Singer Rihanna is not the only notable personality from Barbados. Prime Minister elected five years ago, Labor Mia Mottley is the other “powerful woman” of this micro-state (300,000 souls) neighboring Martinique. Better still: in recent months, the influence of this economist trained at the London School of Economics has continued to grow within international organizations and among those who think about simultaneously combating poverty and global warming.
Thus, the Summit for a new financial pact of June 22 and 23, in Paris, centered on financial solutions for the climate and wanted by Emmanuel Macron, is largely inspired by his disruptive “Bridgetown initiative”. Presented for the first time at COP27 last November in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), this breathtaking proposal aims to reform the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Objective ? Launch a kind of Marshall plan for the ecological transition in the countries of the South.
“His voice carries among the nations of the ‘Global South'”
Two years ago, Mia Mottley caused a sensation at the podium of the annual general assembly of the United Nations. With her powerful speech, she shakes up the purring little world of international summits. Aloud, she wonders: “How is it possible that we are able to go to the Moon and fix male pattern baldness, but not solve simple problems related to North-South inequalities?” Then she urges the parterre of leaders to act, using a refrain from Bob Marley: “Get up, stand up!” The world then discovers the quiet strength of the Barbadian, a former lawyer who became head of government in 2018, triumphantly re-elected last year. In the meantime, she stood firm during the Covid and… abolished the British monarchy to transform her country into a republic and bury the colonial link with Buckingham Palace.
Those who meet her praise her charisma: “What is striking is her eloquence and her mastery of subjects, admires the France director of the NGO One, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. She captivates the audience, without side effects, thanks to the solidity of his remarks and his innovative approach,” said the former minister, who met her. The expert in international financial flows Patrick Saint-Amans agrees: “Its strength is that its voice carries in the nations of the ‘global South’ as in the rich countries, because it does not give in to lament, but offers solutions.”
Reforming the World Bank and the IMF
It’s that Mia Mottley has a vision. It goes through a small revolution: modernizing the rules of the World Bank and the IMF by involving the private sector. This is to free up the capital that will give oxygen to countries suffocated by over-indebtedness, the post-Covid recession and inflation linked to the war in Ukraine. Only then will it be possible to manage in the long term the impact of climatic disasters which are increasingly hampering poor countries.
“There are so many aberrations,” insists Mottley, who presses where it hurts: “Rich countries borrow money at central rates of 1 and 4% and those in the South at 15%.” Another curiosity, noted this time by Patrick Saint-Amans: “Maritime transport is exempt from carbon tax even though it represents 3% of global polluting emissions…”
By organizing a summit in Paris for a new financial pact, Emmanuel Macron – also seduced by Mia Mottley – hopes to reduce the divide with the countries of the South, which growing resentment is pushing into the arms of Russia and China. “We will not solve everything today,” moderates the former director of the World Bank Bertrand Badré, who today heads the investment fund Blue Like an Orange. “But if, in ten years, we say to ourselves that the first solutions have been found in Paris, it will be good.” Where will Mia Mottley be then? His name is already circulating for the post of Secretary General of the United Nations. Which would be an excellent thing, as the interested party clearly belongs to a rare species: that of natural leaders.