By: António Guterres
February 21, 2025
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocol observed.
It is a joy to be with you in Barbados and an honour to be back in the Caribbean.
I am delighted to meet Prime Minister Mottley again so soon after the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, where you delivered such a powerful message on the legacies of slavery and colonialism, and reparatory justice.
Excellencies,
The exquisite beauty of the Caribbean is famed the world over.
But there is trouble in paradise.
Wave after wave of crisis is pounding your people and your islands – with no time to catch your breath before the next disaster strikes:
Geopolitical tensions fuelling uncertainty…
The scarring effects of COVID-19 leaving a trail of socio-economic crisis…
Soaring debt and interest rates, on top of a surge in the cost of living…
All amidst a deadly swell of climate disasters – ripping development gains to shreds, and blowing holes through your national budgets…
And all as you remain locked-out of many international institutions – one of the many legacies of colonialism today.
Excellencies, Dear Friends,
The cure for these ills is global.
International solutions are essential to create a better today and a brighter tomorrow for this wonderful region, and for the world.
We have progress on which to build – hard-won global commitments to address the immense challenges we face.
But we need the world to deliver.
The irrepressible strength of a unified Caribbean, and commitment to multilateralism – which have done so much to advance global progress – is vital to achieving that aim.
And your theme for this year – Strength in Unity – is truly a theme for our times.
I see three key areas where, together, we must drive progress.
First, unity for peace and security…
Particularly to address the appalling situation in Haiti – where gangs are inflicting intolerable suffering on a desperate and frightened people.
CARICOM, and the Eminent Persons Group, have provided invaluable support.
We must keep working for a political process – owned and led by the Haitians – that restores democratic institutions through elections.
And I will soon report to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Haiti, including proposals on the role the UN can play to support stability and security and address the root causes of the crisis.
It is my intention to present to the Security Council a proposal that is very similar to the one that we have presented for Somalia, in which the UN assumes the responsibility of the structural and logistical expenditures that are necessary to put the force in place. And the salaries of the force are paid through the trust fund that already exists.
And if the Security Council will accept this proposal, we will have the conditions to finally have an effective force to defeat the gangs in Haiti and create the conditions for democracy to thrive.
And I urge you to continue your work and advocacy to tackle the weapons and drug trafficking that is fuelling violence across the region, including through prevention.
But let’s be clear: to fight drug trafficking or to fight weapons trafficking, we also need to address the countries of origin and the countries of destination. Without their cooperation, we will never be able to win this battle, and the people of the Caribbean are paying a heavy price for the lack of cooperation that unfortunately, we still face.
Second, unity on the climate crisis.
You face a deplorable injustice:
A crisis you have done next to nothing to create is wrecking economies, ruining lives, and threatening your very existence.
Together, you have fought tooth and nail for the global commitment to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.
This year, countries must deliver new national climate action plans, ahead of COP30, that align with that goal, with the G20 – the big polluters – leading the way.
This is a chance for the world to get a grip on emissions.
And it is also a chance for the Caribbean to seize the benefits of clean power…
To tap your vast renewables potential…
And to turn your back on costly fossil fuel imports.
But this requires finance.
We need confidence that the $1.3 trillion agreed at COP29 will be mobilized.
And we need the world to get serious in responding to the disasters that we know will keep coming.
Adaptation is critical for this region. To save lives. And to make economies resilient.
And we need developed countries to honour their promises on adaptation finance – and more.
And we need meaningful contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund.
When the fund was created, the pledges made are equivalent to the new contract for just one baseball player in New York City. Let’s be clear: the Loss and Damage Fund must be a serious thing.
And we must be able to find new, innovative sources of financing and namely, to finally put seriously a price on carbon – and there are different ways to achieve this goal.
Excellencies,
This must be part of broader efforts:
Because, third, we need unity for sustainable development.
Globally, the Sustainable Development Goals are starved of adequate finance, as debt servicing soaks-up funds, and international financial institutions remain underpowered.
Caribbean countries have been at the forefront of the fight for change – pioneering bold and creative solutions.
And the Pact for the Future agreed last year, together with the Bridgetown Initiative, now 3.0, marks significant progress – and I thank you all for your support.
The Pact commits to advancing an SDG Stimulus of $500 billion a year;
And it asks Multilateral Development Banks to consider structural vulnerabilities in access to concessional funds, including through using the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index.
With this, or any other instrument, it is absolutely essential that middle-income countries that have dramatic vulnerabilities, especially because of climate change, have access to concessional funding. Without it, it is impossible to recover and to build the resilience that is so much highlighted in this congress.
It also calls for representation in international financial institutions to correct for the world’s vast inequalities and injustices…
And for effective action on debt…
Without debt relief, and without new debt strategies, it will be impossible to fully recover your economies.
At the same time, we need bigger and bolder Multilateral Development Banks, with more capital, more lending capacity and more capacity to also leverage private funding for the kind of investments that are essential to build resilience and to promote sustainable development in countries like the countries of the Caribbean.
We must push the world to deliver on those commitments.
And we must ensure all countries can reap the benefits of technologies for sustainable development – by delivering on the Global Digital Compact.
Excellencies, Dear Friends,
A unified Caribbean is an unstoppable force.
I urge you to keep using that power to push the world to deliver on its promise.
And I can guarantee that the United Nations and myself are with you, and will remain with you, every step of the way.
Thank you very much.
(António Guterres is the current Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was re-appointed in 2021 for a second term that runs until 2026.)
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