Jamaica to participate in high-level talks at UN General Assembly

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson Smith, will participate in several engagements during the United Nations General Assembly's High-Level Week in New York City, beginning Monday.

The Jamaican delegation will be led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Johnson Smith says there is expected to be a lot of focus on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"Of course, the world has lost significant momentum during the pandemic and this has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine," she said in an audio recording released to the media on Sunday.

"So, Jamaica will continue to champion enhanced partnerships towards implementation. Through focus on poverty eradication measures, climate change and environmental governance and, of course, as we have been continuously advocating for, debt sustainability strategies for SIDS (small island developing states) and middle-income developing countries, as well as the advancement of women and the protection of the rights of children," she added.

After two years of virtual and hybrid summits, the world's leaders will reconvene at the UN General Assembly.

The opening of the 77th session comes as the planet is beset with crises on nearly every front, including Russia's war in Ukraine, inflation and economic instability, environmental degradation and devastating floods, droughts and fires and the ongoing pandemic.

The high-level meeting opens Monday with a summit on education, on the heels of thorough disruption during the coronavirus pandemic.

Speeches from the scores of attending leaders begin Tuesday and run through Monday, September 26.

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