Commonwealth focuses on debt financing and concessionary funding for small members
Wednesday, 13 November 2013 00:01
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Uditha Jayasinghe
The Commonwealth on Tuesday pledged to push ahead access to development funding for small states and work on debt financing to assist growth, an official said here.
The Commonwealth Foreign Ministers sat down to discuss issues affecting small states ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) later this week.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma following the meeting insisted that since 32 of the 53 Commonwealth members are small states, this remains a key focus of the bloc.
Small states are concerned about marginalisation of their economies through any negative impact of globalisation and climate change, as well as a decline in international aid flows and trade preferences.
In recent years the meeting has focused more on defining the unique vulnerabilities of small states, and finding ways to overcome them.
“These discussions are timely and productive. Timely because 2014 is designated as the international year for small island developing states. Samoa will host this summit next year. Small islands are a core constituent of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth ranks as an advocate of the interests of small state. Much work underway that promises to assist small states,” Sharma insisted.
Growth with equity, inclusive growth, limited market diversification, remoteness, prone to natural disasters, sea level rises and other results of climate change and lack of representation on issues that affect them are among the key concerns discussed at the meeting, he added.
“Now is the time to make themselves heard and for members to contribute to the post-2015 development from a small states perspective.”
Ministers also worked on practical ways to deal with special challenges facing small states. Issues over debt and access to concessional funding as they become middle income countries were also highlighted.
