The Government of Saint Lucia and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations (UNECLAC), hosted the fifth meeting of the Caribbean Development Round Table, under the theme “Promoting Climate Resilience and Sustainable Economic Growth in the Caribbean,” and the twenty-seventh session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee on April 26 and 27.
In frank and pointed remarks, Prime Minister Hon. Allen Chastenet, also the Chairperson of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee called for deliberate action in dealing with climate change, questioning the preparedness of the region for the hurricane season, which is exactly one month away.
“Climate change doesn’t discriminate,” he said. “It does not have any empathy for you because you are a poor country. It does not have any empathy because more people are unemployed. It does not have any empathy because people in your country are older. It does not have any empathy that you are not prepared. There is no pause button that you can press to get your house in order—it is coming. The sad reality for us in the Caribbean and the most frustrating part of what we are having to face is that we can’t control it. Therefore, the only thing we can do is build resilience.
“At the end of every session, I pull out a pen, for the IMF and other financial institutions to be able to classify the depth of this region to build resilience, is a pen. So once more, the hard evidence that the world is not listening and are not emphatic towards the smallest partners, is evidence. So I am appealing to ECLAC to make sure they become the great generation of implementers.”
Financing green investment for resilience building and structural transformation in the Caribbean, the vulnerability of Caribbean economies caused by de risking and challenges to the offshore financial sector, and implementing the ECLAC debt swap initiative, were among a number of topical areas discussed at last week’s meeting.
Meanwhile, the 37th session of ECLAC will be held from May 7-11 2018 in Havana.
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