MAURITIUS: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ATTENDS CONFERENCE OF SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
Record ID:
222988
MAURITIUS: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ATTENDS CONFERENCE OF SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
- Title: MAURITIUS: UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN ATTENDS CONFERENCE OF SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES
- Date: 11th January 2005
- Summary: (W5) PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS (JANUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PAN SWAMI VIVEKANANDA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTREL SMALL ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT COUNTRIES' FLAGS FLYING 0.12 2. HAS PAN DELEGATES INSIDE; SLV CHILDREN PERFORMING ON STAGE IN FRONT OF DELEGATES 0.54 (W6) PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS (JANUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 3. SLV ANWARUL CHOWDHURY, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE 1.06 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANWARUL CHOWDHURY, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING, SAYING: "Worldwide there are lots of early warning systems. We need to set up a network of those disasters, early warning systems, so that at least there is an exchange of information, there is an exchange of data, and in this day and age of computers and sophisticated technology, even many additional information can be shared. And this network should be also connected with the national focal points in disaster-prone countries. There should be in each country a focal person or focal group of persons who will analyse and receive this information from all over the world and then they will take the national action in this context. I believe if this kind of system had existed before the tsunami thing, we could have saved thousands of lives." 2.02 5. SLV PLANE WITH UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN TAXIING AT AIRPORT; ANNAN DISEMBARKS 6. SCU ANNAN MEETING HIS EXCELLENCY MR. PAUL RAYMOND BERENGER G.C.S.K, PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF MAURITIUS 2.53 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PORT LOUIS, MAURITIUS
- Country: Mauritius
- Reuters ID: LVA4TYQAW0EYPIIQOQTXDM1HABBJ
- Story Text: Mauritius hosts conference of Small Island
Developing States.
The Indian Ocean tsunami has pushed disaster early
warning to the top of the agenda at a meeting of the
world's small islands, potentially crowding out concerns
about climate change and trade, some delegates say.
The U.N. conference of 37 island countries, to be
attended by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and donor
nation diplomats, opened on Monday (January 10), to discuss
island challenges bred by geographical isolation, limited
resources and exposure to the violent whims of nature.
But the December 26 Indian Ocean earthquake and
tsunami, which killed 150,000, has given the meeting in
Mauritius a new urgency and focus on island vulnerability
to natural disaster.
Though the last has always been a major island issue,
the meeting's secretary-general, U.N. Under-secretary
General and High Representative Anwarul Chowdhury, said now
was the time to give the Indian Ocean and other regions a
key protection.
"We need to set up a network of those disasters, early
warning systems....I believe if this kind of system had
existed before the tsunami, we could have saved thousands
of lives," Chowdhury said at a news conference.
Its absence was believed to have contributed to
thousands of preventable deaths across the coastlines of
the Indian Ocean.
Chowdhury chided donor nations for giving islands less
and less help to achieve goals set at a 1994 Barbados
conference, which dealt with climate change, energy needs, tourism and
the management of fresh water, waste and biodiversity.
Mauritius Prime Minister Paul Berenger, president of
the meeting, which is formally a 10-year review of progress
made on the Barbados environmental and development goals,
pressed donor nations to help with two areas of increasing
concern to islands.
The end of global trade quotas has opened fragile and
traditionally undiversified island economies to competition
from powerhouses like India and China, and some islands'
existence is threatened by rising sea levels.
Delegates said progress on trade issues was made at
informal talks over the weekend, but none had been made in
the contentious area of climate change.
The international community has traditionally resisted
island calls for continued trade preferences and some rich
nations have fought any suggestion their fossil-fuel
emissions contribute to global warming and rising seas.
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