PM Mottley at White House

Prime Minister Mia Mottley joined fellow leaders in the Americas at the White House on Friday in a pledge to boost economic ties and build sustainable supply chains.

At the inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP) Leaders’ Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, the leaders issued a joint statement emphasising their collective commitment to democracy, the rule of law, diversity and inclusion, decent employment, environmental and social protection, labour rights, universal human rights, and fundamental freedoms throughout the Americas.

The summit is seen as part of Washington’s drive to bolster hemispheric economic ties, diminish China’s influence and stem the flow of migrants north to the US.

Mottley was joined by the leaders of Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay in the summit, along with top officials from Mexico and Panama.

“We intend to establish the Americas as the home of the world’s most competitive, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient regional value and supply chains,” they declared, with an initial focus on clean energy, medical supplies and semiconductors.

The leaders expressed their intent to cooperate with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to promote sustainable investment and drive regional growth, a commitment that extends to Barbados. They called upon their ministers to foster trade relations and remove barriers to deeper economic integration.

The summit’s focus was to “harness the incredible economic potential of the Americas and make the Western Hemisphere the most economically competitive region in the world,” said Biden as he sought to draw a sharp contrast to the lending practices of China. 

Beijing has made huge inroads into the hemisphere with a sharply focused trade and economic diplomacy that has seen Barbados cut millions of dollars of deals in construction and other development projects. But the American leader summed up the relationship as “debt-trap diplomacy”.

The US president said: “We want to make sure that our closest neighbours know they have a real choice between debt-trap diplomacy and high-quality transparent approaches to infrastructure and inter-development.”

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hosted a breakfast meeting for the leaders at the Treasury, where she assured them of Washington’s close collaboration with the IDB to facilitate the integration of the region’s supply chains, with potential benefits for Barbados. (BT)