If there’s one thing that Caribbean Community chairman and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley would like to see coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a global leadership initiative.
She shared this today while appearing as a guest on CNNi’s Amanpour programme.
“We are told that we can access concessional funding or grant funding, only if we have historic per capita incomes that are below certain levels,” Mottley said.
“That is like telling me that I should use my blood pressure reading from two years ago to determine whether I’m vulnerable tonight to a stroke. It’s absolutely futile and we’ve been carrying on this thesis and argument for over 30 years.”
Mottley said global leadership similar to what existed post-World War II is needed, to be able to recognise that a plan that protects not just the strongest among us but also the most vulnerable, is what’s required now.
The Barbados Prime Minister said the COVID-19 pandemic “has been the most destabilizing event for our countries, probably since World War II.”
She pointed out that each of the CARICOM countries has cases of COVID-19.
She also said that alongside the pandemic, is the very real result of people being able to live and to eat.
“Our situation is perhaps a little more unique because we suffer a number of risks. One, we are a highly indebted region largely because we are probably the most travel-dependent and trade-dependent region in the world with almost half of GDP [gross domestic product] and our jobs coming directly and indirectly from tourism,” Mottley said.
“Secondly, we are also on the cusp of the climate crisis and we are four weeks away from the beginning of the hurricane season.
“What is little spoken about is that the climate crisis has also resulted in droughts and sargassum weed, which has meant a lot of our hotels and restaurants were already suffering before this pandemic. So this is a peculiar moment for Caribbean states,” Mottley added.
