The General Assembly,
Recalling its resolutions 45/202 of 21 December 1990 and 47/186
of 22 December 1992 and other relevant resolutions of the General
Assembly and of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,
Recognizing that, in addition to the general problems facing
developing countries, many island developing countries experience
specific trade- and financing-related handicaps and that many
of these factors subsist concurrently in island developing countries,
resulting in economic and social vulnerability and dependence,
particularly in those countries that are small and/or geographically
dispersed,
Mindful of the fact that in the 1990s, island developing
countries, particularly the small island developing countries
that have extremely open and volatile economies, are facing an
international economic environment that may adversely affect their
trading opportunities,
Stressing the need for support measures to enable the island
developing countries to obtain maximum benefit from the Final
Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral
Trade Negotiations,
Underscoring the importance of international cooperation
to support policies and measures of island developing countries
in the area of trade so as to complement the Programme of Action
for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States,
adopted at the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development
of Small Island Developing States,
Noting that many island developing countries are least
developed countries,
1. Expresses its appreciation to the States, organizations
and bodies, within and outside the United Nations system, that
have responded to the special needs of island developing countries;
2. Welcomes the Programme of Action for the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States and the Declaration
of Barbados, adopted at the Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States, held at Bridgetown,
from 25 April to 6 May 1994 (hereinafter referred to as the Barbados
Conference);
3. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-
General on a development strategy for island developing countries;
4. Welcomes the efforts made by island developing countries
at national and regional levels to enhance their international
competitiveness and to expand their trading opportunities;
5. Calls upon the international community to implement
all the commitments achieved and the recommendations made at the
Barbados Conference and to take the necessary action to give effective
follow-up to the Programme of Action, and, in relation to trade
and development issues with respect to island developing countries,
reiterates the appeals made in paragraph 6 of resolution 47/186;
6. Notes the valuable role of the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development in support of island developing countries,
as recalled in resolution 47/186, and welcomes the provision made
in paragraph 13 of its resolution 49/122 of 19 December 1994 for
strengthening the capacity of the Conference to carry out, in
accordance with its mandate, research and analysis necessary to
complement the work of the Department for Policy Coordination
and Sustainable Development of the Secretariat;
7. Invites the Commission on Sustainable Development to
convene, during its session in 1996, a high-level panel to discuss
the challenges faced by island developing countries, particularly
in the area of external trade, and to assist the Commission in
its review of the implementation of the Programme of Action agreed
at the Barbados Conference, and also invites the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development to organize that panel in
cooperation with the Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable
Development;
8. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to monitor
and review in a coordinated manner, inter alia, within
the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development and the
secretariats of the Commission on Sustainable Development and
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the concerns
and needs of island developing countries;
9. Also requests the Secretary-General to report to the
General Assembly at its fifty-first session on the implementation
of the present resolution and, in recognition of the complementarity
between the follow-up to the Barbados Conference and ongoing island
developing country programmes, further requests the Secretary-General
to take measures to provide for integrated reporting on, and synergetic
consideration of, these issues.
92nd plenary meeting
19 December 1994