Mottley said it was also important to recognize that 75 years after the establishment of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions –the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – “to come together to determine how best we can re-fashion how they function and how they look to ensure that we are not left out of the critical corridors of decision making”

She said it was vital ‘so that our peoples have an opportunity to bring that moral leadership” noting that at the time the UN was created “many of our states simply did not exist as independent countries.

‘Therefore the contemplation as to how and what the United Nations should do or the Bretton Woods institutions should do in fashioning their world did not take into account our existence and indeed our desires for a future that’s reflective of an inclusive partnership with our people”.

Mottley said that as African Day is being celebrated this year, it should be viewed as a “milestone on the road, yea to a CARICOM-Africa cooperation, but not just simply for ourselves but for the world.

“Lets us show that the people of African descent can make a meaningful contribution to this world and that indeed our experiences over the last few centuries, prior to our becoming independent, stand as a platform to give us the impetus to be able to show the world that there can be a better way, a  more caring way, a more inclusive way and one that does not reflect the manner in which our countries were taken advantage of and worst of all, our people exploited”.

Mottley said that the International Decade for People of African descent being led under the theme “People of African Descent, Recognition, Justice, and Development” must allow for an open discussion of the region’s contribution to a modern world.