PM Roosevelt Skerrit virtually attends United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Prime Minister of Dominica Dr Roosevelt Skerrit addressed the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on Wednesday.

Wednesday, 15th September 2021

PM Roosevelt Skerrit virtually attends United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Prime Minister of Dominica Dr Roosevelt Skerrit addressed the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on Wednesday. The forum was held virtually on the subject of "Strengthening Resilience in Commodity Dependent". He said the small island developing states are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change which is also causing a setback to the pace of developments. He said many small countries are stuck in a build, destroy, rebuild cycle caused by the frequency and the severity of impacts of tropical storms. Prime Minister said the rising impacts of climate change prompted the countries within CARICOM to pursue a resilience-building agenda in an attempt to climate-proof our countries. PM Skerrit also recalled the 2015 Tropical Storm Erika and 2017 Hurricane Maria in Dominica that caused severe loss and damage to the country, amounting to the equivalent of 90% of and 226% of GDP, respectively. He said Hurricane Maria prompted him to the vision to make Dominica the first climate-resilient nation. He said out of crisis and catastrophe, the Dominica government created the Climate Resilience Agency for Dominica (CREAD). CREAD leads and coordinates strategic initiatives across sectors, including the development of Dominica's Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan to 2030. Furthermore, he said many countries are experiencing economic fall-outs of the pandemic and are severely impacted by lost tourism revenue. PM said countries mainly in the Caribbean are forced to redirect finances to the management of the ongoing health crisis, leaving them with lesser investments for infrastructure, agriculture, education and social safety net programs.

"The reality for us is that our countries face the burden of high debt, in large measure attributable to responding to disaster impacts and external shocks and this constraints growth, along with limited resources, human capital, among many other challenges." said Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit.

He also spoke about the significance of institutionalizing resilience and constructing infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters. PM said at the CARICOM level, countries recognize the imperative to reduce dependence on food imports and develop their own capacity, capability to supply the needs of people and enhance food security.

"We must diversify our production and exports and strengthen our economies, thereby reducing our vulnerabilities, and I daresay, our status as "commodity-dependent countries" Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said more targeted investments are required in the following sectors to ensure food security;

Regional manufacturing and Processing facilities
Increased production of fresh poultry and meat to reduce dependence on imported supplies
Improved storage
Export of fish
A revised tax and tariff structure

Besides this, Prime Minister said Dominica has an abundance of clean groundwater resources, while many of its neighbours also face water challenges. He said to deal with the scarcity of water, countries need to build capacity and increase access to more readily available water resources. He said the construction of hydraulic structures to regulate supply and convey water to community reservoirs and homes, treatment of wastewater, desalination and demand management to increase efficiency could help in ensuring enough clean water supplies. Nevertheless, he also talked about the commitment of CARICOM countries towards renewable energy.

"There is no doubt that increased sustainability due to continuous improvements in energy efficiency and greater utilization of domestic renewable energy resources will boost our economic future and overall resilience to external shocks." Dr Roosevelt Skerrit

Prime Minister said the government of Dominica's mission is to increase the use of renewable energy in the provision of cheaper electricity through the responsible exploitation of the country's vast geothermal resource. "The generation of clean power is expected to create new green jobs, increase productivity and income and enable overall growth, resulting from greater efficiency in manufacturing and industry." said the Prime Minister. One of the more obvious ways to boost resilience in commodity-dependent countries is to shift focus to service-based industries. In that regard, Information Technology and Digitization plays a key role. ICT services that support telework, e-commerce platforms and financial services provide great potential. Moreover, he said while the pandemic presented many challenges, it also provided opportunities to be innovative and creative.