Barbados will celebrate the late Guyanese diplomat Ambassador Miles Stoby’s pivotal role in championing the cause of small island developing states (SIDS) and developing the Barbados Programme of Action, today, Friday, April 26.
During the commemoration event, which is being hosted by the Stoby family at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre (LESC), Two Mille Hill, St Michael, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, is scheduled to deliver welcome remarks.
Former Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian and Emergency Relief, Professor Peter Hansen, will deliver the keynote address in which he will define the extraordinary skill of Ambassador Stoby in guiding the Barbados process to success, and his role in framing the international development agenda.
Other key figures, who were instrumental in launching the historic Barbados Programme of Action, which outlines global strategies for addressing climate change devastation and the sustainable development of SIDS, will discuss the origins of the significant diplomatic achievement and Mr. Stoby’s role as the “visionary behind the initiative”.
It was at the LESC, formerly known as Sherbourne Conference Centre, where the Barbados Programme of Action highlighted that SIDS were the frontline victims of the battle with global warming, and also the need for the world community to act on the special vulnerability of small island states was adopted by all member countries of the United Nations (UN).
Barbados had won the right to host the conference from April 25 to May 6, 1994, all because of the advocacy of the then Prime Minister Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, and panellists for the session will recall how a small team of UN professionals pulled it all together under the leadership of Stoby, Assistant UN Secretary-General, and Coordinator of the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of SIDS.
The event is open to the general public, but seating is limited.
