Note to Correspondents

Negotiations on Preparations for UN Small Island Conference

to be held at Headquarters 7 - 11 October

(Issued on 7 October 2004.)

Informal negotiations will take place on 7, 8 and 11 October at United Nations Headquarters in New York on unresolved issues in preparation for the United Nations International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, to be held in Mauritius from 10 to 14 January 2005.

Small islands are often depicted as “paradise” without taking into account their inherent problems and vulnerabilities:  rising sea levels due to global warming, more frequent and violent storms like those that recently hit Grenada and Haiti, fragile ecosystems, major trade losses due to the dismantling of market access preferences, isolation and high transport costs.  The Mauritius conference aims to increase international support for tackling these problems, to boost the activities already being undertaken by the island nations themselves with their limited resources.

Although the negotiations held so far have been cordial, agreement has not yet been reached on thorny issues such as climate change, trade relations, market access, renewable energy sources and proposals for new financing mechanisms.

The Secretary-General of the International Meeting, Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury, will be available from 7 to 11 October for media interviews.

Press contact:  François Coutu, United Nations Department of Public Information, Development Section, tel.:  (212) 963-9495, e-mail:  coutu@un.org or mediainfo@un.org.  Web site:  http://www.un.org/smallislands2005/.

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