Project aims to boost prospects of Caribbean small states in areas such as security, innovation and energy and private sector development.
The Commonwealth has launched a project aimed at boosting the prospects of Caribbean small states in key areas such as security, innovation and energy and private sector development.
The initiative is dubbed ‘Building the Resilience of Small States: A Strategic Vision for the Caribbean 2050’. It was created in response to the persisting challenges facing small states, which include high debt burdens, rising levels of unemployment and susceptibility to natural disasters - concerns compounded by a rapidly evolving and complex socio-economic and political environment, and the ongoing and increasing threats posed by climate change.
This initial exercise is focused on Caribbean Commonwealth small states, but will be extended to other Commonwealth small states regions.
A group of experts has been employed to conduct in-depth research on the current state and pace of development in the Caribbean region and The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago have been chosen to create a database of case studies for the first phase of the project.
The findings will include a set of recommendations and proposals to shape and decide policy on a range of development initiatives in Caribbean small states.
Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Deodat Maharaj raised concerns that current efforts to address the challenges facing small states have made limited progress.
He said: “Commonwealth Caribbean countries have been experiencing persistent low levels of growth for over a decade. They also face wider economic, social and environmental challenges that threaten their ability to achieve sustained development."
“The findings from this project will provide the Commonwealth Caribbean with a crucial vision-based set of aspirations for development, whilst outlining a set of concrete measures to fulfil them.”
He added: “This project will also set the stage for a package of targeted solutions to challenges facing small states in other Commonwealth regions.”
The results of the first phase of the ‘Building the Resilience of Small States: A Strategic Vision for the Caribbean 2050’ project will be shared with the Caribbean Community at the high-level Forum on the Future of the Caribbean in May 2015.
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