Prime Minister, Dr the Right Honourable Keith Mitchell will assume presidency of the Fourth Assembly of SIDS DOCK this month in what is regarded as clear evidence of Grenada’s leadership in matters of international importance.
SIDS DOCK, according to its website, “is an initiative among member countries of the Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS) to provide Small Island Developing States (SIDS) with a collective institutional mechanism to assist them transform their national energy sectors into a catalyst for sustainable economic development and help generate financial resources to address adaptation to climate change.”
SIDS DOCK is further explained as “a docking station to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global market for finance, sustainable energy technologies and with the European Union (EU) and United States (US) carbon markets, and able to trade the avoided carbon emissions in those markets.”
Welcoming Grenada’s presidency of this international grouping, Dr Mitchell said, “Grenada is highly regarded regionally and internationally for the initiative we have taken relative to climate change, adaptation and building resilience. Grenada’s presidency of SIDS DOCK provides us with an opportunity to further demonstrate our leadership on climate change issues. We can use the opportunity to leverage additional climate financing to improve resilience not just in Grenada, across all SIDS regionally and internationally.”
At the national level, Dr Mitchell said, “it is an opportune time to push for the implementation of sustainable energy and energy efficiency projects. One such project would be retrofitting the St Rose Modern Secondary School as the first climate-resilient and fully equipped emergency shelter, ensuring that it has independent power, water, waste management and refrigeration facilities.”
Noting that future SIDS DOCK projects are expected in the areas of technological innovations in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), geothermal energy, biogas and coastal infrastructure, Dr Mitchell said the region must capitalise on the opportunity presented.
He said, “It is imperative that regional countries use Grenada’s presidency to advance projects within these categories that are consistent with their national and regional development objectives.”
As President of SIDS DOCK, Prime Minister Mitchell will serve a one-year term. The seat of the presidency is rotated among Caribbean, Pacific and Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and South China Sea (AIMS) countries.
Prime Minister Mitchell’s acceptance of the SIDS DOCK presidency comes as he prepares to hand over chairmanship of the World Bank’s Small States Forum to Fiji.
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