Business View Caribbean | Volume 8, Issue 10

8 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 8, ISSUE 10 ESPONSE TO POST With the reality of our vulnerabilities exposed by the Covid and Climate crises, the call for a more appropriate basis for determining access to concessional financing takes on great urgency “With the reality of our vulnerabilities exposed by the Covid and Climate crises, the call for a more appropriate basis for determining access to concessional financing takes on great urgency. We have to continue to press for the continued development and acceptance of the Multi- Dimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI). The issue of access to concessional resources for development financing and resilience building remains a significant priority for CARICOM States, indeed, for all SIDS,” Dr Barnett stressed. She called on the UN system to intensify collaboration with relevant regional institutions, particularly in the Caribbean, the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, in order to make this index a reality. She also called on the IMF, the World Bank and bilateral and multilateral development partners to step away from the “blinders of GDP per capita.” GDP per capita cannot be a measure of development, let alone sustainable development, she added. Dr Barnett said that new policy options to assist developing countries had to be developed as the traditional policy menu of the International Financial Institutions did not adequately address the inherent vulnerabilities and fragilities of such countries. “That policy menu will certainly be inadequate as the foundation for the design of recovery models that can build transformative and resilient economies in the face of global climate change,” she said. Looking forward to COP 26, the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled for next month in Glasgow, Scotland, the CARICOM Secretary- General stated that for SIDS like CARICOM, 1.5 to stay alive was more than a catchy slogan. “It is an existential reality. We therefore have to be focused on pushing COP26 to be decisive in order to keep the pathways to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement alive and translating commitments to real action on the ground,” Dr Barnett emphasised. She referred in particular to the pledges to the Green Climate and Adaptation Funds which she insisted must be honoured and increased to ensure that the most vulnerable could adapt to and survive the effects of climate change.