XVI Ministerial Forum on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean: Focus on Resilience in Barbados

Resilience will be the buzzword as Barbados hosts more than 20 countries at the XVI Ministerial Forum on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean at the Wyndham Grand Barbados Hotel in St Philip.

Minister of Foreign affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, in welcoming delegates from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Grantley Adams International Airport on Tuesday, said these talks were critical.

He pointed out the conference would not only seek to answer the question of resilience of small states, but it must go beyond theory into “what it really means for the average human being”.

Symmonds told UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Michelle Muschett; UNDP Resident Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Limya Eltayeb; and UNDP administrator Achim Steiner this would also be applied to designing classrooms for children, planning housing developments, in public transportation and the many areas in which resilience must be applied as they “plan out the future” Barbados society and economy.

Muschett said a record number of participants were confirmed for the forum, noting the region, development and democracies were under pressure.

“And this is a space to discuss, exchange in a very pragmatic and concrete way how can we adjust those escape valves in order to use the pressure that we feel in these times in the region to foster and accelerate development and strengthening democracies in our region.”

She said they were looking forward to hosting these discussions on how to build resilience and more adaptive social protection systems and anticipated the inclusion of innovative approaches.

Meanwhile, Steiner remarked on the strides Barbados made as a country over the years to become a voice on the global stage.

“I think we are seeing in a world that is very ruptured and very divided at the moment a very clear voice and clarion call coming from Barbados, from your Prime Minister, but also from the Caribbean as a whole and Latin America, on the world having to focus on not conflicts and confrontation but finding ways to cooperate and to collaborate,” Steiner said.

“The challenge of climate change, probably the greatest threat to many of the inhabitants of this part of the world, is something that we are all destined to only succeed in resolving if we can work together. UNDP is proud to be a very strong presence here in Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean.”

The conference starts in earnest today and conclude on Friday. (SAT)