“The disparity between a handful of developed countries and the rest of the world is simply too strong,” said the leader, whose name circulates to succeed Antonio Guterres at the United Nations General Secretariat.
By Philippe Ricard
His name circulates to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) at the end of Antonio Guterres’ second term, not before 2026. Mia Mottley, the Prime Minister of Barbados, is still little Known to the general public, but his voice carries in international bodies. In 2021, this leader of a Caribbean micro-state threatened by climate change had denounced in the rostrum of the UN General Assembly, in New York, the lack of solidarity of the richest countries in the dissemination of Vaccines against COVID-19.
Above all, Mia Mottley campaigns for a reform of international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, unsuitable, according to her, to the “polycris” which strikes the planet: geopolitics, climate, digital or sanitary. “There are always poor and poor countries, but the dynamics have changed: today, 70 % of the poor no longer live in poor countries. How can you get them out of poverty if you refuse to recognize that Can intermediate income states be vulnerable? “Observes the Labor Manager in an interview with the world, carried out during her recent visit to Paris, Friday March 10.
That day, Mia Mottley met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who intends to associate him closely with the organization, in June, of a summit supposed to lead to a “new global financial pact”. A way for French diplomacy to try to reduce the North-South fracture, that the invasion of Ukraine by Russia came to dig, to the chagrin of the Western allies of Kiev.
“Disparity too much strong “
The return of war in Europe is an “more factor” in the disruption of the world, which particularly strikes the most fragile states, according to M me Mottley. “We are not in Europe, but our expenses in oil and gas have also exploded, at the very moment when we try to recover from the pandemic,” she notes, echoing the observation made by many so-called countries “From the South Global”, of which it has in fact become one of the most listened to the northern spokesperson. “The past few years are very similar to events that occurred a hundred years earlier: the world between 1914 and 1945 experienced three decades of instability. We are in the same situation, with this fundamental difference that we are now living under the threat of the climate crisis “, warns the head of the barbados government.
For her, the pandemic had already left traces and fed the resentment of the countries of the South, because the rich countries were then able to protect themselves and vaccinate their population, while dragging their feet to erase the debt of the least developed states , deprived of the means to revive their savings. “The disparity between this handful of developed countries and the rest of the world is simply too strong, says M Me Mottley. The planet is not a fair place and may never be. But we must go towards a form of justice and equity. “
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