PREPARATORY BODY FOR ASSEMBLY"S SPECIAL SESSION ON SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES CONCLUDES TWO-DAY RESUMED SESSION

Press Release
ENV/DEV/517

PREPARATORY BODY FOR ASSEMBLY’S SPECIAL SESSION ON SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES CONCLUDES TWO-DAY RESUMED SESSION

The Commission on Sustainable Development, acting as the Preparatory Body for the special session of the General Assembly for the review and appraisal of implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, concluded its two-day resumed session late Friday evening.

After prolonged informal consultations, the Commission decided to transmit to the special session, for further consideration, the draft texts of the declaration and the document on the state of initiatives for the future implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. The report of the Commission was also adopted, as orally amended. The special session is scheduled to take place at Headquarters on 27 and 28 September.

Reporting on the outcome of the informal consultations conducted in the course of the day, the facilitator of the consultations, John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda) told the Commission that agreement had been reached on most of the points within the texts. Some unresolved issues still remained in the draft text on the state of progress for the future implementation of the Programme of Action.

The representative of Finland, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated countries, said that his delegation reserved the right to revisit paragraph 16 of the draft declaration calling on the international community to provide effective means to support efforts in achieving the Barbados Programme of Action, particularly in tackling complex issues, such as poverty.

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the representative of Samoa said that he had been taken unaware by the European Union’s reservation to paragraph 16 of the

Preparatory body for special session - 2- Press Release ENV/DEV/517 Of General Assembly 13 September 1999 2nd Meeting (Night)

draft declaration. Also, it had not been reported by Mr. Ashe, which reinforced his belief that there was no basis for such a reservation.

The representative of Guyana, speaking on behalf of “Group of 77” developing countries and China, expressed hope that a complete text would be presented on the first day of the special session.

Speaking on behalf of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the representative of Barbados said that his delegation intended to submit a draft resolution on recognition of the Caribbean Sea as the basis for sustainable development. He hoped consultations on the proposed draft, which would be submitted by the Group of 77, would take place before the special session.

The representative of the United States said that such a draft represented a regional issue and not a global one. As such, it was not something ministers would be prepared to address at the special session. She added that she hoped that the subject of coordination had been adequately dealt with in the draft declaration, the text of which had just been negotiated.

The delegate of the Russian Federation then said that he would like to reserve his position on the proposed draft resolution, for it required careful examination in terms of both form and substance. The representative of Japan spoke in support of the United States position.

Representatives of Brazil, Cuba, India, Suriname, Argentina, Jamaica and Saint Lucia supported the proposed Caribbean Community (CARICOM) initiative.

Prior to its final meeting, the Commission had met this afternoon. At that time, the Commission decided not to accept any further proposals for inclusion in the updated drafts of the declaration and paper on the state of progress and initiatives for the small island developing States Programme of Action after 4 p.m today. In the course of that meeting, Mr. Ashe reported on the issues still under discussion, and procedural statements were made by representatives of Guyana (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China) and Japan.

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