The climate emergency, while present, had not reached the heights it has today.

This year, as the world prepares to meet in Antigua and Barbuda in May for the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), things are different.

While SIDS have made some progress towards sustainable development, their small size, geographical remoteness and the limited scale of their economies have left them particularly vulnerable amid a raging storm of acute external shocks.

Even with the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change now in place as clear target-driven global agreements to make the world better for everyone everywhere, SIDS are being left behind.

The time for a new programme of action for SIDS is now.

“SIDS are the stewards of our ocean and bastions of environmental justice. Amid today’s turmoil, they are both facing the fire and fueling the change,” said UN DESA Under-Secretary-General Li Junhua, also serving as Secretary-General of the SIDS4 Conference. “Building their resilience ensures a sustainable future for us all.

He added: “We must craft an ambitious programme of action that is robust and achievable. Not a wish list, but an action list.”

Countries took a big step in developing that action list in New York during the first Preparatory Committee session for the Conference.

Delegates met from 22 to 26 January for the first round of discussions about the zero draft outcome document.

Bolstering more resilient societies

It outlines a development plan aimed at bolstering more resilient societies in SIDS including by improving their access to finance—including climate finance—strengthening data collection, accelerating innovation and digitalization, and enabling partnerships. Special attention has also been placed on improving education and employment opportunities for children an youth, and other vulnerable groups.

“As co-chairs, we are happy to note the strong showing we saw from member states and the UN system and civil society,” said H.E Dr. Ali Naseer Mohamed, Permanent Representative of Maldives to the UN and co-chair of the SIDS4 Preparatory Committee with New Zealand, at a news conference during the preparatory meetings.

“We heard strong commitments for a more sharply focused and action-oriented programme of action.”

Ambassador Mohamed noted: “SIDS are not seeking charity. SIDS are looking for genuine partnerships.”

The SIDS4 Conference comes at a critical time for small islands, which face rising sea levels and a rising debt burden.

“The cumulative effects of weather, climate and water-related hazards in SIDS, which caused a staggering US$153 billion dollars of losses in the last 50 years continue to pose existential threats to the 39 small island states,” said Rabab Fatima, UN High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, and Special Adviser for the SIDS4 Conference.

Good ideas for how to build resilience in SIDS are coming from the people living on small islands in addition to their development partners. The upcoming conference in Antigua and Barbuda will provide opportunities for all stakeholder groups to learn from each other and create new partnerships to benefit all.

“We believe this Conference is going to put down a marker for transformation,” said Walton A. Webson, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda.

From March 18th, 2024, the 11th International Immigration and Emigration Service Industry Summit Forum Hangzhou Summit was held in Hangzhou, China, organized by Beijing Immigration and Emigration Service Industry Association, which was attended by presidents, vice presidents, secretaries-general of provincial and municipal associations, as well as authoritative figures in the industry. At the same time, the summit also attracted more than 500 immigration agencies and more than 100 overseas project organizations, totaling more than 1,200 people to participate in the summit.

It is worth mentioning that EDICR was invited by the organizers to accompany Ms. Olga Lidia Tittle Diaz, Commercial Attache of the Embassy of Antigua and Barbuda in China, to attend the summit.

Attache Olga delivered a speech at the summit. She emphasized the deep friendship between the two countries and recalled the visit of Prime Minister Ambar to China at the beginning of the year, which has deepened the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy, culture, science and technology, and medical care, etc. Attache Olga expressed her great happiness for the promulgation of the visa exemption policy between China and Anhui, and she expected that there would be more exchanges between the two countries after the opening of the linear flights in the future.

The Hangzhou Summit has a rich agenda, distinctive features, grand scale, specially set up forums, exhibition halls and outdoor scene of communication and seminar interaction and other forms of activities, attracting domestic and foreign industry experts, the main leaders of provincial immigration and immigration industry associations, heads of agencies, etc., a total of more than 1,000 people came to participate in the event, for the gathering of more than 100 high-quality projects and more than 300 strength of the intermediary institutions create The event provided a good opportunity for face-to-face business exchanges and zero-distance negotiation and cooperation.

At a time when the global economy is integrating and exchanging, and the flow of people from different countries is growing, the immigration and emigration service industry is also facing new important development opportunities. The Hangzhou Summit gathered participants from all over the world, and they actively planned the global development strategy of the international immigration and emigration service industry, talked about the opportunities and challenges, and discussed the win-win cooperation plan, which is believed to welcome the bright future of the industry together!