NEW YORK, USA (CMC) —Prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves says his country is still pursuing its “ambitious” bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

“It’s still on the agenda, and we’re pursuing it,” Gonsalves told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding “it’s something that’s pretty ambitious”.

He said there is dire need for a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) to sit on the council “to assist with the articulation of issues, such as climate change”.

“It’s a matter that we’re pursuing very, very much,” said Gonsalves, adding that the island’s pursuit is done through the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and SIDS DOCK.

AOSIS is a coalition of small islands and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment, especially their vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change. It functions primarily as an ad hoc lobby and negotiating voice for SIDS within the United Nations system.

AOSIS said it has a membership of 44 states and observers drawn from all oceans and regions of the world to include Africa, the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Pacific and South China Sea. Thirty-nine are members of the United Nations, close to 28 per cent of developing countries, and 20 per cent of the UN’s total membership.

Together, SIDS communities constitute some five per cent of the global population.

SIDS DOCK is an initiative among AOSIS member countries providing SIDS with a collective institutional mechanism to assist them to transform their national energy sectors into a catalyst for sustainable economic development and help generate financial resources to address adaptation to climate change.

It is called SIDS DOCK because it is designed as a ‘DOCKing station’, to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global market for finance, sustainable energy technologies, and with the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) carbon markets, and able to trade the avoided carbon emissions in those markets. Estimates place the potential value of the US and EU markets between US$100 to US$400 billion annually.

According to the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat, in December 2010, in Cancun, Mexico, SIDS DOCK was launched with four partners — the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, AOSIS and the Government of Denmark —with a US$14.5-million grant as in start-up contributions.

On December 8, 2011, the SIDS DOCK Steering Committee designated Belize as the host country for its secretariat.

Gonsalves said he had led the UN when SIDS DOCK was launched.

“We worked with the Global Environment Fund, we worked with several agencies all over the world. There are big issues. We in the Caribbean need to push to deal with mitigation,” Gonsalves said, adding “we have to push for the mitigation (of 2 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels), but we have to make sure countries, like us, get the necessary adaptation monies”.

Meanwhile, elections for the 2020 non-permanent Security Council seat that St Vincent and the Grenadines seeks take place a year earlier, the prime minister said.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The council has 15 members, with each having one vote. The five permanent members are China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The current remaining 10 non-permanent members, elected for two-year terms by the UN General Assembly, with end of term date are Angola (2016) Egypt (2017), Japan (2017) Malaysia (2016), New Zealand (2016) Senegal (2017) Spain (2016), Ukraine (2017) Venezuela (2016).

According to the UN Charter, all member states are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

The Security Council said that it takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression, calling upon the parties to a dispute to settle it by peaceful means and recommending methods of adjustment or terms of settlement.

In some cases, the Security Council said it can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorise the use of force to maintain or restore international peace and security.

The Security Council said it also recommends to the UN General Assembly the appointment of the secretary general and the admission of new members to the United Nations.

Together with the UN General Assembly, the Security Council elects the judges of the International Court of Justice.

More than 60 United Nations member states have never been members of the council and to ensure geographical continuity, a certain number of members is allocated for each of the five UN regional groupings.

Last month, St Vincent and the Grenadines deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sir Louis Straker told the

CMC that, in light of the Government’s quest to “boost” its mission to the UN, ahead of the country’s application for non-permanent membership on the Security Council, personnel at the mission are being expanded.

“We have to beef up our staff. We have to show that we’re involved in various organisations of the UN,” Sir Louis added.