important progress in depositing information related to their maritime boundaries with OLA, as well as on regional efforts.

Today’s meeting is about providing a platform to bring together the PIF and the different sub-regions of the AOSIS to share information and experience on approaches, challenges and success stories.

We have several technical experts with us to answer any questions as needed.

I hope together we can advance today on our common objectives and address the broader multi-faceted threats of climate change.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - Pacific Region

Closing Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020 New York, USA

Opening Statement at the 2020 SIDS National Focal Point Meeting: Pacific Region

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 July 2020 New York, USA

Opening Remarks at the Online Briefing Session on Sea-Level Rise and Maritime Boundaries in the Pacific

Opening Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

2 July 2020 New York, USA

21 July 2020
New York, USA

21 July 2020
New York, USA

2 July 2020
New York, USA