BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Prime Minister Mia Mottley is anticipating that the establishment of a pharmaceutical industry here could provide as many as many as 5,000 jobs for Barbadians.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley (Courtesy of GIS Barbados)Last week, Motley announced in Egypt on the side-lines of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) the new initiative involving the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa to develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals for global public health.
According to a statement, Mottley, along with Guyana President Dr. Irfaan Ali, and President of the Republic of Rwanda Paul Kagame met to discuss the furthering of pharmaceutical equity for global public health with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“The key recommendation emanating from the meeting is an inter-governmental South-South cooperation initiative aiming at the development and manufacturing of 60 percent of all essential, contemporary pharmaceuticals for the populations of Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa within their respective continents by 2040,” the statement said.
Mottley, who returned home on Tuesday night, told a news conference at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) that the pharmaceutical industry would be a “game changer”, allowing the island once the industry is fully developed, to focus specifically on creating cancer treatment medications, vaccines, and drugs for women’s reproductive health care.
Mottley said the development was one of the biggest achievements coming out of her recent trip to Rwanda and that the pharmaceutical industry would provide jobs for as many as 5,000 Barbadians.
“….Perhaps the biggest game changer since we have come to office is about to unfold and we have been working on it very quietly for the last six months or so, and that is addressing the issue of pharmaceutical equity and creating a platform for jobs, investment and earnings for a pharmaceutical industry in Barbados for the first time,” Mottley told reporters.
“I’m not sure if people understand how complex it is to establish the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. First and foremost, the regulatory framework is extremely complex and that is the first thing that we will be engaged in over the course of the next nine to 12 months or so,” Mottley said, adding that Bridgetown would be working together with Guyana in establishing the industry.
She said the government of Rwanda, the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Susan Buffett Foundation had already pledged to assist in creating the industry.
“This has been a major, major, major achievement for a small state like Barbados, to be able to locate itself center of the Americas as a location for the development of a pharmaceutical industry.
“We will create the regulatory framework for these things to happen. What is at stake is potentially at least 4 000 to 5 000 jobs in the next four to five years in Barbados, but the platform for it has started from as early as April of this year and the fact that the joint communique involves the president of the European Union, the president of the European Investment Bank, the president of Rwanda, the president of Guyana, the Director General of the WHO, the head of the Susan Buffett Foundation and myself tells you that this is not speculative, that this is serious work in action,” Mottley said.
Mottley also disclosed that the head of the Rwandan Food and Drug Administration has been in Barbados for the past seven weeks and preliminary work with officials from the Barbados Drug Service and Ministry of Health had already started.
