Transcript of remarks delivered by the Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Barbados, at a joint press conference with His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya at the State House in Nairobi.
December 11, 2019
I am truly delighted to be leading a delegation on behalf of the government and people of Barbados to your country.
I do so conscious that you took the first step and you came to Barbados in August. And on that occasion and when we met again in the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, we committed to be able to make as quick pace as we could, while at the same time remembering that Kenya is the master of staying the course in marathons. And to that extent, therefore, that this, in spite of the quick pace, will be a legacy we hope will endure for the ages. And we do so conscious that for centuries we’ve been separated by sea and by others from a destiny that ought to be united. We have taken the position that this must be reversed.
And to that extent, the multiplicity of agreements that we are signing, the actions that are being taken; and it is not just government to government, but it is also with respect to different players within our countries. We are also seeing the signing of agreements by our respective private sector organizations. We are also seeing the signing of agreements by the respective stock exchanges of our two countries. We are also open to have an agreement between CARICOM and Kenya and between CARICOM and the Organization of African Union.
And it is against that background that as a result of your trip to Bridgetown and our meeting with the Chairman of CARICOM and the Secretary-General of CARICOM, that we proposed to be able to host the first CARICOM Africa summit. And you have graciously accepted that that should be in Nairobi here in June on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of government meeting, which will take place in Kigali.
But the people of our countries will ask, what does that mean for us? How do these agreements change the quality of our life from day to day basis? And the truth is that this is just the architecture that we are building to be able to unleash the potential of our two peoples. Yesterday, we had the good fortune of being hosted by the governor of the central bank and the indigenous banks of Kenya and some of the fintech companies. And we will host your indigenous banks within six weeks in Barbados to begin to explore the opportunities of them investing into our part of the world.
Barbados has lead responsibility for the CARICOM single market and single economy so that we are conscious just as we are in a region where you belong to the East Africa community as well as now the Africa free trade community. We also will be able to open up for you the wider CARICOM (Caribbean Community), and to that extent, therefore our entrepreneurs and our businesses will have access to larger markets and greater opportunities. The ability to also encourage investment between our two countries such that we can have our indigenous private sector diversify their investments. And at the cultural and social level, we’re starting with the children. We’ve already exchanged, a number of schools, at the primary and the secondary level with each other so that those schools can partner without reference to our positions of high state getting into their way. And equally, we have agreed that at the cultural level in the course of the next year, we should be able to facilitate the exchange of artists practitioners so that once they start to get together, they too will create at a different level as well as our software developers and entrepreneurs in that respect.
I believe that this is the beginning of a true, true partnership that can make the difference not just to the people of Kenya and to the people of Barbados, but I believe that we are, by taking hold of our future, saying to the rest of the world that the centuries of separation must now be left on the books of history rather than being part and parcel of our arrangements for the future. And to that extent, if we can solidify the transport links by building the air and sea bridges, then I believe we will be unlocking the potential of our two regions.
So that I want to thank you. I particularly thank you for the honour that you have accorded me and my delegation for being the guests of honour at during independence celebrations tomorrow. We just came out of our own fifty-third anniversary of independence less than two weeks ago, so that we know that we share the same type of year when we reflect and look at how we want to be able to forge our future by building our nations and forging our people, and that we think that the values that we share allow us to do so with a level of confidence and comfort that we are not walking alone. And in this world where there are threats that are greater than any of us, we need that partnership and cooperation, whether it is to fight the climate crisis or whether it is to build a platform to be able to protect those of our people who want to migrate in order to be able to find better lives for their families.
So, I want to thank you for your friendship. I want to thank you for your cooperation. I want to thank you for your hospitality. And I can find no better way of saying so than seeing asante sana.