Minister Adam adresses 38th ministerial meeting of G77 |02 October 2014

The Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam addressed the 38th annual meeting of the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G77 and China, where he highlighted the importance of greater south-south cooperation and the adoption of the Blue Economy as an avenue of sustainable development to spur the economies of emerging states.

The meeting was chaired by José Antonio Zamora Gutierrez, Minister for Environment and Water of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
During his remarks Minister Adam emphasised that the Blue Economy is a practical solution, which can ensure the development aspirations of developing countries.

“The blue economy provides a blank canvas to many developing countries to charter a completely new sustainable development pathway that is to their best interest,” said Minister Adam.

Small Island Developing States (Sids) and coastal nations can reap the benefits of marine resources if the Blue Economy concept is used to ensure that healthy ocean ecosystems are pathways to assuring ocean-based economies. As such, innovative south-south partnership will allow for states to harness the vast potential of their oceanic territories.

A key tenet of south-south partnership is based in research and information sharing and the blue economy requires a science-based approach to develop its prospective for growth.

Minister Adam stressed the need for technical assistance and technology transfer between states, allowing for Blue Economy based sectors like fisheries and aquaculture, shipping, energy, tourism, carbon trading, genetic resources and blue carbon trading to thrive.

Developing countries face vulnerabilities that hamper development and prevent them from building resilient economies for the benefit of their peoples.

Minister Adam emphasised the relevance of the vulnerability resilience profile, which will be more responsive and specific to the development agenda of developing States.

In the same vein, Minister Adam said that many members of the G77 where classified as middle income countries (MICs) with the perspective of promotion to the developed category.

He highlighted that this is an inherently flawed system as MICs developmental trajectory is not linear and support is needed to cater to specific needs.

Minister Adam noted that developing nations through the platform of the G77 and China, have an unparalleled opportunity to articulate collective objectives and strengthen partnerships.

However, the onus remains with each member state to fulfill its obligations and ensure that their respective people are at the centre of development.

Minister Adam said that Seychelles has achieved most of the Millennium Development Goals and urged nations to use it as a barometer of development.

“We need to ensure that the international community recognises that an important link in this value chain is the need for a strengthened global partnership for development. An enhanced global partnership should include providing financial resources to developing countries, debt relief and debt restructuring, trade, technology transfer and greater participation of developing countries in global economic governance,” said the minister.

In his address the minister also advocated a progressive Post-2015 Development agenda that combats HIV/Aids and other serious diseases, promotes poverty reduction, equitable distribution of resources, sustainable development with a focus on the Blue Economy, gender equality and the empowerment of our women and our youth.

Minister Adam commented on the adverse effects of climate change and sought support of the G77 and China to ensure that a legally binding document tackling the issue emerges out of the COP21 meeting in Paris.

He noted that governments must adopt the right policy measures dealing with both mitigation and adaption when considering climate change.