As leaders of island nations around the world prepare to converge on Antigua and Barbuda next week for a major international conference, the Virgin Islands recently hosted a preliminary meeting here in the territory.
The VI, Anguilla and Montserrat — which as overseas territories typically don’t qualify for climate financing — were the focus of the April 25 “Policy Dialogue on Improving Access to Development Finance in Eastern Caribbean Overseas Territories,” according to a press release issued Monday by Benito Wheatley, special envoy for Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley.
The meeting was hosted by the VI government and co-chaired with the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States in Antigua and Barbuda next Monday through Thursday. In Antigua and Barbuda, where the VI will also be represented, discussions will focus largely on the SIDS’ ability to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
VI meeting
The recent VI talks, which were based here but also included remote attendees, focused on positioning several eastern Caribbean governments to obtain better access to development finance for climate resilience and other aspects of sustainable development, according to the press release.
Attendees included nearly 80 participants from 14 UN agencies, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, and the governments of the VI, the United Kingdom, Aruba, Anguilla and Montserrat.
They discussed the challenges experienced by the eastern Caribbean overseas territories due to their lack of access to development finance such as concessional financing, grants and climate finance.
Additionally, the participants discussed the vulnerability of Anguilla, the VI and Montserrat to external shocks such as hurricanes and noted that this vulnerability should be a major factor considered by international donors, development partners and development banks when determining eligibility for development finance.
Other sources of funding discussed included “green finance,” private climate finance, adaptation finance, and blended finance, according to the press release.
Roadmap
To guide the way forward, the VI government, the UNRCO for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and other participants committed to preparing a roadmap to improve Eastern Caribbean overseas territories’ access to development finance based on their vulnerability.
They also committed to strengthening regional and international advocacy for such access.
“This was a very important step in the collaborative efforts by the BVI, UN and other development partners to unlock the development finance needed by Eastern Caribbean overseas territories and other SIDS for their sustainable development and climate resilience,” said Mr. Wheatley, who is also the VI representative to the UN system in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“There is much more work to be done to address this issue if we are to successfully adapt to climate change, achieve the SDGs by 2030, and leave no one behind.”