4th International Conference on Small Island Developing States

The fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) will be held from 27 to 30 May 2024 in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda. The Conference will be held at the American University of Antigua, (American University of Antigua, Jabberwock Rd, Osbourn, Antigua & Barbuda). The venue is located in close proximity of the V.C Bird international airport. 

Under the overarching theme of “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity", the Conference will aim at assessing the ability of SIDS to achieve sustainable development, including the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. It will result in an intergovernmentally agreed, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented political outcome document.

The members of the Bureau of the Preparatory Committee are: Barbados, Cabo Verde, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Italy, Latvia (Rapporteur), Maldives (Co-Chair), New Zealand (Co-Chair), Romania and Seychelles. Antigua and Barbuda (as host of the Conference) and Samoa (as Chair of AOSIS) serve as ex officio members. More information is available here.

To prepare for the Conference, a regional preparatory meeting in each of the three regions of small island developing States, as well as an interregional preparatory meeting for all small island developing States were held in 2023. More information is available here.

The UN Secretary-General has appointed the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Li Junhua, as the Secretary-General of the Conference responsible for guiding the intergovernmental and logistical preparations for the Conference; and the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Ms. Rabab Fatima, as Special Adviser for the Conference responsible for leading the advocacy and fundraising efforts. UN DESA together with OHRLLS will also coordinate the inter-agency preparations and contribution of the United Nations system to the Conference.