Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
In the spirit of the Samoa Convention, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the European Union and the members of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States look forward to working closely and constructively to implement the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States, a key outcome of the Fourth SIDS Conference, held in Antigua and Barbuda from 27 to 30 May 2024.
The Samoa Convention provides a framework for leading global initiatives and building consensus on issues of global importance and common interest. This enhanced cooperation covers key priorities for Small Island Developing States, including environmental sustainability, climate resilience, ocean governance, sustainable management of natural resources, and support for inclusive and sustainable blue and green economic growth, including through private sector development. According to a joint statement distributed in Brussels, the OECD and the EU welcome the close cooperation between SIDS, EU remote areas and external countries and territories, which share some common characteristics and specificities. The OECD and the EU also look forward to working closely with SIDS ahead of upcoming multilateral events, including the UN Summit for the Future, the Conferences of the Parties to the Rio Conventions, the Third UN Ocean Conference, and the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. The OECD and the EU welcome the development of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, recognizing that many sustainable development challenges and vulnerabilities are not adequately reflected in common national indicators such as GDP and GNI per capita. The OECD and the EU encourage all development institutions to take these vulnerabilities into account in their work. The OECD and the EU support international efforts to reform the international financial architecture and multilateral development banks to enable them to address global challenges more effectively, building on the Paris Pact roadmap for people and planet, the Bridgetown Initiative, and work in Other multilateral forums, including the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group, international financial institutions and multilateral development banks.

Objectives of the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States - The Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) took place from 27 to 30 May 2024 in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, under the theme “Charting the Path to Resilient Prosperity”. The conference assessed the progress of SIDS towards the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, and resulted in an intergovernmentally agreed political outcome document, the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States (ABAS).

EU support to SIDS – The EU and its Member States together are the largest donor to SIDS, providing over €1.2 billion in bilateral ODA, as well as channelled contributions through multilateral organisations, in 2022. Under the Global Gateway strategy, the EU and its Member States, within the framework of the Team Europe approach, cooperate with SIDS through investments in the areas of digital, environment, climate, energy, transport, health, education and research. In addition, as of December 2022, the EU is channelling EUR 3.47 billion in credit lines to local credit institutions to SIDS through the European Investment Bank. The EU is also financing a EUR 35 million programme to support SIDS in Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific and coastal states, including the Caribbean BioSpace Programme, the Pacific BioSpace Programme and support to the Western Indian Ocean Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.