From 4 - 8 April 2011, the State Party of Barbados will host the UNESCO Meeting on Small Island Developing States and the Periodic Reporting Exercise of the Caribbean Sub Region of Latin America and the Caribbean. The UNESCO SIDS Meeting is organized for 4 to 6 April 2011, and aims to discuss progress made in the implementation of the 2005 Mauritius Strategy (available at www.unesco.org/en/sids ), which includes the conservation of World Heritage sites, and more in particular the areas in which the Caribbean Member States can make a contribution and in what way they should do so.

Cultural and natural focal points and site managers representing those countries of the Caribbean Sub Region will attend the meeting which have ratified the 1972 World Heritage Convention , accompanied by regional and international experts to elaborate a platform for deeper sub-regional cooperation, as well as the Advisory Bodies (ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN) of the World Heritage Convention .

The meeting is part of a series of sub-regional meetings, launched by the World Heritage Centre/LAC Unit in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2009, and will continue to 2013 for the Caribbean and South American Sub-Region. it is being organized by the Barbados National Commission for UNESCO, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre. Valuable funding support is provided by the World Heritage Fund, the Netherlands Funds in Trust, the Spanish Funds in Trust, and the Government of Barbados.

The purpose of this meeting was to finalize the first cycle of three preparatory meetings for the Second Cycle of the Periodic Reporting, to be launched during the 35th Meeting of the Committee (Bahrain, 2011)

The meeting reviewed the level of progress reached in the implementation of the Action Plan for the Caribbean for 2004-2013 with the purpose of identifying the areas which will require attention in the future. The implementation of the programme for Small Island Developing States-SIDS was also discussed together with the feasibility of establishing a World Heritage Fund for the Caribbean; and establishing the foundations for the preparation of a World Heritage strategy for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Associate Members: Aruba, the Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Netherlands Antilles also participated in the CARICOM meeting.

The meeting involved the participation of several national focal points, managers of inscribed properties, international experts, Advisory Bodies and representatives of UNESCO Regional Offices .

The Second Cycle of sub-regional meetings will take place in Peru, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic following the official launch of the Periodic Reporting Exercise in 2011.