MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Barbados PM says 2025 will define “the legacy of our generation”

“In our unity lies our strength,” Mottley underlined

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley underlined Wednesday that 2025 would define “the legacy of our generation.” She said those words upon taking over the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom) rotating presidency from her Grenada colleague Dick­on Mitchell

“How we act, united as a people, and as nations will define not only this year, 2025, but the legacy of our generation,” she insisted. “The Caribbean is far more than a geographic space. We know it. It is a living testament to the power of courage, creativity, and our collective strength. Ours is a history marked by resilience, a word that we will have to embrace more and more in our future,” she added.

“The aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic linger. The worsening climate crisis endangers our homes and livelihoods… The devastating conflicts in Sudan, and Ukraine, and Gaza, and Lebanon reverberate far beyond their borders, while in our community, the multifaceted crisis in Haiti demands urgent, thoughtful, and compassionate solutions, and we pray for the continued stability of our relations between Guyana and Venezuela,” Mottley also pointed out.

“The Caribbean must not only weather these storms, but we must lead in crafting solutions for a changing world,” she went on while underlining the importance of resuming the full implementation of the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labor, and services across the region.

“We paused our coordinated actions on this noble but critical mission as we applied all that we could muster to fight Covid and its trail of economic and social upheaval. But five years on, we must resume our work on the CSME,” she stressed.

In her view, the CSME is not merely an economic agenda; it is also a vision of unity and opportunity for small states who know that they can achieve so much more together than individually. “Full realization of the CSME, including above all else, yes, the free movement of our nationals is essential for unlocking the true potential of our people and our economies,” she highlighted.

“We must now focus, my friends, to apply the few but necessary recommendations of the distinguished Caricom Commission on Economy, who reported to us in the middle of the pandemic, when we were justifiably distracted. The pooling of our sovereignty must also be better addressed by the pooling of our efforts, from investment to skills to procurement. We can do better together,” Barbados' Prime Minister also noted.

“We must also confront the injustices of the global financial system, which continue to marginalize Small-Island and Low-lying Developing States (SIDS). Unjust blacklisting practices and insufficient access to concessional financing hinder our sustainable development efforts,” Mottley explained.

Caricom will keep advocating for the reforms championed in the Bridgetown Initiative and working with others, like the 73 vulnerable countries in the Climate Vulnerable Forum “as we fight for a better financial landscape regionally and globally, within which we can build resilience, prosperity, and yes, equity – fairness – for all our people,” she asserted.

Mottley then underscored the importance “of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) to secure critical resources for our region's future as we face these crises that are often beyond our control to avoid, but for which we must strengthen our resilience to survive.”

“Our home will only be as good in this region as we collectively make it,“ Mottley further elaborated as she recalled the need to tackle violence, which has been deemed a public health issue in the Caribbean.

”We must continue to press the international community for a mature, face-to-face conversation at all levels, so that we may see them repair the damage from the exploitation through the immoral institutions of slavery and colonialism which our people suffered from,” she also highlighted while underscoring the need to urge the international community to provide resources necessary to improve the dignity, security, and material conditions of Afrodescending people worldwide and “seize the boundless opportunities before us.”

Making up Caricom are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago