Prime Minister Gaston Browne Plenary Session: “World on the Edge: Polycrisis, Chaos, Polarization & the Battle for Global Balance” Tangier, Morocco
Excellencies, distinguished colleagues,
Thank you to the Amadeus Institute, organizers of Medays, for the invitation to participate in this high level international forum.
As Morocco commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Green March, I extend my warmest congratulations to His Majesty King Mohammed VI and to the Moroccan people.
The convergence of this national milestone with the adoption of UN Resolution 2797, confirms the preeminent and exclusivity of the Moroccanity of the Sahara and the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative.
It gives this moment exceptional significance; it celebrates both a founding act of unity and a decisive diplomatic victory, that consolidates Morocco’s incontestable rights and strengthens the international consensus supporting them.
Be assured that Antigua & Barbuda continues to stand with Morocco, as it advances on the path of stability, development, and continental leadership.
Polycrises
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
Today, we gather during one of the most unstable periods in human civilization; a moment of overlapping crises, where the attendant shocks are compounded, undermining growth and development and destroying global balance.
The polycrises are characterized by geopolitical confrontations with nuclear threats, the climate crisis, debt distress, food insecurity, technological disruptions, weakened multilateralism and the aftershocks of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The combination of these crises make them extremely devastating.
In addition, the polarization of communities is exacerbating these crises, dividing them along political, ethnic, economic, and ideological lines, thereby eroding trust.
These pressures are not contained within any region; they touch every developing country, from small island states like Antigua and Barbuda to the great landmasses of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
For developing states, this global polycrisis is not an academic construct.
It is a daily constraint on our ability to plan, to invest, and to protect our people.
A supply chain disruption raises food prices; a climate shock deepens debt; even a conflict far from our shores increases prices and drains fiscal space.
Whereas vulnerability differs from nations to regions, it does not differ in consequence.
Our experience as Small Island States, echoes what many developing countries face: structural exposure to shocks we do not control. From frequent and devastating hurricanes that destroys lives and livelihoods, to global uncertainty that collapses our economies.
Global Order
The rules based global order that hitherto provided protection, stability and predictability for vulnerable states in the global south, is now characterized by chaos and instability.
Competition has intensified among emerging and established powers, weakening global cooperation and solidarity.
This has resulted in realignments, resulting in the formation of new blocks, new alliances, new trade relations and increased insularity, which undermines multilateralism.
Some refer to these realignments as a form of creative destruction to facilitate a new dispensation, that will give rise to new positive outcomes. This optimism is clearly unfounded and could be more accurately described as a world tethering on the edge of implosion.
In the interim, lines between order and disorder are blurred where international norms are contested, and where global governance is fractured by polarization challenges, giving rise to uncertainty and insecurity.
The question however is: will we as a human civilization allow the prevailing chaos, confusion, and instability to become the destiny of humanity ?
Or will we fight unrelentingly for a new global norm of peace, love, justice and unity ?
Will we allow any single mighty nation, or group of nations, to undermine global peace and prosperity, or will we stand together and fight for a more equitable, just and peaceful world ?
I say to each of us today, that chaos, confusion and instability cannot be our destiny and that it is within our power, to fight courageously with ideas, leadership, diplomacy; to successfully resolve the challenges and to shape a more equitable, just and peaceful world.
Cohesion Among States
To achieve this requires social cohesion, therefore, let this Medays forum, serve as the catalyst to build social cohesion; solidarity among nations in all regions, to restore global balance in achieving an equitable just and peaceful world.
An equitable, just and peaceful world that would result in shared global prosperity for all nations and their peoples; taking into consideration, that we all part of the same human family, with a common mitochondrial DNA, emanating from a common grandparent dating back 250,000 years ago.
This global reset requires a balance between competition and cooperation.
A more inclusive and equitable global governance framework, in which all nations and regions are fully integrated in the global financial and trade architectures.
One in which all nations and regions have a seat at the global decision making table.
One in which we fight in solidarity as a human civilization, to defeat the various existential threats in protection of our common humanity and our planet.
This would require strengthening multilateralism and a pooling of sovereignty; thereby balancing national sovereignty with global responsibility.
In providing solutions to global challenges, Let us commit to balance:
Competition with cooperation
economic growth with environmental sustainability
progress with ethical safeguards
the influence of great powers with the aspirations of small states
the urgency of today with the vision for tomorrow
And above all, we must surmount the battle to restore balance within ourselves—to resist fear and aggression, division and insularity and to act with love, compassion and care for all of humanity.
I emphasize, we must stand together and fight with courage in defense of our global human civilization, ensuring a more equitable world of shared prosperity.
Chaos and instability exacerbate vulnerability.
If developing countries—large and small—remain trapped in cycles of vulnerability, the world will not regain balance.
Stability requires resilience across the entire Global South.
Climate Change
Climate change has been ravaging the global south destroying lives and livelihoods, because of their lack of resilience.
The Developed North continues to pollute our planet with their poisonous fossil fuel gasses. While they profit from the profligate use of fossil fuels, we pay the price.
After 30 years of advocacy and diplomacy through the various Conferences of the Parties (COPS), progress has been slow, resulting in an overshoot of the 1.5 degrees threshold.
If urgent action is not taken to curtail emissions, human civilization will be imperiled.
Commitments remain weak and large polluters continue to game the Paris Climate Accord, necessitating the need for further action.
That is why Antigua and Barbuda joined with fellow vulnerable states, to establish COSIS—the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law.
Through COSIS, we secured a favorable landmark Advisory Opinion from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, confirming that greenhouse gas emissions causing marine harm, breach states parties existing legal obligations.
Antigua & Barbuda worked with a broad coalition led by Vanuatu—spanning the Caribbean, the Pacific, Africa, and other progressive partners in Europe—to obtain the favorable Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change.
Those opinions do not serve small islands alone; they strengthen the legal rights of all states, whose people and economies are threatened by climate damage.
But international law is only one pillar.
Global Financial & Trade Architectures
The global financial system also requires urgent and decisive reform.
GDP per capita is a backward looking, inequitable metric to determine developmental needs.
It cannot determine access to concessional finance in a world where vulnerability, not income, drives risk.
Middle-income countries across the developing world—whether islands or continental economies—are being priced out of resilience, because the system does not recognize the scale of their exposure and the devastating impact of climate events.
Similarly, global governance must shift from symbolic inclusion to meaningful, all inclusive participation.
Decisions on climate, trade, health, security, and digitalization, cannot be taken by a narrow group and presented as universal. It is not.
Clearly, these narrow groupings decisions are designed to protect and promote the interest of the powerful few.
A balanced world requires balanced and inclusive representation.
Respect for Sovereignty & International Law
At a time of increasing geopolitical rivalry, developing states must not be treated as strategic terrain – for exploiting natural resources and as bases for military adventures. There are not.
Those who are determined to pursue military adventures, should conduct them within their borders, instead of exporting the risks and unintended consequences to peaceful nations.
Our sovereignty—large or small—is not a token to be traded among others.
Respect for international law, for territorial integrity, and for the sovereign equality of states, must apply universally and these principles must be defended without fear or favour.
Global Response
The polycrisis is a global problem that demands a global response.
For developing countries including small nations like ours, the stakes are especially high, therefore, we cannot afford a world defined by might over right.
We cannot accept a system where the vulnerable is forgotten, or where the powerful dominates unchallenged.
The global south must stand in solidarity with each other and fight unrelenting for a fairer, more equitable, just, peaceful and stable world.
But a fairer, more equitable, just and stable world will not emerge, unless the concerns of developing countries—those who bear the highest costs of global disruption—are taken seriously.
The global south must stand tall, exercise big voices and strong positions —advocating for fairness, multilateralism, climate justice, and inclusive equitable development.
We have an obligation so to do, in our own interest and in the interest of future generations.
We must insist that the global balance we seek is not merely geopolitical, but a moral and human imperative.
Global Solutions
My dear friends,
We are not here only to describe problems.
Developing states are bringing solutions: from regional integration projects, to innovations in climate law, to the creation of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, to South–South cooperation frameworks, that show genuine solidarity is possible.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
The world is at an inflection point.
If we choose inclusion, reform, and fairness, we can restore global balance.
If we do not; instability will deepen, and its costs will be borne disproportionately by the developing world.
Courage to Fight
The choice is clear; we summon the courage to fight collectively for justice, peace and right, or suffer the consequences as sitting ducks.
Antigua and Barbuda stands in solidarity, ready to work courageously with all partners—North and South—to build a global multilateral system that is resilient, equitable, and sustainable.
Let’s sieze the opportunity to redesign the global financial and trade architectures: to innovate and to create a new progressive governance framework; a system that restores balance in our nations, our world and our collective future of shared prosperity.
Clarion Call
Finally, I issue a clarion call for us to commit to a new ethos of global stewardship, in the interest of our common humanity and sustainability of our planet.
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