Leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have endorsed the United Nations-led Pact for the Future, which is viewed as the most wide-ranging international agreement in many years to safeguard the future of the global community.
Pact for the Future, which includes the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, was adopted on Sunday, Sept. 22, at the Summit of the Future, a global forum to coalesce multilateral efforts around some of the most pressing issues in the global environment.
Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from Sept. 22-23, ahead of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the Summit heard several CARICOM Heads of Government making impassioned pleas for actions to address the concerns of developing countries.
Peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, digital cooperation and human rights are among the issues covered in the wide-ranging Pact, which also includes commitments to improve the effectiveness of representation of the United Nations Security Council.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, one of the first CARICOM speakers at the Summit, said his country is proud to have contributed to the historic process as he congratulated the co-facilitators of the Pact.
“This Summit and the Pact together embody renewed hope for advancing a common vision on leveraging multilateralism to create a dynamic framework within which our future generations will thrive,” Holness stated.
Hailing the Pact as a historic opportunity, prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, said while the multilateral system has been “ailing for far longer that many have wished to acknowledge,” it is “now poised to finally make surgical incisions that can aid healing.”
