Africa-Press – Botswana. The Prime Minister of Barbados argued that crises such as the war in Ukraine show the world that Africans and Afro-descendants are “stronger when they work together” and that the world “is not as fair as it should be”.
“The Pan-Africanism movement has been alive and well for over a century. Unfortunately, there have been serious declines in this period. But I think the crises have shown us that we are much stronger when we work together. The basis of solidarity is really unity” , Mia Amor Mottley told Lusa, on the sidelines of the first Afro-Caribbean Investment and Commerce Forum, which ended yesterday.
The memories of slavery, which over the centuries removed millions of Africans from the continent and thus left a huge African diaspora spread across the world, especially in the Caribbean and North America, was an omnipresent theme throughout the entire AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment. Forum (ACTIF2022), which took place since Thursday in the capital of Barbados, Bridgetown.
Organized by Afreximbank and the Government of Barbados under the slogan “One People. One Destiny. Unite and Reimagine our Future”, ACTIF2022 aimed to strengthen economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean, a region that the African Union considers the sixth region of the continent .
For Mottley, Africans and Afro-descendants feel that “the world is not as fair as it should be”. show a disparity”, when, for example, Ghana and Greece have the same ‘rating’ but pay significantly different interest because the European Union has safe assets that Africa and the Caribbean have not yet developed.
The Prime Minister of Barbados, a country that in 2021 became a republic, ending 55 years of constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State, lamented that “who, ultimately, controls the decision-making of these bodies are the countries that effectively reflect a different reality” from the current one.
“When the United Nations was formed, most of our countries were not independent. But now we are. So why do we still have five permanent members on the Security Council? Why do we have a G20 that leaves out 1.3 billion people in Africa? Why do we have a G7 that does not include countries that are representative of the African race? These are some of the things that bother us,” he said.
Mia Amor Motley, re-elected in January with a resounding victory – she secured all 30 parliamentary seats – was this year chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
In a text about the Caribbean government official for the issue of the magazine that outlines the profile of the 100 elected, the director general of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, describes her as “courageous, fearless and possessing a great intellect and sagacity ” and a “brilliant politician who knows how to shake things up”.
Direct flights between Africa and the Caribbean
The Prime Minister of Barbados was confident that, within a few months, it will be possible to realize “the dream” of having direct air connections between Africa and the Caribbean, adding that “more serious talks” are taking place on the subject.
“We started more serious conversations than we had seen so far. Last night, the Minister of Tourism and International Transport met with people from the Bank (African Imports and Exports — Afreximbank) and from other countries (…). We hope within a few months to make this dream a reality”, said Mia Amor Mottley, in a press conference, on Friday, at the end of the day, at the first Investment and Trade Forum between Africa and the Caribbean.
The establishment of air connections between Africa and the Caribbean was a call from Mottley in the opening speech of the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2022) on Thursday, and it was a repeated request throughout the event, as to travel between the two regions you have to stop in Europe or North America, which makes it difficult to travel and, therefore, to do business.
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