Above: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (UN Photo/Mark Garten)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The United Nations is committed to dealing with the biggest issues in the Caribbean, from debt and climate change to transnational organized crime, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

“CARICOM and the United Nations are good partners,” he said. “I am committed to ensuring that our cooperation — both with the CARICOM Secretariat and with Member States — is more targeted and more responsive to the needs of the region.”

The Secretary-General said the region’s increasing threat of transnational organized crime was having a particularly devastating impact on women and youth.

Ban, who said he would urge the G8 and the G20 to fulfill their pledges to the region, also pointed to climate change as having a “disproportionate impact” on the Caribbean.

On that point, he praised Caribbean leadership during the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio this summer, along with the Caribbean Community’s support for Haiti, which will be assuming the CARICOM Chairmanship in January.

Ban held a separate meeting this week with leaders of CARICOM Member States, covering issues from non-communicable diseases to sustainable development.

“I attach great importance to regional cooperation among states and between regional organizations and the United Nations,” he said. “Thank you for your suppo