I would
like to discharge my first duty by conveying to the
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Assembly, on behalf of His Excellency the President of
the Republic of Guinea, General Lansana Conté, whom
I am honoured to represent here, brotherly greetings
along with a strong message of solidarity from the
people of Guinea. On this solemn occasion, I am also
pleased to convey to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
the warmest congratulations of the Guinean
Government following the election of a charismatic
and enlightened individual of his stature to the
presidency of the Assembly. I assure him of Guinea’s
full and entire cooperation throughout his mandate.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
express my country’s gratitude to his illustrious
predecessor for the skill with which he handled the
presidency of the sixty-second session. To the
Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, we once again
convey our deepest appreciation for the effectiveness
and vision with which he leads the work of our
Organization, which is ever more in demand, because
of the many challenges we face in shaping a world of
peace, security, justice and prosperity for all.
With regard to international solidarity, 34 years
ago the dominant groups of the world promised to
implement the noble commitment made by the
international community to eliminate the poverty that
undermines living conditions in poor countries, in
particular through the regular allocation of 0.7 per cent
of the gross domestic product of industrialized
countries to official development assistance.
In the euphoric wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall
in 1989, that promise had received only a symbolic
fulfilment when the leading powers predicted, in a
premature burst of triumphalism, that budgets that had
been devoted until then to the arms race would, as of
then, be devoted to expediting poverty eradication.
However, the current configuration of our world,
deeply divided as it is between rich and poor, shows
multiple signs of how those promises —which, when
they were made, awakened great hopes for the rapid
achievement of an international world of peace,
effective solidarity and shared well-being — have not
been fulfilled.
With regard to international peace, in spite of the
significant reduction in the current number of armed
conflicts, fears remain. Indeed, military expenditures
have increased significantly in recent years to
proportions that hearken back to the darkest hours of
the cold war, times that we had hoped were left far
behind us.
The legitimate war against blind and
unacceptable terrorism, waged on several fronts since
2001, is unfortunately far from reassuring. The
anachronistic Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists in
spite of the welcome decision to seek a negotiated
settlement of that dispute. Tensions related to nuclear
weapons control darken the horizon of a lasting
international peace. Hegemonistic urges to control the
strategic resources of the planet are obvious in various
instances, raising legitimate fears for the security of
those countries that are vulnerable in military terms.
When it comes to combating global hunger, the
current food crisis poses an urgent and pressing
challenge that demands a rapid response at the
national, regional and international levels. Beyond the
emergency, solidarity-based movement that has taken
shape, that serious phenomenon requires a global,
long-term approach from us all. To that end, the
international community as a whole must promote
policies and strategies geared towards returning
agriculture to the heart of our national and
international concerns. Our ability to satisfy the food
needs of the most vulnerable peoples and to preserve
socio-political stability in those countries depends on
it.
With regard to poverty reduction, the results
remain mixed, unfortunately. Indeed, poor countries
are foundering even further, due not only to their
population growth and insufficient social investments,
but also to the inadequate quality and inconsistency of
official development assistance. In addition, all of that
must be viewed against the backdrop of the all-too-
timid engagement of their development partners and of
global trade conditions that place them at a
disadvantage.
Currently, halfway to the 2015 deadline, official
development assistance is still not being allocated at
the necessary pace. In spite of demonstrating their full
resolve to take control of their destiny by enacting
robust measures in terms of political, economic and
financial governance, poor countries must make do
with the drafting of new versions of poverty reduction
strategy papers that are unlikely to be implemented
because of the lack of sufficient and appropriate
financing.
39 08-52265
Meanwhile, the populations of poor countries
continue to increase and to grow younger. They grow
impatient with the delay and slowness of their
integration into globalization. Their social needs are
growing and their institutional stability, prospects for
democracy and likelihood of sustainable social peace
are faltering. The picture is one of a vicious circle
within which the leaders and peoples of poor countries
are caught. They look to their partners for an extension
of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative
and the removal of the obstacles that impede the export
of their products in order to enable their economies to
escape marginalization in the global trade system.
In that context, the Guinean Government urges
the implementation of the outcomes of high-level
meetings with respect to the priority agenda of
international development agencies. Those outcomes
outline approaches and steps that could improve the
living conditions of hundreds of millions of
individuals, particularly in Africa, who feel the full
impact of extreme poverty, illiteracy, endemic diseases,
insecurity, economic marginalization and socio-
political exclusion.
Elected in April 2008 in Dakar to chair the
Leading Group on Solidarity Development Levies,
Guinea devotes all its energies to consolidating
initiatives in that field and to overseeing the design and
implementation of programmes that will serve to
supplement traditional financing sources. I appeal to
Member States and to development partners to join us
in that solidarity initiative in order to pool our
collective efforts to fight poverty and achieve our
common goals.
From this rostrum of international solidarity, I
have the pleasure of calling on global leaders, in
particular those of the wealthy and emerging countries,
to increase their support for poor countries, as the
community of humankind must preserve its meaning,
human solidarity must show its effectiveness, and
humankind must share the certain knowledge that
lasting peace cannot be forged within the current
asymmetrical divisions of our world.
More resolute than ever before to make proper
use of the official development assistance that they will
receive, the populations of poor countries are
determined to emerge from the poverty afflicting them.
Their young people want to make their parents and
their countries proud by finding decent work at home.
They do not want to get involved in clandestine
immigration networks, nor do they want to deal with
drug traffickers.
Encouraging results have been achieved in
conflict prevention and in restoring, maintaining and
building peace in the world, and in Africa in particular,
in spite of the human tragedies taking place in Darfur.
Our Organization deserves to be congratulated and
encouraged for that. Indeed, significant progress has
been achieved by Côte d’Ivoire on the path towards
restoring peace and national reconciliation.
With regard to the Mano River Union, Guinea
calls on the international community to continue to
support the efforts of the member States of that
organization in order to prevent them from relapsing
into the cycle of doubt, insecurity and instability. We
must also welcome the successful measures initiated
and led by the Peacebuilding Commission to
consolidate stability in Sierra Leone, Liberia and
Guinea-Bissau.
In the Horn of Africa and in the Western Sahara,
through the perseverance of the United Nations and the
stakeholders in those crises, positive signs of
settlement are emerging. We urge all the stakeholders
in those crises to engage in dialogue and coordination,
which, if they are to be effective, require, of course,
respect for the commitments that have been made.
In the Middle East, it is obvious that resolving
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will require a regional
solution based on the creation of an independent,
sovereign and viable Palestinian State living side by
side and in peace with Israel in accordance with the
relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the
Quartet road map.
Moreover, Guinea reaffirms its unwavering
commitment to the principle of a single and undivided
China.
I would now like to address the situation in my
country, which for the past two years has faced a
serious economic and social crisis, triggered by a
combination of internal and external factors, which I
have just described. I am pleased to be able to say
today that through a national patriotic upsurge,
supported by the efforts of the international
community, including the Economic Community of
West African States, that situation is on the path
towards normalization and improvement. A
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Government open to all stakeholders, comprising the
opposition, civil society and the two sides of industry,
has been established. That Government has drawn up
and is currently implementing a minimum emergency
programme that should pave the way for a relaunch of
the country’s economic and social development process
in the near future.
In spite of the pitfalls and unstable resources, the
results obtained to date are encouraging. The
institutional framework for governance is improving.
The pace of the democratic process, in particular the
preparation for legislative elections, is quickening. The
independent national electoral commission is up and
running. The political parties have received subsidies
for election preparations. A comprehensive coordination
movement involving all components of the nation is
under way. The mining agreements are being revised
with a view to protecting the interests of the country
and, naturally, those of the investors themselves.
Economic and financial governance is being
strengthened, sanctioned by the adoption on 28 July
2008, by the Executive Board of the International
Monetary Fund, of the conclusions of the first review
of the formal programme, which should lead our
country to the completion point under the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative.
Working together with all actors in the nation, the
Guinean Government remains firmly committed to
shouldering its full share of responsibility in tackling
the huge challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, drugs, lack
of security, terrorism, the illicit circulation of light
weapons and the structural causes underlying
clandestine immigration. The eradication of poverty,
maintenance of peace, institutional stability and
promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms
lie at the heart of our national priorities.
Sixty-three years after the establishment of the
United Nations, eight years after the adoption of the
United Nations Millennium Declaration and at the
midpoint towards the implementation of the
Millennium Development Goals, my country, Guinea,
believes in the future of a world of greater solidarity,
justice and fairness, thus safer in the context of a true
and fair partnership. A reformed, revitalized United
Nations, adapted to new developments, remains the
appropriate forum to meet the challenges that we all
face.
Before I conclude, I am pleased to report that
2008 marks the fiftieth anniversary of both our
country’s independence and its accession the United
Nations. That gives me the opportunity to reaffirm to
my country’s firm commitment, alongside the rest of
the international community, to achieving the noble
ideals of our Organization, and to supporting and
respecting all its principles and purposes, which are the
foundation of a true community of destiny.