24-25 June, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

(June 22, 2010) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean will host representatives from United Nations Country teams covering the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean countries including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname, as well as government officials, the CARICOM and OECS Secretariats, when they participate in the Technical Meeting on the 2010 Caribbean Millennium Development Goals Report, being held from 24-25 June.

The purpose of this meeting is to examine the draft report, "Progress of Caribbean Countries toward Millennium Development Goals and Related Issues: A 2010 Review”, and to make recommendations for finalization.

This report will provide a thorough assessment of the status of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Caribbean countries, including achievements and constraints in the countries' efforts to accomplish these goals. The report will also assess the impact of the financial crisis on the accomplishment of the MDGs and is expected to identify possible approaches to overcome the impact of these crises.

As signatories to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Declaration, the Governments of ECLAC member and associate member States committed formally in 2000 to pursuing and achieving the MDGs, a common set of goals and targets to bring all people up to minimum acceptable standards of human development by 2015.

In spite of various initiatives, Caribbean countries continue to have difficulties in addressing additional demands of monitoring and measuring progress created by the MDGs and other global commitments. Therefore, it is imperative to carry out activities to ensure the further building/strengthening of institutional capabilities for generating reliable social, economic and environmental statistics among the various Caribbean States.

Under the project entitled “Strengthening the capacity of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs)”, ECLAC has received funding for building and strengthening institutional capabilities for generating and compiling reliable social and economic statistics in the Caribbean subregion. One of the major outputs of the project is the production of a Caribbean MDG report to provide an assessment of achievements and constraints in the region’s countries’ efforts to accomplish the Goals.

The Caribbean MDG report, which uses an outline defined by the Secretary General, will be produced jointly by the UN agencies in the subregion.

 

For more information, contact ECLAC Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean.
E-mail: registryeclacpos.org