Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley gave a strong speech at the Global Africa Diaspora Day celebration during the IATF2025, encouraging African nations and the diaspora to unite via economic, cultural, and institutional partnerships.
Reflecting on centuries of separation between Africa and its diaspora, she recalled the long struggle for self-determination: “We’ve come to this moment recognizing that… certainly since the Battle of Adwa and the development of the Pan African movement, our people have sought to claim their own destiny and enforce it in their own image.”
Mottley emphasized the need for a reset across multiple dimensions of life. “What confronts us is the need for a comprehensive resetting from an economic perspective, from a cultural perspective, from a technological perspective, from language, even.”
Citing the enduring impact of racism and systemic inequities, she urged a new approach rooted in economic strength: “We have been indoctrinated for centuries to believe that one race is inferior and one race is superior. But the reality is that the greatest antidote comes, probably, through our economic partnerships, because in today’s world, people follow the money—straight and simple.”
The Barbadian leader called for the creation of an institutional framework to strengthen Africa’s global influence. “The conversations and the rhetoric are simply not enough, and I pray that when we leave Africa this weekend, that we will reach an agreement on an institutional framework that will allow us to move to a different level.”
Mottley argued that Africa and its diaspora should emulate other civilizations that have united despite vast internal diversity: “When we speak of India, we speak of in excess of over 800 ethnicities, but we speak of one country. When we speak of China, we speak of over 250 ethnicities, but we speak of one country. So what is it that stops us from claiming the Global Diaspora and acting accordingly in the same way that India and China have so done?”
Quoting Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, she drew on Caribbean literature to capture the spirit of rebuilding: “Break a vase and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole. My friends across the Caribbean and Africa, we are the reassemblers.”
The Prime Minister warned that divisions—if left unhealed—risk being deepened by modern forces: “We can choose to allow those divisions to become deeper at the very time when AI and technology threaten to widen the inequity that our people face, or we can choose, however difficult it may be, to rise above… and to now give, in this perilous and uncertain world, a future that reassembles the vase that was broken.”
Mottley closed with a call for solidarity, justice, and a shared future: “I trust and pray that events such as these… will help to persuade those who are still doubtful that it is possible for a majestic civilization to reclaim its future and in fact, to give the world what it needs now more than ever—the humanizing impact of what love and solidarity and justice can give.”
“This Inter Africa Trade Fair must create opportunities, but more so, I pray that we leave here a little more conscious and a little more committed to doing the things that will allow President Obasanjo’s dream to become a reality. The time has travelled,” She added.
