POND ISLAND--St. Maarten, in collaboration with the European Delegation in Guyana and the European Commission Directorate General of Development Cooperation, will host the Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) Resilience Summit 2018 on October 25. Summit theme is “Unite Prepare Adapt.”
The summit will be held to also mark the signing of the financing agreement for the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Caribbean Regional Programme on resilience, sustainable energy and marine biodiversity and to highlight the need for a more unified resilient Caribbean.
Thirteen Caribbean OCTs for which Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin is the Regional Authorising Officer have received the approval from the European Commission for 40 million euros earmarked for the 11th EDF to focus on sustainable energy and marine biodiversity, with a horizontal component on enhancing resilience to extreme recurrent natural events.
The activities have the overall objective to strengthen environmentally sustainable economic development of the Caribbean OCTs and include three components: energy, marine biodiversity and resilience, said Romeo-Marlin at the Council of Ministers Press Briefing on Wednesday.
“Building resilience to future changes in the Caribbean basin and striving towards a low carbon economy will contribute to sustainable economic development and environmental protection in the Caribbean OCTs,” she stated.
The OCTs invited to the summit in St. Maarten are Anguilla, Aruba, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Montserrat, Saba, St. Barthelemy, St. Eustatius, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
