Virgin Islands takes leadership role in regional UN body

Countries from across the Americas have elected the Virgin Islands to serve in a leadership role in the United Nations body responsible for advancing the Caribbean’s economic and social development.

The decision came at the 40th session of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on Oct. 9-11 in Lima, Peru, where country delegations unanimously approved the VI to serve as a vice chair of the body for two years, government announced last Thursday.

In its new role, the VI will support the chair country, Peru, and ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs in delivering the ECLAC work programme alongside the other vice chairs elected to the leadership bureau: Colombia, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

During the Peru meeting, VI Special Envoy Benito Wheatley accepted the vice chairmanship on the territory’s behalf and pledged that the VI will fully support Peru while providing a “wider Caribbean perspective” on the bureau, according to government.

The VI is also currently serving as a vice chair of the ECLAC subsidiary body for the subregion, the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee.
Mr. Wheatley said he was “humbled” by the governments’ decision to elect the VI to the new position.

“It demonstrates once again the trust and confidence by our neighbours across the Americas and beyond in the British Virgin Islands, and our steadfast commitment to the sustainability, climate resilience, economic development and social transformation of the region,” he said, adding, “The decision was particularly special because it coincided with the 40th anniversary of the British Virgin Islands’ associate membership in ECLAC.”

ECLAC report

Also during the Oct. 9-11 session in Peru, delegates debated and endorsed an ECLAC report titled “Development Traps in Latin America and the Caribbean: Vital Transformations and How to Manage Them.”

The report analyses three “traps” said to be holding back the region’s growth and development: low capacity for growth; high inequality, low social mobility and weak social cohesion; and low institutional capacities and ineffective governance, according to government.