High-level Meeting to Commemorate the Seventy-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations
21 September 2020
Barbados
Her Excellency Mia Amor Mottley
Statement Summary
MIA AMOR MOTTLEY, Prime Minister of Barbados, said that as the international community meets in this “strange and impersonal virtual space”, there is a compelling need for nations to pause to reflect on what the United Nations needs to do as it reaches its important milestone. While it is fitting that the Organization’s accomplishments be reflected upon, there is no time for contented self-congratulations over what has been achieved as the world faces a new enemy, the pandemic, in addition to the deadly existential threat of the climate crisis. COVID?19 has manifested in a perfect storm that threatens to disrupt gains made, including the limited progress of States such as Barbados to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. She noted that an estimated 100 million more people have fallen into poverty, unemployment levels at their highest in decades and a global economic depression looms. Barbados strongly supports the Secretary?General’s call for a new social contract to counter the growing gaps in trust and for a new global deal that is more inclusive and recognizes the different development levels among countries.
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