Gov’t and UN extend partnership agreement to 2023

The government and the United Nations (UN) have agreed to extend the BVI-United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation until November 2023.

The agreement, which was made between Premier Andrew Fahie and the UN Assistant Secretary-General Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva, provides for UNDP support to the BVI regarding sustainable development, COVID-19 recovery, ‘blue economy’ development, and disaster risk reduction.

Speaking on the extension of the MOU, Premier Fahie said the partnership between the two has helped the Virgin Islands with its progression over the past few years.

“The Virgin Islands’ partnership with UNDP has been tremendously helpful to progressing the sustainable development of the society. In the first year, we benefitted from two UNDP workshops that highlighted available UNDP assistance to the VI in the event of a natural disaster,” Fahie said.

“A UNDP grant was given to one of our local small businesses participating in the UNDP FUT-Tourism, and UNDP has committed to forthcoming technical assistance in the area of blue economy early in 2022. The relationship will go from strength to strength in the year ahead as we get closer to completing the National Sustainable Development Plan. The government will benefit from UNDP assistance with implementation of the plan,” the Premier added.

In a letter to the Premier, Lopez-Calva said the partnership between the Virgin Islands and the UNDP can help the territory in reaching its 2030 goals.

“We believe this partnership can be instrumental to unlocking opportunities for the achievement of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and 2030 agenda, including mainstreaming the SDGs in national policies and plans, accelerating their implementation and providing technical assistance for sectoral analysis, promotion of blue economy and other relevant activities such as addressing socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 and other external shocks such as natural disasters, financial crisis or pandemics,” said Lopez-Calva who is also the UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, the UNDP Resident Representative in the Eastern Caribbean Subregion Valerie Cliff also highlighted the potential for the VI and UNDP relationship to be a model partnership between Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the UN.

“The Virgin Islands are a regional champion in many areas related to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and promoting resilience in the Eastern Caribbean. For UNDP, this partnership is an opportunity to unlock opportunities and mainstream the Sustainable Development Goals in national plans. We trust this collaboration can become a model for many other SIDS,” Cliff said.

The Virgin Islands and UNDP originally entered into an MOU on cooperation on November 2, 2020.