Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Wednesday, April 29, said she would like to see a global leadership initiative emerging from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, reiterating that the Caribbean and other small island developing states (SIDS) were not prepared to remain “invisible and dispensable.”
In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, the Chief International Anchor for the US-based television network, CNN, Mottley, who is also the chairman of the 15-member regional integration grouping, CARICOM, said while the United States had not been able to show its leadership since the outbreak of the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 people worldwide, “it is generally a time for all countries to step up and for all global leaders.
“If there is one thing I would like to see coming out of this is a global leadership initiative,” she said, noting that 75 years ago the United Nations was formed and “we used the opportunity of post-World War 11 to create a number of vital institutions to be able to bring countries together to protect the most vulnerable (and) the weakest among us.
“We also used it to create the Bretton Woods institutions which we are relying on,” Mottley said. “But we need to re-purpose these organisations and having a global leadership initiative, make sure we are really reacting to what is real.”
“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. Well, Christiane that is like telling me that I should use my blood pressure reading from two years ago to determine whether I am vulnerable tonight to a stroke. It is absolutely futile,” Mottley told the host of CNN International’s nightly interview program Amanpour. Here’s a link to the interview: https://youtu.be/WTY9kARrC_M
