<\/p>\n
A major meeting of the 16 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the
\nCaribbean began this week, here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, to
\nassess development progress and agree on priorities for next year\u2019s
\nUnited Nations conference on SIDS in Antigua and Barbuda.
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Keisal Peters during the
\nopening session of the meeting emphasized the importance of data
\ncollection, saying that readily accessible date proves invaluable in
\nmaking significant strides.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother challenge we face and one where we can look inwardly in
\ncharting our way forward is that of data collection and data sharing in
\nassessing our progress towards our sustainable development goals. Data
\ncollection is an area we must improve upon, as readily accessible data
\nproves invaluable in making significant strides. If we are to accurately
\nmeasure our progress, improve on implementation and monitoring and
\nevaluation, we must have the relevant data, and even better, data owned
\nand driven by SIDS,\u201d Minister Peters said.<\/p>\n
Minister Peters during her address applauded the Government of
\nAntigua and Barbuda for leading the charge towards the establishment
\nof a centre for excellence which promises to be a great aid to SIDS
\nwhere relevant data can be accessed and used to enhance actions and
\ninitiatives taken by SIDS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A major meeting of the 16 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Caribbean began this week, here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, to assess development progress and agree on priorities for next year\u2019s United Nations conference on SIDS in Antigua and Barbuda. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Keisal Peters during<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":34874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\n