The President of Dominica, Sylvanie Burton, DAH, on Wednesday, September 25, led an important delegation from Dominica to the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that took place in New York.
In the delegation, President Burton spoke to the General Assembly in the afternoon. This session is centered around the theme “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations.”
The session was scheduled for Global leaders to discuss the progress that has been made with respect to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strategies to deal with worldwide challenges. Three prime documents were also reviewed that aim to shape future development: the ‘Pact for the Future,’ the ‘Global Digital Compact,’ and the ‘Declaration on Future Generations.
The Dominican delegation at UNGA 2024 witnessed many prominent dignitaries like First Gentleman Mr. Gilbert Burton. Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade and Energy Dr. Vince Henderson and Philbert Aaron, Dominica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Other senior members include Kelver Darroux, who is the current deputy permanent representative of the United Nations.
Speaking at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA ) session, President Burton opened up about the country’s recent history of natural disasters. She presented some statistics about Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, which wiped out 96 percent of the island’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Hurricane Maria in 2017, which took over 225 percent of Dominica’s GDP in a matter of hours.
President Burton also pointed out the current global warming concerns and said that global warming should be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius by making bold and urgent decisions. To achieve that, they need to reduce emissions, boldly honor financial commitments, and build climate strong infrastructure in regions particularly vulnerable in relation to climate change.
Notably, Dominica and other Caribbean nations have already started to address challenges like climate change that grow because of developing national interventions, strengthening infrastructure, and promoting renewable energy.
However, Burton assured that these attempts would not bear fruit without intervention from the industrialized nations and asked them to honor their pledge to cut emissions and provide finance to the developing nations hardest hit.
Dominica’s President, Sylvanie Burton, also asked everyone to throw some attention to the slow progress that has been made to achieve SDGs. She addressed these points while talking about the UN Agenda 2030. Additionally, saying that these current outputs need to put more confidence for the global community to work on these goals.
She also raised awareness about Dominica, who is currently facing a huge strike for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to the WHO, it is causing diseases like heart conditions, diabetes, and cancers and has led to 75% of all deaths worldwide.
