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The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, called for the adoption of a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI) for small island developing states (SIDS) and vulnerable countries within the United Nations framework and international financial institutions.
The President of Seychelles, Wavel Ramkalawan, called for the adoption of a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI) for small island developing states (SIDS) and vulnerable countries within the United Nations framework and international financial institutions.
In a volatile and unpredictable climate, it is imperative to usher in a new assessment architecture. One which can truly address the needs of SIDS and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in a comprehensive manner. To go beyond GDP and per capita as a measurement of development and access to concessionary financing for development needs. He made this statement at a high-level side event convened by the La Francophonie (OIF) – the organisation of French-speaking countries – and the Commonwealth on the margins of the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha. There needs to be an index that takes into consideration the intrinsic complexities that data on income, on its own, cannot fully reveal. Identifying a fairer and more pragmatic methodology of assessment to measure a country’s susceptibility to external shocks.
For three decades, small island developing states (SIDS) have been saying that traditional measures of development, primarily used for the allocation of concessional resources, like GDP per capita, insufficiently capture their vulnerabilities. The first call for the globally accepted vulnerability index was first made in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. However, since then there remains a lack of international consensus on how to characterise and, by extension, mitigate their vulnerabilities.
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The President further said that the MVI should be universally applicable within the United Nations system and beyond, including international financial institutions. No country should be penalised for making progress in its development journey. The opportunities extended, or considerations given, to some developing countries should be available to all developing countries, irrespective of income status.
