United Nations – Barbados’ Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Jerome X. Walcott told the international community on Tuesday that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has “stripped us bare”.
“It has manifested into a ‘perfect storm’ that has undoubtedly derailed what limited progress we were positioning ourselves to make in implementing the (UN) 2030 Agenda, and has jeopardized our ability to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the agreed timeframe,” Walcott told the 57th Session of the United nations General Assembly (UNGA) debate.
“Above all, it has exacted a horrific toll on millions of families worldwide and has already taken close to a million lives. That is why Barbados unequivocally supports the Secretary General’s call in his recently-issued Policy Brief on Debt and COVID-19 that the international financial institutions, the multilateral development banks and the UN should provide debt relief.”
Equally, he said Barbados supports calls by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for the use of a vulnerability index through which issues of debt can be addressed and access to capital determined.
In addition, Walcott said Barbados is “eagerly” looking forward to the results of the upcoming UN’s High-Level Event on Financing for Sustainable Development in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond, at which UN member-states will address areas ranging from Illicit Financial Flows to Sustainable Recovery and the “crushing debt burden” faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”.
“We are resolute in our view that debt relief and support measures, or additional financing, cannot be bound to any conditionality,” he said.
Walcott said that Barbados is supportive of the UN’ Economic Commission for Africa in its call for the creation of a special purpose lending vehicle, the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility, to support African, American and Caribbean countries in advancing sustainable development initiatives and, more immediately, facilitating access to liquidity, lending and investment.
In terms of the current COVID-19 crisis, the foreign affairs minister said such a facility could significantly lower borrowing costs, support financial sustainability, and help countries access markets for needed bridge financing and liability management.
Walcott warned that Barbados’ recovery from the economic and social impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic will be “slow and painful.
“Resuscitating our economy has been a balancing act between reopening for tourism-related services and air travel, and ensuring that our population remains safe.
“Given the importance of the global tourism industry, we are of the firm view that workers in these sectors should be prioritized among those frontline workers earmarked to receive approved vaccinations.This would put hundreds of millions of people back to work and stimulate the largest global economic driver.”
Walcott said Barbados and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) owe “a great debt of gratitude” to Director General Dr. Tedfos Ghebreyesus and the World Health Organization (WHO) for their “support and solidarity in ensuring our access to stocks of tests and equipment needed to combat COVID-19”.
He said Barbados is also grateful for the assistance received from many other countries, allies, partners and agencies around the world, which, he said, enabled the country to manage and control the spread of the virus.
Walcott urged the United Nations to continue to play a key role in the global response to the pandemic to help its members in their recovery “and to assist them to build back better and greener — better economies, better societies, better conditions for the upliftment of the poor and marginalized”.
Additionally, the Barbados Foreign Minister called on the United Nations, through its Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of NCDs (non-communicable diseases), and on WHO, to develop a health strategy aimed at treating these NCDs as part of a comprehensive development plan.
“I take this opportunity to point out the nexus between NCDs as both predisposing and exacerbating factors for COVID-19.This linkage makes the management of the NCDs all the more critical.”
Barbados called once again for an end to the economic and trade embargo imposed on Cuba, stating that “deep bonds of friendship and family link our two countries.”
Walcott placed on record Barbados’ “deep gratitude to the government and people of Cuba for their invaluable assistance rendered through the provision of much-needed healthcare workers to help us respond to COVID-19.”
He said with respect to Venezuela, Barbados continues to call for “sustainable, legitimate and peaceful stability in this important regional partner.
“In this regard, we look forward to the holding of inclusive elections,” Walcott said.
In his address, the foreign minister said at a critical juncture in its history, when the United Nations should be celebrating its 75th Anniversary, the world is “consumed by many complex challenges” arising from “a world in crisis, and a world with no global leadership, a world that appears to have lost its moral compass.
“Globally, we are witnessing an increased focus on systemic racial injustices, economic and social inequities, transnational crime, terrorism, human trafficking, increased human displacement, rising autocracies, violence against women and the climate crisis, to name but a few.
“Geopolitical tensions are increasing as some countries, displaying an alarming preference for unilateral action, are dominating and marginalizing others. Multilateralism, one of the philosophical underpinnings on which this very organization was founded in 1945, is under serious threat. Power imbalances are causing the world to lose its equilibrium.”
Notwithstanding, the Barbados Foreign Affairs Minister said his country continues to hold in highest regard the fundamental precepts of international community and collective action.
“The refusal of those who have it in their power to help revive our economies – whether it be by moratoria or refinancing, of even access to concessional loans and grants – is causing us greater economic hardship.
“Small Island Developing States, many of which are in the Caribbean and Pacific, labor under onerous debt burdens. Our African brothers share a similar fate. Sadly, for many of us, this remains our post-Independence legacy.”
Walcott said that when Barbados joined the United Nations, it was its intention to be “craftsmen of our fate and plan trajectories for our post-colonial development.
“Instead, we now find ourselves ensnared in the false per capita-based construct of so-called ‘middle income countries. An assessment which bears little resemblance to our everyday existence; an assessment which prohibits our access to concessional loans or financing in adequate amounts, thereby stymying our development.
“Is not now the time for debt forgiveness?” Walcott asked, adding “is it not now the time for the creation of innovative economic instruments to reverse the widening gap of inequality?”
Walcott said another instance of one-sidedness is in the global financial system “where organisations of limited membership engage in universal “blacklisting”, and correspondent banking relationships are unilaterally withdrawn.
“Our small countries are blacklisted for daring to exert their sovereign right to create their own taxation systems and are forced to compete under rules that we have had no voice in setting.
“This arbitrariness in engagement with countries, like Barbados, must cease. It is done without out knowledge and involvement. It is contrary to the laws of natural justice. These combined factors are pushing our countries back into a state of post-colonial penury.”
Walcott urged the United Nations to take greater steps to strengthen and revitalize the climate agenda, stating that the challenges of sustainable development and creating resilience to climate change will assume “even greater importance for our deliberations and negotiations.”
“We are of the view that the need for adequate climate finance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be overstated,” he said. (CMC)
