“We believe that island countries have to revisit their thinking in terms of their resources” - Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Deodat Maharaj
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Today I completed a productive three-day visit to The Bahamas where I was able to discuss important areas of co-operation between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Bahamas. This included planning for next year’s major Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers to be held in the Bahamas.
We in the Commonwealth are privileged to be a strategic technical assistance partner with the government in a number of key areas. This has included assisting The Bahamas to lodge a submission to extend its continental shelf by an additional 200,000 square kilometres of seabed beyond the exclusive economic zone. The Commonwealth is the only international organisation that I know which assists countries to prepare, lodge and defend extended continental shelf submissions.
With 31 out of 53 members being small states, including islands, we believe that island countries have to revisit their thinking in terms of their resources. The reality is that much of the resources are in the ocean and not on land. Therefore, we need to start thinking not only about the low carbon “Green Economy” but also the ocean, or “Blue Economy”. Hence for these member states, we are keen to advance the notion of “Ocean Governance” so that there can be good governance and sustainable utilisation of marine resources. Consequently, we are working with The Bahamas towards the establishment of a National Maritime Policy.
Other issues we discussed included technical assistance in the area of debt management where the Commonwealth has demonstrable impact in many countries such as in Jamaica where our technical support will contribute to the reduction of the public debt burden by 8.5% of its GDP by 2020.
Support was also requested in the crucial area of public sector reform.
Boys’ underachievement in education, its impact on development and its links to crime and citizen security was a recurring theme in all my meetings. This is a pan-Caribbean issue that requires responses at both the national and regional level. The Commonwealth is doing some analytical work on this issue in St Lucia and Jamaica and I believe we need to consider widening this initiative to include jurisdictions such as The Bahamas.
It goes without saying that senior government officials were keen to engage on a range of global development issues including the Post-2015 Development Agenda; the classification of countries based on per capita income which makes countries such as The Bahamas ineligible for concessional financing; and the upcoming Global Conference of Small Island Developing States, which takes place in Samoa this September.
We in the Commonwealth have a relationship based on trust with our membership. I felt honoured to have had bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Perry Christie and several of his ministers. The opportunity to make a presentation to the full Cabinet and to engage in a substantive discussion on important policy issues was particularly valuable.
The Commonwealth will continue to provide strategic and focused policy support as well as provide a platform for global advocacy on matters that are crucial to our member states.
