He also said Seychelles has made a commitment to move towards MDG Plus targets, which go beyond the initial development goals set.

Mr Faure was speaking while representing President James Michel at the MDG Summit in New York at the start of the 65th session of the UN General Assembly.

In his address to the summit, the Vice-President highlighted the development paradox of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), saying most of them have “graduated” to middle-income status, but there is a severe lack of developmental mechanisms available so they can enter the next phase of their development.

The MDGs set targets for all countries in the world in eight critical areas to help reduce global poverty. The targets were set in 2000 and are supposed to be achieved by 2015.
 
However, the world economic crisis has led to questions of whether many countries are able to meet the targets on time, and the MDG Summit was convened to review progress so far.

Mr Faure explained that for the concept of sustainable development to be successful, the international community, through the UN system, has to come up with new proposals that go beyond the status quo.
 
He welcome the initiative of the UN secretary-general to appoint a high-level panel on sustainability led by President Tarja Halonen of Finland and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa.
 
“We are at a point in history where we must ask the question: what conditions can truly make any one country sustainable? Part of the answer lies in the fact that no country will truly be sustainable unless we can also ensure that our planet is sustainable,” said Mr Faure.

He added that small islands are penalised by their relative success, and new mechanisms are a must to meet their needs.
“Small island states are too developed to benefit from the concessions offered to least developed countries, and are not developed enough to benefit from the advantages of first world status,” he said.

“In this middle-income trap, there is unfortunately a sense that there is no way up. The status quo becomes the best case scenario.

“In an increasingly interconnected world, the marginalisation of SIDS is increasing, and we need the global development architecture to recognise this. We need to have formal recognition of SIDS as a developmental category by the UN system.”
 
Mr Faure highlighted three important considerations for the way forward:

- The importance of developing innovative financing initiatives, including “green financing” to ease access to renewable energy.

- The importance of regional groupings as developmental agents and in ensuring safety and security – prerequisites for successful development. He also called for renewed resources to be invested in regional initiatives to combat piracy.

- The importance of pursuing new approaches for sustainable development outside the confines of ideology.

“Development is about people. Let us ensure that people are at the centre of everything we do,” said Mr Faure.

“We are all united by the Millennium Development Goals because we share the desire to improve the lives of our peoples.

“Despite the challenges, we remain optimistic. The world financial crisis has not dampened our resolve – rather it has made us more determined to truly create the conditions for a sustainable world.”

Speaking about the MDG Plus targets, Mr Faure said: “Seychelles is one of the first countries in the African region to make this commitment, and this reflects the strong policies that the government has put in place to maintain and enhance our commitment to people-centred development.”

Mr Faure said Seychelles is well on the way to achieving the MDGs, and as it moves towards these commitments it is expected that continued emphasis will be placed on the key sectors of health and education.