The high-level segment of the United Nations International Meeting on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) opened with addresses by His Excellency Mr. Paul Berenger, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius and His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations. The venue for the meeting was the Island Republic of Mauritius.

After negotiations on the margins of the meeting, the University of the West Indies team led by Vice-Chancellor Professor E. Nigel Harris was able to come to agreement with four other Universities on a Memorandum of Understanding to form a Small Island States Universities Consortium for capacity development to implement the Barbados Programme of Action for Sustainable Development. The other founding members are University of Mauritius, University of Malta, University of South Pacific and the University of the Virgin Islands. Other members will be invited to join the founding Universities. The Prime Minister of Mauritius and H.E. Jagdish Koonjul Chairman of the meeting presided over the formal ceremony to sign the MOU.

• Improve information flows among members on course offerings, facilities, student needs and relevant documents.
• Encourage cooperative curriculum development, research, indigenous knowledge management and outreach in the key areas of vulnerability for SIDS to support resilience building.
• Share research findings and reference materials as appropriate and enable cooperation on these with their students and faculty.
• Use the results of SIDS – focused research and field projects to assemble curricula relevant to island development.
• Recommend standards and procedures for inter-institutional accreditation among members.