Bridgetown 3.0 ready, says Mottley

Bridgetown Initiative 3.0 is set for take-off, says Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

She made that revelation while speaking to the United Nations general assembly in New York City yesterday, where she reiterated the need for a more level playing field which would allow small island developing states to seek financing to help build resilience in the face of climate change.

“With respect to the Bridgetown Initiative, which we have articulated, this is intended to highlight the need for equity with respect to access to international finance for countries. Countries cannot pursue development without finance in the same way that people cannot live without oxygen and when that finance is limited to shortterm finance and high-priced finance, you’re condemning countries into a cycle of unemployment,” Mottley said.

“We have now settled and received back the responses and are ready to settle Bridgetown 3.0 for release and we are happy that the world has understood that there are elements of it over the course of Bridgetown 1 and Bridgetown 2 that are worthy of being followed. In Bridgetown 3, we focus specifically on three things. Changing the rules of the game, shock-proofing our economies and dramatically increasing the financing for sustainable development goals and climate action,” the Barbadian leader revealed.

“I hope that others will try to find out if there are things that can be done which would allow us to see greater progress with respect to Bridgetown 3.0 in the way that we have seen, for example, the IMF Institute, the Resilience and Sustainability Trust, which is to provide longer term money to be able to build resilience, particularly in the area of climate and for which countries who have programmes have benefited, such as ours in Rwanda and Costa Rica and Jamaica. By the same token, we accept that there is a legitimate argument that there is no scale.”

The Prime Minister said that since she had spoken numerous times about the need for countries like those in the Caribbean to have access to better funding, there had been positive signs.

“We have seen some progress, but let me make it clear that progress is relative and it is the mission at hand that must remain the focus and what is the mission at hand? We want to be able to ensure that the scars of history are removed and that all persons on the planet have an equal opportunity as do all countries. But if you’re going to speak on behalf of all of the people of the world, then you have to see all the people of the world, you have to hear all the people of the world and fundamentally, the system and the structure that we have, as is known, was crafted at a time when there were only 50 countries in the world. Today, there are more than 50 countries in the world.”

She noted that vulnerable countries were the ones on the front line of the climate crisis and were the victims of the expansion of assault weapons. “. . . and we pay the price of the Second Amendment rights of the United States of America with the flow of guns coming through our systems. We are the ones who continue to pay the highest price for capital, because we are perceived as having the greatest risk and as a result, we are, therefore, the worst.

She added that the mobilisation of wealth in a country and its generation of wealth must be used for purposes to be able to create equity. She noted regrettably, the systems and structures that existed prior had not done so. (BA)