New York, 19 January, 2017; The President of the General Assembly His Excellency Peter Thomson has officially re-appointed His Excellency Ahmed Sareer, Permanent Representative of Maldives to the United Nations and His Excellency Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations as the Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) for the year 2017. As Co-Chair, Ambassador Sareer will play an instrumental role in facilitating partnerships between SIDS and to public and private partners in order to further address the ongoing challenges SIDS face, which include among others, capacity building, climate change, and disaster risk reduction.
The Steering Committee was established by the General Assembly in 2015 as part of the Partnership Framework for SIDS, an initiative established through the S.A.M.O.A.Pathway: the Programme of Action for the sustainable development of SIDS, to support monitoring, followup and reporting on partnerships. It is a unique and pioneering mechanism that also helps drive new and innovative arrangements to further sustainable development. The SIDS Partnership Framework is the first of its kind within the UN, which contains a reporting tool, as well as apply specific SMART criteria (SIDS Specific, Measurability, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) for its partnerships. There are over 300 SIDS partnerships registered currently.
The role of the Steering Committee is to facilitate the reporting, and followup of existing partnerships, and encourage new ones in support of the sustainable development of SIDS. The Steering Committee also serves, as a forum for all interested member states to discuss the reporting process, plan partnership dialogues where actors can share best practices and challenges, and in 2017 will work to increase opportunities to implement the Sustainable Development Goals.
Visit the SIDS Action Platform to learn more: www.sids2014.org
