Antigua and Barbuda hosts meeting on small island debt

San Juan, 22 Mar The Caribbean territory of Antigua and Barbuda is hosting a two-day meeting this Tuesday and tomorrow to discuss solutions to the unsustainable public debt crisis that is currently affecting small islands around the world. The Government of Antigua and Barbuda is organizing the meeting in its capacity as current chairman of the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis) and amid growing concern about the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on this group of territories. Recent studies have shown that the impacts of the pandemic, combined with worsening climate change, have particularly affected island developing states in the Caribbean and the Pacific more than any other group of countries. However, because most of these countries are classified as middle-income, they do not qualify for international financial assistance for development. One of the main points of the two-day meeting that begins today is the ongoing work on the creation of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (IVM) that would allow all these countries to access funding once the problems of these territories were demonstrated. The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, was appointed as one of the co-chairs of the expert panel that will present recommendations to the UN General Assembly on IVM this year. “The UN has recognized the special circumstances of the Aoses for years, but things seem to be getting worse, not getting better. As president of Aosis, I am determined that this will not be prolonged,” said Aubrey Webson, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the UN. “We are going to have frank discussions about a clear path forward that really works for our people,” Webson stressed. The two-day meeting is being held while the United Nations plans to open an office in Barbados in the near future to serve the entire Eastern Caribbean. CHIEF en/arm/jrh