St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
“Leveraging SIDS Knowledge, Technology, Innovation and Capacity to Advance Deep-Sea Research for the Benefit of Humanity”
Secretary-General, Mr Michael Lodge,
Honourable Prime Minister of Cook Islands,
Distinguished Panellists,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank the International Seabed Authority and all co-sponsors, for inviting me to this important event.
The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) calls for the conservation and sustainable use of the Ocean and its resources.
It also contains a commitment to pursuing opportunities for research and innovation in ocean-related industries that explore new technologies, sustainable practices, and innovative solutions.
Your focus today on partnering with SIDS to advance deep-sea research is therefore welcome.
UN DESA is grateful for the opportunity we have had to partner with you to advance progress on Ocean action, including in the Abyssal Initiative for Blue Growth undertaken as part of the UN Decade for Ocean Science and Sustainable Development.
Fostering strategic partnerships to support SIDS’s participation in existing and emerging ocean sectors is vital to the successful implementation of ABAS and the SDGs.
SIDS are heavily dependent on ocean resources for economic, social and cultural benefit. Advances in deep-sea research and global ocean governance are therefore critical to their overall development efforts.
But these efforts will succeed in building resilience in the ocean economy in SIDS only when SIDS themselves develop capacities for harnessing state-of-the-art science and technologies.
UN DESA stands ready to work with partners to help SIDS build such capacities and to leverage the preparations for the 3rd UN Ocean Conference to advance such efforts.
We look forward to your contribution towards advancing implementation of the ABAS and building a resilient future for SIDS.
Thank you.