Among the delegates is Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur as well as Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Denzil Douglas; Secretary-General of CARICOM, Edwin Carrington; Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Nigel Harris; and Director-General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Dr. Len Ishmael.

They join UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and about 20 other heads of state, 35 cabinet ministers and the heads of several UN agencies at the meeting.

During the meeting, under the theme "Small Islands, Big Stakes", the Caribbean will attempt to secure greater commitment and more funding for programmes in sustainable development and related areas including disaster mitigation - especially the setting up of early warning systems, vulnerability reduction, resistance building, trade adjustment, energy, tourism, and culture. There is consensus that the implementation of the Barbados Programme, which was written in 1994, has been slow, delayed in part by a lack of financial resources.

However, Officer-in-Charge of the Trinidad-based United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Rudolph Buitelaar, noted that despite financial constraints, the SIDS of the Caribbean had managed to accomplish much in the last ten years, mainly using their own resources. He said that Caribbean SIDS have acquired an enhanced understanding of the sustainable development process and have established a range of institutions and management policies. Buitelaar cited environmental management authorities, national bio-diversity strategies and action plans in addition to laws that have been enacted which recognise the complexities of integrating environmental concerns into the development process.

The SIDS are also pressing for the inclusion of issues such as culture, trade, HIV/AIDS, and security concerns - items they hope to discuss with representatives of large countries and international donor organisations during the meeting.

A technical team from CARICOM is also participating in the meeting, this includes Vice Chancellor Emeritus of UWI, Professor Rex Nettleford, former Assistant Secretary-General of CARICOM, Byron Blake, and Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, Vincent Sweeney. During the first day of the meeting, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Belize were elected as Vice Presidents of the meeting from the Latin America and Caribbean group of countries. In addition, Barbados, Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Christopher Hackett, was elected Rapporteur-General of the meeting.