RC Trebucq's Remarks at the UN-BVI Sustainable Development Forum

Watch the full video remarks here. 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 

• Dr. Hon. Natalio D. Wheatley, Premier and Minister of Finance, Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change
• Ministers of Government, Special Envoy of the Premier and other Senior Government officials, 
• Heads of UN Agencies present (ILO, UNESCO, ECLAC) and Colleagues from UN Agencies represented in person and online, 
• Ladies and Gentlemen, 

At the outset, let me thank The Hon. Premier for the warm hospitality extended to me and the visiting UN delegation.  

We meet today for this inaugural BVI-UN dialogue on Sustainable Development to continue the journey of strengthening the relationship between the UN and the government and people of BVI. 

I’m very pleased to be joined in-person by my colleague Heads of Agencies, Diane Quarless, Director of ECLAC Office for the Caribbean, Dennis Zulu, the Director of ILO in the Caribbean, and Anna Paolini, the Director of UNESCO in the Caribbean and colleagues from UNDP, UNICEF and WFP for this visit. UNW, UNFPA, IOM, OHCHR are online. 10 UN entities. Thanks colleagues.

Other colleagues who couldn’t come in-person now join online to ensure they express full support from their respective agencies. As you can witness, you have here the UN team that has joined full force.

Hon Premier and distinguished participants, yesterday, I saw first-hand the impressive progress already achieved in recovering from the 2017 storms in the Virgin Gorda Island. I have seen how infrastructure was rebuilt in a more resilient way (e.g., a school, the health centre, government centre and sports facilities). I want to commend the Government and the people of BVI for the progress in recovery so far. Of course, much work still needs to be done. UN will continue to work with you to deliver a complete and durable recovery, while also building resilience to future shocks.

The UN was also present to support the BVI during the COVID crisis, especially supporting the health needs and strengthening of the social protection at a time when the most vulnerable needed it most.

Hon Premier, we are meeting today at a critical moment. The world is not on course to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Poverty and hunger are again growing. 

The cost of food, energy, and finance has risen sharply, with a devastating impact on vulnerable countries and communities. Inequalities and gender discrimination are on the rise. 

The climate crisis is escalating and continuing to disproportionately affect Small Island Developing States. Right here in BVI, we have already seen the impact of extreme weather events like Hurricanes Irma and Maria which have had devastating consequences on your infrastructure, lives, and livelihoods.

Multiple crises continue to undermine efforts of countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. At the same time, we continue to see the resolve of Nations like BVI to rise to these challenges. 

While it is true that your classification as an overseas territory limits your access to traditional overseas development assistance, your efforts to develop a bold and ambitions National Development Plan is testimony to the commitment to overcome the inherent vulnerabilities and limitations as a small island and to deliver on the Agenda 2030. The adoption of a MVI will be critical along with UN support.

The UN has developed a clear plan to help BVI and other countries in the Caribbean recover from impact of COVID-19, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and build long term resilience to shocks.

This is the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF) for the period 2022-2026. It will coalesce the technical capacities of the UN Development System. Under this framework in the BVI,  we have developed a tailored country implementation plan to achieve 3 priorities:

1.    First, we are increasing our support to the economic resilience agenda by deploying the support of the UN Development System to enhance governments’ efforts at economic diversification. For example, through initiatives to sustainably develop the blue economy we collaborate with government to develop a roadmap which should result in building a pipeline of investible projects in the Blue Economy. The expertise of the UN system in mobilizing both public and private financing to deliver on the promise of a more diversified economy is available. Similarly, we are supporting the digital transformation agenda and we are keen to expand this area for collaboration.  This is imperative to promote economic recovery from multiple crises and to mitigate against future economic shocks.

2.    Secondly, the UN continues to intensify efforts to improve the well-being of citizens and ensure that no-one is left behind. To do this effectively, sex-disaggregated population data remains crucial. With The Joint Programme, SDG-F, currently being implemented here in BVI (UNICEF, ILO, UNESCO, WFO) aims to strengthen social protection and building capacity of youth to participate meaningfully in the labour market. This is an example of how the UN intends to deliver on this important commitment of Leaving No One Behind. Moreover, considering the importance of investing in Youth and Youth empowerment in the NDP, we stand ready to support your efforts, including to update the national Youth policy.

3.    Third, we look forward to developing multi-stakeholder partnerships to enhance national capacity for climate change adaptation and gender responsive and inclusive disaster risk reduction. This will be supported by strengthened collaboration on natural resources and ecosystems management.  

Our mission today is to listen and better understand how we can translate these commitments in a way that improves the day-to-day lives of the people of BVI. As a result, we will update the CIP for the year 2023 and 2024, to support the ambitions the BVI Govt has underlined in its new NDP.

To that effect, the principles of good governance, transparency and accountability are central to our work, and critical to achieve prosperity and well-being for all.

As we look to the future of our collaboration, we intend to discuss today what technical assistance and assets the UN could mobilize. I also look forward to an open reflection on what is the right business model for the UN partnerships with Overseas Territories like the BVI, to deliver on our shared commitment to achieving the SDGs.

In closing, allow me again to congratulate the Government on the recovery post Hurricane Irma and Maria; for your effort to align your strategies to the SDGs and for you strong sense of partnership.