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EU Statement – UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: Special Session on Small Island Developing States

16.07.2025
New York
Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in New York

16 July 2025, New York – Statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States delivered by Mr. Ignacio Ybanez, EU Envoy for SIDS, at the UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development on the Special Session on SIDS: Strategies for SDG success 

 

 

  • Moderator, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

  • I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

  • The Candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

  • I would like to start by thanking ECOSOC for devoting this HLPF session to the SIDS. As stated in ABAS “the next ten years are critical for SIDS. (…) Without the full support of the international community, SIDS will endure potentially far-reaching consequences”.

 

  • Partnership is the engine that will drive ABAS forward. Whether through financing, capacity building, or knowledge exchange, the international community must work hand-in-hand with SIDS to address their priorities — from protecting the ocean and biodiversity, to investing in sustainable livelihoods and resilient infrastructure. 

 

  • The EU and its member states together are the largest donor to the SIDS, providing more than €1.2 billion of bilateral ODA, besides the contributions channeled through multilateral organizations. 

 

  • The EU is enforcing the EU–SIDS partnership and contributing to the implementation of ABAS through Global Gateway, the EU’s strategy to boost smart, clean and secure connections in digital, energy and transport sectors, and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world. 

 

  • The third UN Ocean Conference in Nice was an opportunity to highlight SIDS’s priorities and specific vulnerabilities, both at the Conference itself and through special events such as the summit on sea-level rise and the Island Forum which reunited over 30 SIDS. Participants agreed on the importance of a sustainable blue economy and the necessity to recognize multidimensional vulnerability in the allocation of international funding.

 

  • We are also working closely with the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) which includes all SIDS, except Singapore. We worked hand in hand with the OACPS SIDS in the preparation of the SIDS4 Conference and are determined to join efforts on ABAS implementation. 

 

  • More recently, the EU and the OACPS have issued a joint statement for the FFD4, reaffirming the joint commitment to multilateralism, the rules-based international order and the 2030 Agenda, recalling urgent need to close the global financing gap for achieving the SDGs through the effective use of all sources of financing—public and private, domestic and international. 

 

  • Through this statement, we have committed to work together on three main issues which are of high importance for SIDS:

    • First: the use of new metrics such as the OACPS Multidimensional Vulnerability and Resilience Index (OMVRI), which better reflect these countries' development realities beyond GDP. 

    • Second: the strengthening of debt management capacities, domestic revenue mobilization, and combating illicit financial flows. 

    • Third: the support for the ongoing reforms of the international financial architecture, in view of making it more efficient, equitable and inclusive, through a stronger role of developing countries within multilateral development banks and other international economic and financial institutions.

 

  • Recognizing the need for deeper, more consistent cooperation, this year we started EU – SIDS informal dialogues co-chaired by the PR of EU and the PR of Samoa as the chair the newly established ABAS Coordination Committee on the AOSIS side. This dialogue platform provides an inclusive, high-level space for structured political exchange, with a focus on the practical implementation of ABAS, climate action and ocean governance. We recall that ocean governance will be reinforced by the entry into force of the BBNJ agreement on biodiversity in the high seas, and invite all States to deposit their instruments of ratification. The first EU–SIDS Informal Dialogue took place in June and its deliverable is the side event entitled “The implementation of the ABAS through international partnerships”. The event will take place on 21 July 2025, from 1:15 to 2:30 PM, at Conference Room C.

 

  • The UN has a key role to play in supporting SIDS to achieve their sustainable development  objectives. All UN development system shall contribute to this objective, through the integration of ABAS implementation into the strategic and work plans of the different entities, in accordance with their mandates. 

 

  • The EU and its Member States stand ready to work towards a quick and effective implementation of ABAS, and to work together with the UN.