In a bit of positive news, the Honourable Camille Robinson-Regis, Minister of Planning and Development announces that Trinidad and Tobago has been invited to share as best practice the progress made regarding the global 2030 Agenda at the Third Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development in Santiago, Chile from April 24-28, 2019. This is a positive feat for Trinidad and Tobago, as our achievements in areas such as climate change, since we are among few countries in the world and first in the English speaking region to develop a monitoring, reporting and verification system to monitor our greenhouse gas emissions as part of our commitment to the Paris Agreement. In addition to our climate change success, 93% of the population of 1.4 million has access to pipe borne water; approximately 97% of the population has been given access to electricity and we have attained universal education as part of our vision to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda through Trinidad and Tobago’s National Development Strategy, Vision 2030.
This Forum provides us with the opportunity to share our experiences with representatives from the Caribbean archipelago, Latin America and the United Nations System, particularly the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). In addition to this opportunity to have our voice heard at this present Forum, Trinidad and Tobago is also among the approved list of countries presenting a Voluntary National Report on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals at the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations in 2020.
Minister Robinson-Regis will share Trinidad and Tobago’s successes as a panelist in a session focusing on “Challenges of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean”. Also part of the contingent representing Trinidad and Tobago is Ms. Camille Spencer, Programme Coordinator of the National Transformation Unit of the Ministry of Planning and Development.
Speaking to the countries present on April 26, Minister Robinson-Regis indicated that Small Island Developing States, especially those in the Caribbean feel like “hamsters on a wheel”, whereby as soon as we are able to achieve some modicum of success, the more developed countries come up with something new to which we must adapt, or we are set back by a natural disaster. Minister Robinson-Regis went on to make the point of the impact of climate change and other issues on our economies, through the metaphor that as soon we are making headway in the region we are ‘drowned’ by ‘economic waters’ or the waters of a natural disaster.