Finance Minister elected Small States Forum chairperson |25 October 2013

Finance, Trade and Investment Minister Pierre Laporte will be playing a leading role on issues that affect small countries after he was elected the chairperson of the World Bank-led 2013 Small States Forum during the World Bank's annual meetings earlier this month.

Minister Laporte replaces Samoan Finance Minister and Governor Faumuina Tiatia Liuga, who was chairperson of the Small States Forum (SSF) in 2012.

Since 2000, the SSF brought together Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors from 50 small states to discuss the most pressing challenges they face and share examples of successes and best practices in an effort to raise the profiles of small states issues and bring them to the attention of the international community.

The 2013 SSF meeting focused on the challenges, best practices, and policy actions to build resilience, address vulnerability and ensure fiscal sustainability. Discussions touched upon potential areas of international support, including the World Bank’s work on the Comprehensive Debt Framework (CDF) and Debt Management Performance Assessment (DeMPA).

Minister Laporte stated that much still remained to be done to promote the increased integration of the concerns and interests of small states into the policies and programmes of the international community.

“Some of the focus areas of the Small States Forum this year include the encouragement of small states to implement fiscal rules to help guide fiscal responsibility and debt sustainability as well as promoting effective debt management and sustainable growth,” he said.

“It is important for us to take charge of strengthening our institutions through the implementation of economic reforms. This will help us as small states to mitigate the risks common to our economies, such as high infrastructure costs and the threats posed by natural disasters and climate change,” added Minister Laporte.