CARICOM Chairman and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said on Wednesday the 15-member regional bloc enters 2025 facing significant challenges but also remarkable opportunities, all amid a global landscape filled with uncertainty.
In her New Year address, PM Mottley said the Caribbean act together will not only shape 2025 but will leave a lasting legacy for future generations.
“How we act, united as a people, and as nations, will define not only this year 2025 but the legacy of our generation.
“The Caribbean is far more than a geographic space—we know it! It is a living testament to the power of courage, creativity, and our collective strength. Ours is a history marked by resilience. A word that we will have to embrace more and more in our future. Time and again, we have faced storms, both natural and manmade, and risen stronger, more determined, and ever united in shaping our destiny. Especially as we saw the ravages of Hurricane Beryl make history, not just for the history books, but regrettably in the lives of too many families across our region,” she said.
Below is the CARICOM chairman’s full message:
My beloved brothers and sisters of the Caribbean,
As we step boldly into 2025, I greet you with hope, determination, and an unyielding commitment to serve as your Chair of CARICOM.
Today, we stand at the crossroads of immense challenges and extraordinary opportunities. How we act, united as a people, and as nations, will define not only this year 2025 but the legacy of our generation.
The Caribbean is far more than a geographic space—we know it! It is a living testament to the power of courage, creativity, and our collective strength. Ours is a history marked by resilience. A word that we will have to embrace more and more in our future. Time and again, we have faced storms, both natural and manmade, and risen stronger, more determined, and ever united in shaping our destiny. Especially as we saw the ravages of Hurricane Beryl make history, not just for the history books, but regrettably in the lives of too many families across our region.
I extend heartfelt thanks to the Outgoing Chairman, the Honourable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, for his wise and steady leadership. Together with my fellow leaders, I reaffirm our shared commitment to ensuring the prosperity, security, and well-being of every citizen in our region.
A Region at an Important Juncture is what we are.
We begin 2025 against that backdrop of global uncertainty.
The aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic linger. The worsening climate crisis endangers our homes and livelihoods. The devastating conflicts in Sudan and
Ukraine and Gaza and Lebanon reverberate far beyond their borders while in our Community, the multifaceted crisis in Haiti demands urgent, thoughtful, and compassionate solutions. And we pray for the continued stability of our relations between Guyana and Venezuela.
These challenges my friend test our resolve, but they also underscore the urgency of adaptation, resilience, and bold action. The Caribbean must not only weather these storms but we must lead in crafting solutions for a changing world.
Advancing Regional Unity and Development
Central to our mission must be resuming the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). We paused our coordinated actions on this noble but critical mission, as we applied all that we could muster to fight COVID and its trail of economic and social upheaval. But five years on we must resume our work on the CSME.
For this is not merely an economic agenda—it is a vision of unity and opportunity for small states, who know that we can achieve so much more together than we do so individually. Full realization of the CSME, including above all else, yes – the free movement of nationals, is essential for unlocking the true potential of our people and economies. So is the necessity for us to attain and go beyond the target we set ourselves for food and nutritional security best exemplified by the Vision 25 by 2025 agenda, which we set in 2021.
We must now focus my friends, to apply the few but necessary recommendations of the distinguished CARICOM Commission on Economy – who reported to us in the middle of the pandemic when we were justifiably distracted. The pooling of our sovereignty, must also be better addressed by the pooling of our efforts from investment to skills to procurement. We can do better together.
We must also confront the injustices of the global financial system, which continues to marginalise Small Island and Low-lying Developing States (SIDS). Unjust blacklisting practices and insufficient access to concessional financing hinder our sustainable development efforts. CARICOM will persist in advocating for reforms, championing the Bridgetown Initiative and working with others like the 73 Climate Vulnerable Countries in the Climate Vulnerability Forum as we fight for a better financial landscape regionally and globally within which we can build resilience, prosperity and equity – fairness – for all of our people. We also urge the adoption and the laser-like refining of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) to secure critical resources for our region’s future as we face these crises that are often beyond our control to avoid but for which we must strengthen our resilience to survive.
In so doing my friends, we must urgently settle a Floor of rights as a Community for our people, so that we agree on what must be the minimum protection and the opportunities that each and every Caribbean person must benefit from; while we instil as well, in all of us, the need for each to live out daily our lives to do better by our family, our communities, our country and yes our region. Our home will only be as good as WE COLLECTIVELY make it. We remain inspired by the principles of UBUNTU – “I am, because we are”.
In tandem, we must deliver on the commitments of the recently concluded GeorgeBridge Declaration, which was built on the Regional Symposium in Port-of-Spain, that recognized Crime and Violence as a public health issue in the Caribbean. This Declaration reached in Georgetown, Guyana under the chairmanship of Barbados, prioritises Citizen Security and Safety by addressing it as a public health challenge while innovating and strengthening our efforts nationally and regionally in law enforcement and the modernisation of our criminal justice systems. This is absolutely critical for the majority of our people who simply want to ensure that the Zone of Peace that we aspire to as a region for the Caribbean is a lived reality in each our communities. We look forward to the meeting in St Kitts this year, which will add to the meetings in Trinidad and Guyana on this most critical of issues that affects each and every Caribbean person.
Championing Global Justice
We are also proud as a Community to welcome the Declaration of the Second
Decade for People of African Descent, beginning today the 1st of January 2025. This achievement reflects the tireless advocacy of our region and the strides made during the first Decade, including global recognition of our Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice and the establishment of the UN Permanent Forum for People of African Descent.
Yet, so much remains to be done in this area. We must continue to press the international community for a mature face to face conversation, at all levels, so that we may see them repair the damage from the exploitation through the immoral institutions of slavery and colonialism which our people suffered from.
We must also urge the international community to provide the resources necessary to improve the dignity, security, and material conditions of African-descended people worldwide. The spectacle of 600 million Africans without electricity, in an age of AI, is in no way morally acceptable to us as a Community which is part of the African Diaspora that is the 6th Region of Africa. In this regard, we will further continue our work to further strengthen our relationship with the Africa Union as a community of Caribbean people.
Seizing Opportunities for Transformation
So my friends, this year, let us seize the boundless opportunities before us. The world is racing into a digital future, and the Caribbean must not be left behind. From green energy to artificial intelligence, we must lead with alacrity as innovators – not blindly but responsibly – equipping our young people with the tools to drive change and to position our region as a hub of sustainable industries. This is even more so when we consider that we equally face the challenge of many developed countries – that is an ageing and declining population. It is for that reason that our young people therefore must given every opportunity to ensure that when they too age, that there are those who are young enough to help them mature in their grey and silver years.
Our creativity has long been our greatest asset. From the arts to technology, let us inspire the world with our ingenuity and originality. Let every child, entrepreneur, and national know they are part of a community that supports and uplifts them.
And let us celebrate all that is good and is possible for our Caribbean Civilisation as we do what we do best in the expression of our Festival of Arts, CARIFESTA. My friends, my brothers and sisters, CARIFESTA XV will be held in Barbados from August 22 to 31, 2025. I am inviting you God willing, to create, to participate and simply to come. I speak to each and everyone of us as Caribbean people – not just members of CARICOM, but everyone of the Caribbean people that can hear my voice – come.
As we would say in Barbados – miss this and blame yourself! Food and Fashion, Music and Dance, Art, Craft and Sculpture, and good old Caribbean Talk – from philosophy to attitudes, from religion to development! Let us use this as an opportunity to build resilience in our region, spiritually and psychologically. Each of us individually, let us gather and feed our souls and nurture our spirit as Caribbean people.
The Power of Unity
In our unity lies our strength. This must be our truth and our rallying cry. Whether tackling the climate crisis, addressing gun violence, or championing equitable global financial reforms, we must act with one voice and one purpose.
To our Caribbean people Let us put aside what divides us and focus on what binds us together. I call on us to stay engaged. I say hold us as leaders accountable, but remember building this region we love is not only about the governments and its work; it is the responsibility of each, and every one of us is Caribbean people, as Caribbean institutions. So my friends let us contribute our energy and our talents to this cause that matters most to us.
This mustn’t be our cry alone, but it must be the actions of our generation of Caribbean people.
We know better. We can do better.
Together, we can build a Caribbean that is resilient, prosperous, healthy and united—a beacon of hope, in a world yearning for solutions. And we do so in our own indomitable style, with a smile on our face and a pep in our step!
Happy New Year, CARICOM! The future is ours to create.
