Trinidad, Apr 10, CMC – A three-day conference aimed at identifying the challenges to Caribbean development and identifying strategies for securing a sustainable future gets underway here on May 5.
The forum on the “Future of the Caribbean” is being co-hosted by the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Trinidad and Tobago government in collaboration with United Nations System and regional inter-governmental partners as well as the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat.
According to the organisers, the participants, including Caribbean heads of government and policy-makers, civil society and business leaders, and academic experts, “will confront existing development paradigms through innovative, disruptive thought.
“This is aimed at producing models for research, policy development and transformative action to support an equitable, sustainable Caribbean society in the post-2015 period and for generations beyond.
“They will challenge each other to consider persistent development problems in new ways and identify approaches directed at widening opportunities and improving living conditions for all Caribbean citizens,” the organisers said in a statement.
The three-day conference will focus on poverty, inequality, and resource mobilization, as well as the specific vulnerabilities of small – often high and middle income – Caribbean states.
“Business as usual cannot possibly meet the complex challenges of poverty, inequality and funding we now face in the region. We need disruptive thinking and bold action if we are to create a resilient and international Caribbean future.
“I believe we need to accelerate regional convergence and new models of diplomacy in a global setting and the Forum provides us a real opportunity to do just that,” the Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran.
Vice-Chancellor Designate of The University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles, said the forum provides an occasion for renewing “our commitment to the fine tradition of public-minded academic research” at regional university.
“After 50 years of concerted effort Caribbean post-colonial development paradigms have climaxed and yielded poor to moderate results. This forum is an opportunity for the region to dig in, unearth, and emerge with the energy required to structure new options and different approaches to economic growth and social empowerment,” he added.
The UNDP Resident Representative in Trinidad and Tobago, Richard Blewitt, said he is optimistic the forum “will trigger transformative academic research and public policy.?
Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor of the United Nations Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, is among the prominent speakers to be featured at the forum.
“2015 offers an historic and once-in-a-generation opportunity. We need leaders to be courageous and ambitious. I look forward to a robust discussion at the forum on how to deliver on Caribbean priorities,” she added.
