Barbados Demands to Transform the Global Financial System

On Thursday, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for a transformation of the global financial system that goes beyond reforming international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

RELATED:

Global Financing Summit to Address Climate-Related Issues

“Global problems like the climate crisis show us that we simply cannot address modern issues with institutions, which were created for a very different world nearly 80 years ago. Change is needed. That is why I am in Paris for the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact,” she said.

“What is required of us now is an absolute transformation and not a reform of our institutions,” Mottley stressed at the high-level summit promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Don't leave Paris without understanding there must be transformation, not reform. Step up the pace and let's get going,” she said addressing over 50 world leaders and IFIs delegates, who are participating in a summit that is supposed to recognize the relationship between human development, poverty, and climate change.

The Paris meeting is also expected to provide concrete mechanisms to finance sustainable development, clean energy investments, and climate change adaptation actions, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

The Summit for a New Global Financial Pact counts with the presence of Latin American leaders such as presidents Lula da Silva (Brazil), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), and Miguel Diaz-Canel (Cuba). Also present are United Nations Secretary Antonio Guterres, the IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Yanet Yellen.

Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate reminded participants that “broken promises cost lives” and called for overturning the fossil fuel economy, which yields notable profits for Western oil consortia but very little for resource-supplying countries.