Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It would be remiss of me to not begin my remarks without expressing our deepest condolences to and solidarity with the Governments and peoples of the affected countries following the passage of Hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean last week. In the blink of an eye, small island states were hurled from seeming prosperity to unimaginable hardship, with islands flattened, and homes and livelihoods shattered.

Hurricane Beryl, powered by climate change, became the earliest category five Atlantic hurricane on record, and is an ominous sign of what promises to be an active Hurricane season. Such prospects will test the resilience and will of many; yet SIDS remain indomitably hopeful and determined, even in the midst of tragedy, that we will not be left behind and our collective future can thrive.
Just last May, we left the beautiful shores of Antigua and Barbuda, filled with renewed hope. A hope that within the next ten years, guided by the newly adopted Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS, the bold ambitions of the small island and low-lying coastal states will be fully realized, without compromise.

The promise of our resilient prosperity etched into the pages of the ABAS does not just simply reaffirm SIDS as a special case for sustainable development, but it enshrines the collective commitment of the international community to ensure that the smallest and most vulnerable among us will not be left behind in a world full of want, inequalities, conflict and injustice.

However, such a commitment holds no power or impact if they remain as words on pieces of paper. All of us, together, are now tasked with the responsibility to turn these words into actions.

It is therefore necessary to translate the vision of the ABAS into concerted actions across the multilateral system and at the United Nations. I urge the international financial institutions and the UN funds, programmes and agencies to mainstream the ABAS across their programmatic activities, leveraging their expertise, to provide tailored support to SIDS that meet their specific needs and priorities.

Achieving these ambitions also requires unwavering commitment, collaboration and innovation from all stakeholders, public and private, working together with a sense of urgency and shared responsibility. We urge the international community, especially our development partners, to scale up their genuine and durable partnerships with SIDS. Your support for the SIDS Center of Excellence and its SIDS Data Hub, the Debt Support Service Initiative, and Island Investment Forum in particular will be crucial.

To further strengthen these partnerships, we look forward to the recommendations of the Secretary-General for strengthening the SIDS Partnership Framework and the SIDS Global Business Network.
We are pleased to learn that work to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for the ABAS is already underway. The framework should build on the lessons learnt from the monitoring of the Samoa Pathway and not be overly burdensome on SIDS.

It is our expectation that this work can be completed by the second quarter of 2025, so that monitoring can start at the earliest opportunity.

Our annual reviews of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs illustrate an alarming narrative; we are behind schedule and facing a situation where the goals will not be met. It is imperative that we amplify our concerted implementation of the SDGs. Further, in achieving the SDGs we will also be achieving the ABAS. Neither stand alone. It is in our concerted efforts that the greatest rewards will be reaped.

Lastly, the HLPF itself must remain as a “forum for action”. It continues to be best placed to review and follow-up on the implementation of the SIDS Programme of Action, providing political leadership, measuring progress and identifying gaps and solutions in realizing the commitments made. This dedicated segment should bring a deeper analysis to the implementation of ABAS and responding to the sustainable development priorities of SIDS.

Therefore, as you gather in New York for the first High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development since the Fourth International Conference on SIDS, let us hold firmly to that spirit and unity of purpose that brought us to the shores of Antigua and Barbuda and lay the right foundation for the full and effective implementation of the ABAS in the years to come.
I thank you.