PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams heads to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. today, Tuesday, to attend the United Nations Rio+20 conference.
"It is important that St. Maarten is represented at the conference due to our fledgling position on the global stage and the sensitivity our country has with regard to the topics being discussed during the Rio+20 conference," she said in a press statement Monday.
Wescot-Williams will be a member of the Dutch delegation which will also include the prime ministers of Curaçao and Aruba.
St. Maarten is known as a Small Island Developing State and as such "We are most vulnerable to environmental changes and external shocks. It is also important that we highlight not only the challenges we face in the areas of social equity and environmental protection, but also that we highlight the steps government has been taking to address these issues. As a young nation we have to be at the forefront of putting in place mechanisms to address the issues we are faced with," she said.
The Rio+20 is the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and it is considered an historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all.
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will take place in Brazil from the June 20-22, 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Rio+20 Conference is the highest level event with attendees including Heads of State and government representatives. It is expected to result in a focused political document which will serve as a guiding framework to assist nations in meeting the goals of equity and sustainable development.
The core theme of the conference is the development of nations on a sustainable level. "This is seen as the guiding principle for long-term global development. It is important to realize that sustainable development consists of three main pillars, namely economic development, social development and environmental protection.
"Taking all of these factors into consideration is essential in developing our National Development Programme and other framework and guiding documents on which government will base its governing programme. It is therefore essential that St. Maarten is represented at such an important conference as Rio+20," stated Wescot-Williams.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to return home Friday.
Source: http://www.thedailyherald.com/islands/1-islands-news/28886-sarah-heads-to-rio20-today-.html
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