World Government Summit 2022: President Ramkalawan participates in SDGs in Action Forum  Dubai, 30 March 2022: At the World Government Summit being held in Dubai, President Wavel Ramkalawan participated in a forum entitled Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Action under the theme: Scaling new Heights for the Future of Humanity. 

Moderated by the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office UAE, Vice-President of the Global Coucil on SDGS, H. E Abdulla Nasser Lootah, during discussions President Ramkalawan spoke of the importance of the SDGs for Seychelles.

Under the Sub-theme 'Innovation in Generating the Blue Economy' the President shared with the audience the efforts of the Seychelles, a small island developing punching above its weight in the climate debate. He stressed on the country's vulnerabilities despite having already delivered on on most of the development goals.

"Most Small Island Developing States (SIDS) , notably those of us situated in the Indian Ocean have been blessed with an abundance of ocean and ocean-based resources. We might therefore be small island states, but we are in actuality large ocean states. Seychelles for instance constitutes of 99.9% ocean. This is why we have been prompted to relook at the way we conduct our socio-economic activities, and to adopt a shrewder approach which puts the ocean, which is our biggest asset, at the centre of our sustainable development aspirations. 

The SDGs have become increasingly important now in the midst and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has aggravated our already fragile socio-economic status. It is to be noted that the pandemic has also created a more convincing business case for the development of our blue economy as it has given us hard proof that there is a dire need for us to become more self-sufficient and resilient to external shocks," said President Ramkalawan.

During discussions, themed questions on the various sustainable goals linked to the Blue Economy such as SDG 2 - Zero Hunger, SDG 6 - Clean water and Sanitation, SDG 8 - Decent work and economic growth, SDG13 - on Climate Action and SDG 14 - Life below water, were among some of the sustainable goals highlighted.