Politicians targeted, hope for dialogue after Islands conference
Dr. Karl Dawson, President of the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College.
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – In an effort to get the policy makers to make necessary decisions that affects small islands, local politicians, Government officials and senior public servants will be targeted to be part of the Islands of the World Conference XII to be hosted by the Virgin Islands.
The four-day conference which is set to take place from May 29 to June 1, 2012, will bring forward several papers speaking to issues of culture and history, education, Caribbean Governance, Financial Services, sustainable tourism and sustainable development among others.
In response to a question from the media at a press conference held today May 31, 2011 at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, the host of the event, President Dr. Karl Dawson said they will attempt to get the Government and academic world to meet and address the issues.
He noted that in such an environment, the politicians will not be under pressure and he believes it would make a difference.
Dr. Dawson acknowledged that though they may not get as much action as they would have liked out of such conferences, they are still able to discuss the issues and bring them to the forefront.
Concerns were raised by this reporter regarding the outcome of such conferences where documentations and papers are often submitted to address issues but very often, nothing comes out of it.
The assurance was given by Dana Lewis, Chair of the Conference’s Steering Committee that there are results from the conferences. She revealed that locally, Virgin Islands representatives to previous conferences have benefited from the exposure while internationally, some countries, such as the Cayman Islands and Korea have seen declarations made to their respective Governments. While she could not have confirmed whether the issues were addressed, she noted that the officials of those countries have acknowledged their willingness to address the issues that were raised.
The Conference is conducted every two years under the auspices of the International Small Islands Studies Assocation (ISISA) which is a voluntary independent body. Its objectives are to study islands on their own terms, and to encourage free scholarly discussion on small island related matters such as islandness, smallness, insularity, dependency, resource management and environment and the nature of island life.
The conference is expected to attract between 300 to 400 scholars to the Territory from various parts of the world.
Meanwhile, the College has launched a website, www.hlscc.edu.vg/islandsxii where all relevant information on the Conference can be found and persons can also register.
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No you must replace some of them polititcians
lets start with the 2 doctors in ndp
then ensure to keep the funny man Myron and the broke boy Mark out of we hosue
The collage cannot even pay his vendors and they are here hosting a conference at a cost of a cool quarter of a million bucks? another statutory body that is a runaway train deman
well said! wake up Uncle Ralph
Though the VI currently enjoys one of the highest standard of living in the region, it is a microstate with limited resources and limited growth opportunity. The VI needs to be transformed as it forges ahead into the 21st Century. It needs to borrow from the past, be mindful of the present, yet position itself for the future with a laser-like focus. With its limited footprint, it cannot afford too many missteps in planning its growth and development. It should not revel in the pain of other regional sister countries but it can capitalize on their mistakes.
Hopeful this august body of experts and professionals can rollout a blue print for a strategic and sustainable economic and growth plan for VI that will meet the needs of current and future Virgin Islanders. Undoubtedly, maintaining the current standard living will be a challenge that will entail long-term and strategic planning, Regardless what plan is adopted it should balance the economic needs relative to protecting the environment, cultural, archaeological, and natural resources.
The local population should be afforded the opportunity to contribute towards the fleshing out of the plan. Plan fleshed out, there needs to be strong implementation and evaluation plan. Finally, the plans that are rollout by this gathering of experts should not be a one-size-fits-all. Specifically, there should be plans that are affordable, practical and readily adopted by microstates such the VI. If nothing of the sort comes to fruition from this august group, then it will have been, perhaps, just an expensive gab fest with little return on scarce investment dollars.