NEW YORK, New York -- Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie (front, right) at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York on Friday affirmed the commitment of the Government to building 'a stronger and more sustainable Bahamas.' The Prime Minister is pictured with Government Ministers at the Summit (from right): Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell and Minister of Social Services and Community Affairs Melanie Griffin. Second row from right: Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of the Environment and Housing Kenred Dorsett, and Minister of State for Investments in the Office of the Prime Minister Khaalis Rolle. (BIS Photo/Peter Ramsay)

NEW YORK, New York -- During his United Nations (UN) General Assembly address at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development, on September 25, 2015, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of The Bahamas the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie said that his Government is committed to the full and effective implementation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to building "a stronger and more sustainable Bahamas."

"The Bahamas is fully aware that we are primarily responsible for our national development – a responsibility from which we have never shied away," Prime Minister Christie told world leaders and other stakeholders present for the event, held at the UN Headquarters in New York. "Recent events prove that small countries have to have the resilience, elasticity of response and the institutional infrastructure to withstand economic shocks that may come from unexpected directions."

Prime Minister Christie stated that their international economic partners, the private investors and the institutional financial institutions all have a role in making sure that resilience is sustained particularly as small countries look toward managing the biggest issue of all -- that of climate change.

"I have come here today to renew the commitment to the protection of our oceans and its species; and the commitment to migrate by 2030 to renewable sources of energy; and a sustained effort at public education in the need for us to do so," he said.

However, Prime Minister Christie pointed out that such small countries will need the assistance of the international community.

"The Bahamas, along with the rest of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has long held that GDP per capita should not be the sole determinant for the question of the economic support that is to be given our region, but that our vulnerability to economic and other exogenous shocks must also be taken into account," he said.

"Indeed, a single large investor can, when it collapses, throw an entire country 'out of whack', and similarly, one hurricane can wipe out the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of an entire country three fold," Prime Minister Christie added. "That was sadly evident in the tragic loss of life and the widespread damage caused by the devastating passage of Tropical Storm Erika over our sister CARICOM island nation of Dominica at the end of August of this year."

Prime Minister Christie said that those kinds of shocks have resulted in the "high levels of indebtedness" that CARICOM countries face today. Such shocks, he continued, have certainly challenged those nations' ability to achieve the internationally agreed development goals.

"And thus it becomes increasingly important for this renewed Global Partnership to meaningfully address these issues, in order to buttress our attempts to implement the new development agenda, including the SDGs," he said.

Prime Minister Christie said that The Bahamas is pleased that the new agenda speaks to the sustainable development challenges they all face. It represents, he noted, a "firm political commitment" to leave no one behind and to ensure a sustainable future for present and future generations.

"As we agree here on the SDGs and Targets, we also agree to align them to national priorities and anchor them in our national sustainable development plans," Prime Minister Christie said.

"As we implement this new agenda, we must continue to acknowledge that small island developing states (SIDS) remain a special case for sustainable development

in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities, including to the adverse effects of climate change," he added.

Prime Minister Christie noted that those present were meeting at that "historic moment" when the world leaders will adopt the 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development.

"Indeed it is the hope of the People of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas that we are agreeing to a new agenda that is people-centred, planet-sensitive and inclusive in approach to its development, grounded in the common values and principles we espouse as the United Nations," he said.

Prime Minister Christie also took the opportunity, on behalf of the Government of The Bahamas, to welcome His Holiness Pope Francis to the Western hemisphere and to welcome his efforts toward world peace and his reminder to all present of their responsibility to the earth.

"It is clear that as we move toward adopting the sustainable development goals, we must keep in mind our responsibility to protect the earth, its resources and its people," Prime Minister Christie said.

While continuing to look towards the future on a global scale, Prime Minister Christie stressed that it is important that the aforementioned new development agenda leads toward a climate treaty in Paris later this year.

"It is the position of SIDS that to put the world on a below 2° Celsius pathway, the Paris agreement must establish a global, legally binding framework, with commitments strong enough to reverse present upward emission trends by 2020, and to ensure fossil fuel CO2 emissions from the energy and industrial sector are reduced to zero by 2050," Prime Minister Christie said.

SIDS survival, he admonished, must be the benchmark for the 2015 agreement, and developed countries must honour their financial commitments from Copenhagen and provide adequate means of implementation, including through the capitalization of the Green Climate Fund.

"The stage has already been set and we have delivered a robust agenda," Prime Minister Christie said. "But our work has only just begun and exactly how the next scenes will play out remains to be seen. What we can be certain of, however, is that the world, of over 7 billion people, is watching and waiting in the hope that we will rise to the challenge of truly transforming our world."

Nowhere is this challenge more important than in educating and training, preparing our young people for the future, Prime Minister Christie pointed out.

"My government has committed itself in the area of education, to serve the needs of our population in all demographics both able and disabled, young and old," he stated. "We recognise the continued role of education in supporting efforts for economic growth and poverty eradication, as well as acting as a tool for socialization."

Prime Minister Christie said that he was "particularly concerned" about the young people of the world and told those present that they have an obligation to them, to address the joblessness, the sense of hopelessness.

"I want to bequeath to them a sustainable world, free of violence, war and crime and with a fair chance to access the economic benefits of the world. I say again. If we fail to address this, we do so at our peril," Prime Minister Christie said.

"I leave you, then, with the wish that we recommit ourselves to being the shepherds and protectors of mother earth."