UN Common Premises officially opened in Antigua and Barbuda

The UN Common Premises in Antigua and Barbuda were opened on Wednesday with the signing of the second Country Implementation Plan (CIP) with the government. It will be the first in the Eastern Caribbean and will allow UN offices and Agencies to operate in a single location. It is located on Independence Drive, east of Vivian Richards Street.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne called it a key milestone for the twin-island state, which has seen an increase in UN presence on the ground since the Multi-Country Reform (MCO) reform in 2019.

The premises will house the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (UNRCO) as well as UN agencies in Antigua and Barbuda, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), and UNICEF (United Nations Children Fund).

This key milestone for the twin-island state comes as Antigua and Barbuda, and the wider region prepares to embark on a new five-year UN Multi-country Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (MSDCF), with complimentary Country Implementation Plans (CIP) specifically tailored to national contexts and priorities.

The official opening ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Gaston Browne- Prime Minister, E. P Chet Greene- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Trade, Didier Trebucq- Resident Coordinator, United Nations Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, along with several other government and UN officials.

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Alluding to benefits including speedy and immediate turnaround in instances of disasters , Ambassador Webson underlined, “The real work is amongst the people and delivering to the community. I hope that by year-end a lot more of the other Agencies will come on board.”

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Initially, three UN Agencies UNDP, UNICEF and FAO, as well as an extension of the Resident Coordinator Office, in the form of a Country Coordination Officer to assist in coordinating UN Development System support, will be part of the joint UN office. As cooperation is scaled up under the newly signed CIP, plans are underway for other agencies to join the office.

The ceremony took place on the margins of the Small Islands Developing States Stakeholders Meeting, which brought together key UN stakeholders, in particular the Resident Coordinators and strategic representatives from the various UN agencies, funds and programmes, to provide solutions to accelerating progress on the implementation of the SAMOA Pathway (Small Island Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action), as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.