The Turks and Caicos Islands Government announces the official visit of Dr. Arun Kashyap, United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative and Dr. Elsie Laurence-Chounoune, UNDP, Deputy Resident Representative to the Turks and Caicos Islands on July 23-25, 2014.
The visit underscores the continued cooperation of the United Nations and its agencies to the Government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the spirit of partnership and joint commitment in spearheading key objectives as part of the national sustainable development agenda. It will also provide an opportunity for the Turks and Caicos Government to forge linkages and discuss among other things, priorities in relation to issues concerning Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and the Post 2015 Development Agenda.
While in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the UN Officials are expected to meet with officials of the Government of Turks and Caicos Islands including His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, the Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Dr the Hon. Rufus Ewing, Hon. Donahue Gardiner, Minister of Border Control and Labour and Honourable Amanda Missick, Minister of Environment and Home Affairs. The UN Team will also meet with Mr. Karlo Pelissier and Margarette Lemaire of the Consulate of the Republic of Haiti in Providenciales.
Representatives of the National Disaster Organisation (NDO) and other primary stakeholders will meet with the delegation at the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME), Providenciales Office.
Dr. Kashyap was appointed United Nations Resident Coordinator & Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos and Cayman Islands in Oct. 2011. Since then, he has been working with colleagues from nearly 15 UN agencies and other Development Partners.
Among his special assignments, Dr. Kashyap served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Regional Director of UNDP’s Asia Pacific Regional Center in Bangkok, providing strategic planning advice to improve the effectiveness of the region’s UNDP country offices. As interim head of UNDP Maldives, he supported the country’s transition to democracy, strengthening disaster risk reduction and building climate resilience.
There is a great importance and urgency as it relates to issues concerning sustainable development and the viability of small island developing states which is also applicable to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Issues such as impacts of climate change, the frequency of hurricanes and storms as a result and possible impacts such as sea level rise are some of the issues which will be discussed. Other issues such as Poverty Alleviation, social and physical vulnerability, the high costs of energy, Physical Planning and its impact on the environment and the need for improving food security are some of the issues that will also form part of the discussion agenda for the visit.
Dr. Virginia Clerveaux of the Department of Disaster Management, Coordinator of the visit, shares that “grappling with these issues which face the Turks and Caicos today will require a collaborative and sectoral approach to fully articulate the threats that confront us and the necessary steps which will need to be taken in addressing them”. While alluding to the current development of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy and Policy, Dr. Clerveaux said that this was one area where the views of the people of the Turks and Caicos were captured to present a holistic approach to the sustainable development agenda.
