Bajans celebrated Independence Day Wednesday with their Prime Minister Mia Mottley is aiming to make Barbados a world-class nation by 2030.

She believes that can be achieved through several targets which she is hoping to discuss with the social partnership and civil society in the coming weeks.

“Like with life there are obstacles, and when we have obstacles, we refocus and reset the mission. Now that we are out it is time to ensure that the COVID comatose mindset is put behind us and that we refocus and reset the mission,” she said in her Independence Day address

Several hundreds of people gathered at the Kensington Oval on Wednesday to mark the annual Independence Day celebrations and the island’s first anniversary of becoming a parliamentary republic state.

Mottley said prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which started to affect the island in early 2020, the hope was to achieve the goals of the mission by 2027, but that had to be adjusted.

“Against this backdrop, I hope to be shortly meeting with the social partners and with civil society for us to set a series of missions that should unite all Barbadians in the effort of allowing us to become world-class by 2030. Against the backdrop of a climate crisis and a world that is losing biodiversity and where … almost a million animals and insects can become extinct a, therefore, can threaten our food supply, the first goal must be to green Barbados, and to ensure greening Barbados, that we protect our food supply,”, Mottley said.

Mottley told the gathering at the Kensington Oval they should reflect on what they wanted Barbados to look like going forward, as she urged them to avoid violence and unite and help each other in tough times, and be strong and courageous.