The United Nations High-Level Panel, headed by Prime Minister Gaston Browne and co-chaired by Norway’s former Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, has released its final report on a Multi-dimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI).
This report is a significant milestone for Antigua and Barbuda, as well as other developing nations that are vulnerable.
The MVI provides a more comprehensive way to assess a country’s well-being and development paradigm, beyond the traditional method of Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister spoke at a United Nations virtual meeting about the importance of this final report.
“There is currently no international, widely accepted, quantitative benchmark to measure structural vulnerability or lack of resilience across multiple dimensions of sustainable development at a national level, hence the MVI fills this gap. It allows for a recognition that a country’s vulnerabilities to exogenous shocks and stresses as impediments to its sustainable development and should be taken into account in determining its eligibility for development assistance, particularly if it also lacks inherent resilience.” Browne added.