27 September 2012: During a meeting on the sidelines of the opening of the UN General Assembly session, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon assured leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) of improved cooperation between the UN and CARICOM regarding trade, debt, climate change and transnational organized crime, among other issues.
He also pledged to continue to raise the issue of the vulnerability of Caribbean island nations to the international financial crisis with the Group of Eight (G8) and Group of 20 (G20) countries.
Ban made the remarks during a meeting with CARICOM Chair Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, as well as President Donald Romotar of Guyana, Prime Minister Simpson Miller of Jamaica, and other CARICOM leaders, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 27 September 2012.
Ban said he is committed to ensuring that both the CARICOM Secretariat and CARICOM Member States receive UN assistance that is "more targeted and more responsive to the needs of the region." He mentioned, for example, current talks with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to implement a regional strategy and to return a small permanent office to the Caribbean.
The Secretary-General thanked CARICOM for its leadership in the lead-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), and asked the Community to "continue that dynamic engagement" during the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the construction of a post-2015 development agenda. [Statement of UN Secretary-General] More
