Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2014 - International Year of SIDS
2014 - International Year of SIDS
events, e.g. meetings, discussions, conferences, with a special notice of SIDS 2014 Global
Conference, that are taking place in order for the issues to be discussed and the current
situation to be improved; to highlight the up- to- date achievements and, most importantly, to
celebrate the culture and the overall potential that SIDS have. The event of the greatest
importance for the celebratory SIDS year was the third International Conference on the Small
Island Developing States in Apia, Samoa. That is where the head of the State and Government
and high-level representatives met from 1 to 4 September. The theme of the Conference was
"The sustainable development of small island developing States through genuine and durable
partnerships." In order to implement sustainable development and eradicate poverty, the
Conference resulted in the adoption of Samoa Pathway, which is comprised of social,
economic and environmental of sustainable development. However, somehow, the most
noticeable importance was given to the economic dimension (at least, in, the expected,
accordance to the International Labor Organizations Outcomes from the Third International
Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS)). The growth of economy would then
trigger the improvement of the remaining two dimensions- social and environmental. It has been
said that the international community will strive to invest more in education, entrepreneurial and
vocational skills training in wish to achieve a greater employment rate in SIDS. In addition to
that, the green economy, and its specific areas- ecotourism, agritourism and cultural tourism
were said to be promoted. Having those goals in mind, it would be necessary for SIDS to bring
special attention to bettering the infrastructure, not only its obvious parts, e.g. ports, roads,
transportation, electricity and power generation, but also information and communications
technology infrastructure. To summarize, the Conference suggested ways in which SIDS could
achieve their, long awaited, true growth- sustainable development; through tackling economy,
based on creating innovative environmentally sound businesses, as well as improving the
SIDS infrastructure, which would then lead to a greater employability.
Future of SIDS
Although SIDS were initially united on the basis of common issues, as the time passes by and
the awareness of their situation raises- through meetings, conferences, documents, resolution,
actions calls, media support- more individuals, groups, organizations and, even, nations are
getting involved in finding and reaching the solution (and more than just one solution) in order to
allow SIDS to use their great potential to the fullest and for it to result in true sustainable
development. Not only of SIDS, but, of the international community at large.