Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 12, 2022 (SKNIS): Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Mrs. Elreter Simpson-Browne, is representing the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis at the United Nations (UN) second Global Preparatory Workshop taking place in Gaborone, Botswana from April 11-13, 2022, where countries have gathered to discuss their efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The global workshop is hosted by the Republic of Botswana and organized by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and sponsored by the European Union and Italy. It was organized for those countries that will be presenting their Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at the July 2022 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
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Permanent Secretary Simpson-Browne said that the workshop is of significant importance to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, especially as the country prepares for the United Nations high-level political forum on sustainable development in July.
“The workshop is extremely important. The Federation will be presenting its Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the high-level forum of the United Nations in New York later this year,” she said. “We have always been under the umbrella of the Caribbean, so this is a significant achievement. This workshop takes us one step closer to readiness for participation.”
According to a press release from the UN, “The workshop will focus on peer-to-peer learning and exchange of experiences related to the preparations of the VNRs and their presentation, as well as to emerging findings. It will provide an opportunity to share good practices, lessons learned, and issues faced by the VNR countries in the preparations of the VNR reports and presentation at the HLPF.”
Additionally, the UN press release on the high-level political forum on Sustainable Development stated that “The session will include “VNR Clinics”, where VNR countries will provide case studies of their VNR preparations highlighting good practices, challenges, issues, or questions, where they would like feedback from other VNR countries. The workshop will also address the upcoming process for finalizing the VNR reports and provide information and advice for the presentations of the VNR at the HLPF.”
As of January 03, 2022, 45 countries were listed to present the results of their VNRs. These countries include the first-ever set of governments that will report for the fourth time – Togo and Uruguay. Twelve first-time presenters are also on the list, one of which is St. Kitts and Nevis.
The other countries listed are Andorra, Argentina, Belarus, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Lesotho, Liberia, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Switzerland, Tuvalu and the United Arab Emirates.
