A TRANSFORMATIVE agenda that is “flexible enough” to address the peculiar needs of some countries, many of which are battling climate change, is much needed, according to President Donald Ramotar at Thursday’s meeting of the United National General Assembly.

“The special circumstances occasioned by the vulnerabilities of Small Island and Low-Lying Coastal Developing States (SIDS) bear particular mention in this regard,” he said.

“We call on the international community to reconsider this approach by adding a vulnerability index to the equation. We also call for debt relief as the debt accumulated by most of these countries makes their economies unsustainable.”–President Ramotar.

According to him, a flexible transformative agenda will ensure that the progress made in developing countries is not erased in the ongoing fight to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“Far too often the progress made can be speedily reversed owing to the impacts of climate change and natural disasters. In this regard, we must spare no effort to ensure that we have a legally binding agreement in 2015,” Mr. Ramotar said.

ACCESS TO FINANCING
He highlighted that even as discussions are being had about the post 2015 development agenda, many Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries face financing challenges, since they are classified as middle- income based on the narrow measure of GDP per capita.
“In addition, many of these countries are heavily indebted as they must make unavoidable investments in building and rebuilding social, economic and productive infrastructure to strengthen their resilience,” he said.
Mr. Ramotar explained that Guyana, like many other SIDS, are classified as Middle Income Countries and the resulting imposition of differentiation and graduation impedes access to concessionary funding.
“We call on the international community to reconsider this approach by adding a vulnerability index to the equation. We also call for debt relief as the debt accumulated by most of these countries makes their economies unsustainable,” Mr. Ramotar said.
He charged that there must be recognition of the fact that the gains made globally were not uniform across countries and regions.
The President said: “In some places, the progress has been dramatic. Asia for instance has had remarkable success in achieving many of the goals. In Latin America and the Caribbean there has also been considerable progress. There are, however, some areas where hardly any noticeable change has taken place since the year 2000.”
To this end, he stated that there are clear imbalances that are unsustainable and will only be addressed through concerted global action.

ASSESS THE PROGRESS
The Guyanese leader also called on the UN General Assembly to assess the targets set via the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“This UN General Assembly is taking place on the eve of the target year set by world leaders in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” he said. “It is therefore timely to assess the progress made and also to understand why we could not achieve all the goals in full.”
Mr. Ramotar stressed that such an undertaking is quintessential in moving forward with the post-2015 agenda. “I wish to recall that in the year 2000 when the eight goals were announced, they inspired great hope and enthusiasm throughout the world,” he said, adding that this was particularly so in developing countries and among the world’s poor
He said: “It is true that the world has made tangible progress in its efforts to achieve the MDGs. Global poverty has fallen and continues to fall; many more of the world’s children are attending primary schools; health services have improved for a large number of people resulting in a significant decline in child mortality; and the spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria has been halted and even reversed in some regions.”
However, the President also pointed out that there have been challenges and failures – both factors that make it imperative for the post 2015 framework to include:
* A time-bound commitment for delivery of official development assistance for which commitments have already been made;
* A global framework for managing intellectual property rights that places the development imperative at its centre;
* A global trading architecture that recognises the asymmetries in the global state of development and is suitably responsive to these; and
* A framework that ensures private sector investment is consistent with the development agenda.
“The recommendations of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals and of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing provide a good platform on which to build,” he opined, reiterating the need for a “flexible” transformative agenda.