Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Caricom Affairs Roxie Mc Leish Hutchinson, represented Grenada at the United Nations (UN) second Global Preparatory Workshop held in Botswana this week.
Delegates at the workshop discussed their respective country’s efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the upcoming Voluntary National Reports (VNRs).
The global workshop, organised by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and sponsored by the European Union and Italy, specifically targeted the countries due to present their reports at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, scheduled for July.
The Permanent Secretary underscored the workshop as a significant preparatory tool as Grenada prepares to present its first report on the implementation of the SDGs.
She said, “The Government of Grenada has committed to the implementation of the SDGs noting that all 17 SDGs are addressed by the 217 strategic actions identified to drive the development of vision 2035 for Grenada.”
However, she also noted that resources are needed to implement projects and programmes that will enhance progress toward the SDGs.
The Permanent Secretary stated that “Given the decline in Government revenues brought about by the pandemic, there is currently a lack of financial resources to implement projects and programmes to enhance our progress on meeting the SDGs. There is also need for institutional and individual capacity strengthening, especially with the Central Statistical Office, where new data sets are required; and we need to undertake new surveys to establish baseline data and to measure progress from these baselines.”
The Botswana workshop, according to a UN press release, was intended to be a peer-to-peer learning exercise to facilitate the exchange of experiences related to the preparation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the upcoming Voluntary National Reports and their presentation. It was also intended to provide an opportunity to share good practices, lessons learned, and issues faced by participating countries in the preparation of their reports and presentation at the high-level forum.
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