Transcript of UN Secretary-General's Joint Press Conference with Prime Minister Andrew Holness in Kingston, Jamaica

And a hospitality that allowed me to confirm what I knew: Jamaica is a wonderful country, an amazing country.  

A country that was able to invade peacefully the whole world, with its culture, its music, and its art.  

And a country that is in itself the proof that diversity is a richness, not a threat, provided you adopt the right social cohesion policies.  

Honorable Prime Minister, Honorable Ministers, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, 

We are today facing - when we look at the present international financial architecture- a moral problem, a power problem, and a practical problem.  

First of all, a moral problem.  

We all remember that vaccines were not evenly distributed. We all remember that Europe, the United States and other rich countries were able to print trillions to support their economies after COVID, for the recovery of their economies, to support their populations.  

I don't think Jamaica had the possibility to print money, and most developing countries had not that possibility.  

And because not always adequate care was taken, this has given a partial contribution to the increase of inflation and interest rates that all developing countries are also now paying.  

Then, because there was a huge global liquidity problem, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] was able to issue Special Drawing Rights. Special drawing rights is money created out of nothing. The countries of the European Union, to which my country belongs - 500 million people, a little bit less - received 160 billion US dollars. The African continent, three times the population, received 34 billion. There is something fundamentally wrong in the rules, because these are the rules of the system that allow for these injustices to take place.  

And then middle-income countries, and it's particularly relevant for small island developing states, do not face adequate debt relief mechanisms, and, do not face the possibility to have access to concessional funding at the levels that will be necessary, because they are considered to be middle-income countries. Which again, is a deep injustice, because small island developing states in particular, have a high level of vulnerability because of the structure of their economies because of their geographic location, their size and because of the enormous impact they suffer in relation to climate change.  

So, there is a serious moral problem with the international financial system.  

And there is a power problem. The Bretton Woods institutions were created after the Second World War. Jamaica was not independent at that time. Most African countries were not independent at that time. And obviously, the structure of what was created, with smaller limitations during the last decades, reflects the power relations that existed after the Second World War.  

They are outdated and so, the system is unfair and dysfunctional. The system needs reform, to adapt it to the realities of today's global economy.  

And, you know, power questions are always difficult to solve.  

And then, we have a number of practical issues. Even with the present system, much more could have been done. And much more can be done in relation to a better link between climate and finance and the stronger support to adaptation in particular, and in particular, in small island developing states.  

A lot more can be done in multiplying the effect of the work of multilateral development banks, if they change their business model - a new approach to risk- and they are able to use their resources to leverage massive access to private finance at reasonable costs for developing countries.  

Much more can be done in new instruments that allow, for instance, swaps between debt and investment in adaptation for climate change. So, there are lots of things that can be done if there is political will to do so, even if we will not be able to solve -and I hope we will be sooner or later- the moral problem and the power problem.  

I want to express our deep solidarity with Jamaica, with the SIDS [small island developing states], in relation to these moral, power and practical problems.  

And we are determined to do our best to correct it and this is the reason of my visit.  

We have presented our sustainable development goals report, and we will have the SDG Summit in September, together with a Summit on Financing for Development. We are preparing a policy brief to all member states that will be issued in June on the reform of the international financial architecture.  

I will be addressing the G7 this week and the G20, when the G20 meets, and insist for the needs for this moral, power and practical problems to be solved.   

It was very important for me, as we are doing this work, as we are preparing this work, to come here and to take profits of the leadership and experience of Prime Minister Holness.  

Mr. Holness has been, as he described, a champion. A champion in relation to climate action, and a champion in relation to an effective reformed multilateral financial architecture in the world.  

And it was very important, because of the success of the policies that Prime Minister Holness and his government have developed that allowed the country to reduce substantially its dependency in relation to debt. It was very important to listen to him and to have his advice, to have his suggestions, to have his perspective for me to be able to translate the dramatic needs and interests of developing countries in particular, of small island developing states, in the next initiatives that we are developing in relation to climate, in relation to climate finance and in relation to the global financial architecture.  

On the other hand, we, as Your Excellency mentioned, we have discussed, in particular, the situation in Haiti.  

Haiti is in a tragic, tragic situation. You have dramatic humanitarian needs. You have a political system that is paralyzed, and you have levels of violence by gangs that are absolutely appalling.  

The number of people killed, the number of people unable to live their lives, the dramatic food insecurity problems are indeed something that needs a much stronger commitment by the international community.  

We have a political problem, the need to bring the different stakeholders together to find the political way for a legitimate government to be recognized by all, at the moment in which that political process is successful.  

And we need to address the violence of the gangs. I made a proposal to the Security Council a few months ago that I can see that it would be necessary, in the context of the support, the equipment and training of the national police force, to be able to have the presence of an international robust police force to crack down on the gangs, and in parallel with a political process to create the conditions for a team to be able to address its dramatic situation.  

This has been a difficult exercise. It has been difficult to mobilize the will of those that would have the best capacity to lead this operation. And it has been difficult to create, also, the political conditions to make it easier for different countries to accept to be part of this action.  

And here, once again, I want to pay tribute to Jamaica.  

First of all, Jamaica was the first country that immediately expressed its readiness to be part of this operation and second, Jamaica -in the context of CARICOM -, is involved in a very important political process trying to bring together the different stakeholders to find their way out of this political crisis.  

And I know of the visit that was paid to Haiti, and I know that a new meeting is scheduled, and that three eminent personalities were put in charge of leading this process of dialogue.  

I want to express my full support to the initiatives of Jamaica and CARICOM. And I want to once again, ask the international community to understand that an effective solidarity with Haiti is not only a matter of generosity, it is essentially a matter of enlightened self-interest. Because the present situation in Haiti reflects a threat to the security of the whole region and further afield.  

Once again, Your Excellency, Honorable Prime Minister, thank you so very much for your wonderful hospitality.  

And Jamaica can count on us to be strong advocates for the international community to recognize the success of your efforts and to support your country. Even much more effectively than what was done in the past.