Prime Minister Gaston Browne has issued a forceful appeal to the international community to turn promises into action, calling for scaled and timely development finance to safeguard vulnerable nations, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Speaking at the First Biennial Summit for a Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient Global Economy: Implementing Commitments on Financing Development, Browne warned that despite decades of pledges, financing for development and climate resilience continues to lag dangerously behind.

“We cannot keep mortgaging our children’s future merely to survive today. The vision is not missing; the problem is implementation,” the Prime Minister declared, urging leaders to “move from communiqués to classrooms rebuilt, clinics powered, and homes protected.”

The Prime Minister underscored that current global growth—projected at just 2.5 to 3 percent—alongside public debt exceeding US$97 trillion, is insufficient to meet either development or climate goals. At the same time, escalating trade fragmentation, financial volatility, and worsening climate shocks are eroding global confidence.

For SIDS, these challenges are not theoretical but existential. Browne pointed out that in 2024 alone, climate-related disasters wiped out an estimated US$7 billion across small islands. With tourism accounting for more than 40 percent of GDP in some nations, and debt burdens often ranging from 80 to 100 percent of GDP, small islands remain three times more vulnerable to shocks than the global average.

“The IPCC warns that sea levels could rise by as much as one metre this century,” Browne said. “For us, this is not an academic exercise. It is survival.”

Browne used the occasion to highlight Antigua and Barbuda’s own proactive measures under the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS).

A Debt Sustainability Support Service (DSSS) has been established to restructure national debt and redirect funds into resilience-building. The first transaction is targeted for completion by March 2026.

Beginning in 2026, climate-resilient debt clauses will be integrated into all new sovereign issuances, ensuring flexibility in times of disaster.

“These are not just words on paper,” Browne said. “We are proving that small states can lead by example—aligning policies with delivery.”

The Prime Minister’s address carried a clear message: SIDS cannot do it alone. Browne urged multilateral development banks (MDBs), international financial institutions (IFIs), philanthropies, and private investors to step up with innovative and fairer financing mechanisms. Among his proposals:

• Expanding grant and concessional finance, guided by vulnerability rather than per capita income.
• Adopting automatic disaster clauses that suspend debt payments immediately after catastrophes.
• Making state-contingent instruments such as debt-for-nature and resilience swaps standard practice.
• Scaling blended finance with guarantees and first-loss capital to attract private and philanthropic investments.
• Funding pipelines of projects, not one-off initiatives, to ensure long-term resilience and sustainability.

“Success will not be measured by the length of our declarations,” Browne emphasized, “but by bending debt trajectories toward sustainability and empowering our people with the tools to thrive.”

Antigua and Barbuda confirmed that its pipeline of resilience, clean energy, and adaptation projects is ready for immediate co-financing and rapid implementation. Browne extended an open invitation to global partners to collaborate through blended-finance structures and guarantees, positioning SIDS not as aid recipients but as credible, ambitious partners in shared global resilience.

The UN summit, which convened world leaders, financial institutions, and development partners, underscored a critical truth: without bold reforms to financing systems, the world risks leaving the most vulnerable nations behind.