PORT OF SPAIN, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar, says w. At the same time, there has been progress across Latin America and the Caribbean(LAC) with regards to human development, “the pattern is clear, we have made progress, but it remains fragile”.
Addressing the launch of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Human Development Report 2025 here on Thursday night, Persad Bissessar stated that, in just one generation, poverty has been halved.
“Yet today, one in four people still live in poverty, and another third live so close to the edge that a single shock could push them back down. The Human Development Index, which once rose steadily year after year, slowed sharply after the mid-2010s.
“Then came COVID-19, which caused the first decline in the Index in our history. Recovery since then has been uneven and uncertain,” she said, adding “today, our region faces uncertainty levels that are 50 per cent higher than the global average.
“And the truth is, crises no longer come one at a time. That is what this report rightly calls a polycrisis. The conclusion is undeniable: business as usual is no longer an option,” Persad Bissessar told her audience that included Michelle Muschett, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Ugo Blanco, UNDP Resident Representative for Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao, and St Maarten as well as various Caribbean and international diplomats and members of her government.
The latest UNDP Regional Human Development Report 2025, titled “Under Pressure: Recalibrating the Future of Development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, argues that in a context of uncertainty and interconnected crises, moving forward requires a shift in strategy: resilience must be placed at the center of the debate.
The UNDP notes that patterns of development progress in LAC over the last few decades can be summarized in four simple tenets: significant progress has occurred; progress has been unequal; it has slowed in recent years; and it is vulnerable to reversals.
Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said in the Caribbean, “We live these contradictions every day,” and that growth is recorded in reports, yet inequality endures in households.
She said the report highlights three significant stressors pressing upon the LAC: technological disruption, social fragmentation, and the climate emergency.
“From these mounting pressures, we must chart a new path, one of resilient human development. A model where progress is not fragile, where a single crisis cannot erase decades of hard work, and where every gain is protected and shared.
“This vision calls for action we can all understand, such as protecting small states through debt-for-climate swaps and catastrophe-linked financing, building regional value chains in food, health, creative industries, and renewable energy so our economies grow together, and expanding Caribbean risk pools and early-warning systems to shield our communities from natural disasters before they strike.”
Persad Bissessar said that confronting cross-border crime with stronger intelligence-sharing, coordinated maritime security, and recovery strategies that rebuild trust in communities most affected are also needed, adding, “In this way, resilience stops being a slogan and becomes a safeguard for our people, our region, and our future.”
She said the global challenges outlined in the report have their own “Trinbagonian face” and “yet even as Trinidad and Tobago confronts these pressures, it must also recognise the immense potential before it.
She said digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and new technologies are not merely tools; they are accelerators of human development, and when harnessed responsibly, they can expand access to education, improve public services, and create new pathways of opportunity.
“But if we fail to act, they can also deepen divides. Our national strategy must enshrine digital access, AI governance, and innovation ecosystems that empower every citizen.”
Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said that Trinidad and Tobago is proud to host the Caribbean launch of the report, stating, “It is not only a formal event, it is a reaffirmation of our unwavering commitment to sustainable, inclusive, people-centred development.”
She stated that her government is committed to establishing mechanisms that enable the country to navigate uncertainty with clarity and purpose.
“We will construct institutions that embrace complexity and respond with agility. We will invest in infrastructure that empowers communities in Trinidad and in Tobago. We will create an environment where every citizen, in every community, feels seen, heard, and served.
“These are not abstract policy goals. They are the foundations of a prosperous future for Trinidad and Tobago. Of sustainable development for our Caribbean region,” she said, adding that they are reflected in the Regional Human Development Report 2025.
She said that the UNDP report should be viewed as being more than numbers.
“They are a compass, reminding us that true progress is measured not in GDP (gross domestic product) alone, but in the quality of our classrooms, the strength of our healthcare, the fairness of our justice, and the dignity of our people”.
She notes that with regards to Trinidad and Tobago, the report places the oil-rich twin island republic “among the very high human development nations,” which she said was earned “through sacrifice, investment, and resilience.
“But it is slipping, and this is a warning. We cannot rest. We must act with urgency, with vision, and with resolve,” she said, noting that the contents of the report must bring all stakeholders worldwide “to act with courage, imagination, and faith.
“Together, let us turn risk into resilience, pressure into progress, and uncertainty into opportunity, for Trinidad and Tobago, for the Caribbean, and for all humanity,” she told the audience at the launch.
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