Salutation:
The President of the General Assembly, Mr. Secretary General, Heads and Members of Delegations, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I begin by congratulating H.E. Sam Kutesa, former Foreign Minister of Uganda on his election as President of the 69th Session of this General Assembly. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank H.E. Dr. John Ashe for his leadership of the 68th Session; and to salute Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his continued efforts in promoting peace, security, and developmentthroughout the world.
Mr. President:
Dominica is among six (6) Small Island Independent States in the Caribbean, which together with three (3) Non Independent Small Island territories constitute the Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). These OECS states are not simply Small Island Developing States, they are very Small Island Developing States and therefore among the most vulnerable members of this United Nations family.
SIDS
Twenty years after the adoption of the Barbados Program of Action (BPOA) and ten years after the approval of the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation (MSI), most of the commitments made to promote sustainable development in SIDS are yet to be delivered.
However, we remain hopeful that the recently concluded Third UN Conference on SInS, in Apia, Samoa, will be a watershed moment for sIns. We expect that the outcome of the Conference will create a new dispensation to address the implementation gaps that continue to stymie the move towards sustainable development in SIDS.
Mr. President:
I wish to take this opportunity, to extend our congratulations to the Government and people of Samoa for having hosted a major international conference. Their tenacity, determination and commitment is a demonstration of what can be achieved by SinS'
notwithstanding their many challenges.
One major outcome of the sIns Conference in Samoa was the historic establishment of an all SIDS, that is a sIns- – SIDS initiative to create an international organization to serve as a platform for the development of sustainable energy in SIDS namely – SIDS DOCK.
On September 1, 2014, a treaty formally establishing SlDS DOCK as an international organization was opened for signatures. Twenty of the thirty members of the Alliance of Small .
Island States, AOSIS have signed on to the treaty.
As Chair of the sIns DOCK Steering Committee, the Government of Dominica wishes to thank the host country, Samoa, the other Member States who are signatories to the treaty, our partners:- Denmark, Japan, United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), the World Bank, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the Clinton Foundation, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (5Cs), the SIDS DOCK Secretariat and all the volunteers, for making
this historic event possible.
