RC Trebucq's Remarks at the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Development Partners Coordination Meeting

Watch the full remarks here:

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

•    Honourable Montgomery Daniel, Acting Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 

•    Honourable Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology

•    Honourable Ministers & Members of the Cabinet

•    Ambassadors

•    Permanent Secretaries & other officials of the Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

•    Development Partners

•    Colleagues, Heads of Agencies and other UN staff

Good morning,  

It is my pleasure to be back in beautiful Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and on behalf of the UN Team for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, I extend a warm welcome to you all to this morning’s Development Partners’ Coordination Meeting. 

Today we have 17 development organisations represented, in-person and virtually, which is testament to your commitment to helping Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on its journey to building resilience.

It also symbolizes Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ enduring cooperation with the international community.  

The theme for today’s meeting ‘From Recovery to Resilience’ is very timely as St. Vincent and the Grenadines transitions from successive shocks including the 2021 eruption of La Soufriere Volcano, and the COVID-19. This country, like many others in the Caribbean, continues to grapple with increased indebtedness and limited access to finance, the impact of the cost of living crisis, and perennial vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters.

All these challenges threaten SDG progress, putting the most vulnerable at risk of being left further behind. I know Acting PM, how dedicated you and your Government are to mitigating this risk and creating the necessary safety nets and livelihood opportunities for your people.

This current situation demands that stronger and more strategic partnerships be formed, to maximise the impact of development assistance in support of your national priorities to build resilience.

This meeting is also very timely because many of us as IP have initiated last year new cooperation cycles (The Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF), USAID, EU, Canada, UK).

So as UN, Development Partners and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), we are here together to discuss how we can not only to pursue and renew our ongoing commitments, but also make them more effective, more coordinated so that SVG can access more and better to bolster its resilience.

Acting Prime Ministers, Ministers, I must commend your government’s leadership and the progress made in building resilience. The efforts towards improvement of infrastructures, including in the tourism sector, enhancing access to education, capitalizing on the blue economy, are just some examples. I also want to acknowledge your constant genuine interest on building partnerships that matter to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Permit me to describe a few initiatives which illustrate how the UN and DPs are working to move the needle on SDG 17 (Partnerships), in support of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ resilience building agenda. 

In the first instance, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) are partnering on the Caribbean Infrastructure Fund which provides resources for critical economic infrastructure that will increase productivity and resilience and promote social inclusion. The Port Modernisation project is the flagship initiative under the CIF.

The World Bank continues to provide loan financing and grants focused on fiscal and health resilience, blue economy, and disaster reduction.

The EU has recently launched Euroclima to combat climate and biodiversity issues and will partner with UNDP to execute this programme. 

UNDP and USAID will further support Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with the CariSECURE Programme which aims to reduce youth involvement in crime and violence.

I want to stress that the United Nations has increased its assistance through joint programmes as a mean to reduce transaction costs for our Government partners with several agencies working together to address key priorities. 

For example, UNDP, UNEP and FAO joined hands to Harness the Blue Economy under the Joint SDG Fund.

To advance economic empowerment and equality for women and girls UN Women and UNFPA work together with the support of Canada. 

To build resilient livelihoods and increase food security, FAO and WFP implement a Joint Programme funded by the Joint SDG Fund. 

Finally, building people resilience across sectors in education, health, or through social protection, are areas where the UN with Development Partners are keen to continue supporting your Government. Combating Gender Based Violence remains critical for all of us and we look forward to strengthening our work in SVG in this area.

There are many more in the pipeline, which I am sure my colleagues here and online will elaborate today.

Yet, are our partnerships for development having the desired impact at scale?  

How can we ensure that Governments get the best results for the support they get? These are critical questions to be explored today.  

One of the potential outcomes we should aim for during this meeting includes rethinking the mechanisms and coordination of our partnerships. 

We already know that to comprehensively address the needs of SVG, IFIs, donors and the UN have room to improve their collaboration amongst themselves. Reducing the transaction costs and the burden of too many small bilateral projects should also be our priority. Unless we do this, we cannot say that we truly work together to support the acceleration of the SDGs. 

To forge effective partnerships for the 2030 Agenda, we should for example use innovative financing for acceleration, promoting private sector investment to build resilience. For example, the UN working with the Banks to de-risk projects whereas Government continue to adapt its regulatory framework.  

It is against this backdrop that this meeting seeks to strengthen the existing tripartite relationship among the Government, the United Nations and Development Partners.

However, before we get into the substantive discussions, permit me to share briefly how the UN, under the UN Reform, has scaled up its support to Caribbean SIDS. Under the new UN Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF), we have expanded our physical presence and coordination capacity to afford countries with more tailored policy support and joint programmes of UN entities. The UN support national priorities in SVG with an integrated Country Implementation Plan (CIP) for the whole UN Development System (17 agencies), representing a total investment for 2022-23 of US$ 43 million.

We now have a joint UN House in SVG here in this NIS building.

We look forward to hearing from you Acting PM, Minister of Finance and your team, on the thematic areas of priority for Saint Vincent and how international and multilateral partners can contribute to these areas.  

Acting PM, Ministers and Colleagues, I believe that at this meeting, we are committed to providing more integrated programming, increasing our global advocacy for SIDS and supporting access to affordable financing for resilience building.  You can count on the UN continue maximizing its convening power to that effect.

Today’s session will build on this foundation. 

As I close, allow me to reiterate our gratitude for your presence and looking forward to very robust discussions.  

Thank you.