It is a great honour and pleasure for me to take the floor
for the first time in this world forum as Prime Minister
and Head of Government, proudly representing the
Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.
At the outset, please allow me to congratulate
you, Sir, on your election as President of the General
Assembly at the sixty-ninth session and to offer our full
support during the current session, which we wish to
be crowned with success. Your election resulted from
the Member States’ recognition of the experience that
the Republic of Uganda has accumulated and of the
increasingly significant role that the African continent
plays in the international community in consolidating
peace and security worldwide. It also reflects your
efforts to achieve sustainable development for the
developing countries, in addition to your outstanding
professional qualifications, which testify to your
technical knowledge and life experience. We are certain
that your diplomatic experience will greatly contribute
to the favourable outcome of our work and help us to
discover ways of resolving matters of major concern to
the international community.
We also welcome the important and relevant theme
of this session, “Delivering on and implementing
a transformative post-2015 development agenda”.
The post-2015 development agenda, when properly
defined and structured, will certainly become a useful
instrument to guide developing countries, particularly
those of the African continent, to sustainable
development.
We wish to express our appreciation to Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon for his competent, selfless
and zealous stewardship of the Organization. We
congratulate Mr. John William Ashe, who zealously
and selflessly presided over the deliberations of the
Assembly at the sixty-eighth session for the past
12 months.
The pertinence of the theme chosen for the sixty-
ninth session of the General Assembly is clear in
the light of the persisting economic and financial
crisis that continues to ravage the world. We must
combine our efforts and focus them on building the
more just and auspicious future to which our peoples
legitimately aspire. To that end, Africa has identified
the six pillars on which its sustainable development
should rest: structural economic transformation and
inclusive growth; science, technology and innovation;
people-centred development; environmental
sustainability, natural resources management and
disaster management; peace and security; and finance
and partnerships.
From our perspective, those pillars emanate from
the aspirations of our African nations. All partners of
the African continent should take them into account
in the arduous efforts to bring about sustainable and
equitable development and enhance the dignity of our
peoples. Therefore, Sao Tome and Principe believes in
sustainable development in Africa, based on the pillars
proposed by the African Union. It calls on the United
Nations to adapt its programme to the specific realities
of Africa, without losing sight of the accomplishments
of certain countries in attaining some of the eight
Millennium Development Goals.
It is an indisputable fact that the raison d’être of
the United Nations is to maintain peace and security
around the world, which is a sine qua non for the
promotion of development. However, in the light of
the significant changes that the world has undergone
since the establishment of our Organization in 1945,
we must stress the urgent need to adapt it to the new
challenges of our time. Therefore, we again reiterate
our call for the acceleration of the ongoing process of
reform throughout the entire United Nations system, in
order to imbue its operations with greater dynamism,
representativeness, effectiveness, capacity and
legitimacy, thereby leadingto the maintenance of peace
and security and thus to the promotion of development
worldwide.
We unfortunately continue to observe the persistence
of some conflict areas and the outbreak of new
tensions, with alarmingly significant humanitarian
repercussions, throughout the world. In Mali and in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the relative
stabilization of conflict zones as a result of United
Nations efforts, we think that the combined operations
must continue in order to consolidate and strengthen
the achievements.
We are grateful for the resolution of the situation
in Guinea-Bissau, where the transition process has
led to the election of a new President of the Republic
and a new Government, thereby repositioning the
country in accordance with regular and institutional
democratic processes. However, it is incumbent on
the international community, particularly the United
Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community
of Portuguese-speaking Countries, to continue to
collaborate and combine their efforts to consolidate
the democratic rule of law so that our sister nation may
advance the progress and well-being of its people.
It is with enormous and fraternal satisfaction that
we commend the political actors in Mozambique for
their great maturity and for taking into account the
higher interests of their people by recently signing a
peace agreement, thereby avoiding more suffering and
loss of human lives.
With regard to the Central African Republic, we
welcome the decision of the United Nations to dispatch
the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission
in the Central African Republic to end the suffering
of that country’s people and clear the way for national
reconciliation. The reconciliation process began with
the recent Brazzaville forum and should be completed
by the Bangui forum and the holding of elections. These
should open a window of opportunity for the resolution
of the disturbing crisis in the Central African Republic,
which is in our subregion, and enable it to return to
institutional normalcy.
With respect to South Sudan, we encourage
efforts to convince the conflicting parties to engage
in negotiations with a view to seeking solutions for
their existing differences and ending the suffering of
innocent civilians. In Western Sahara, the long-standing
situation continues to be a matter of concern for us and
to require a greater involvement from the international
community so that the long negotiation process can
finally be completed. Therefore, we renew our call for
the involved parties to return to the negotiating table in
order to reach a mutually acceptable political solution.
In the light of the resurgence of acts of international
terrorism everywhere, it is imperative for all the
members of the international community to coordinate
their actions, since that is the only way the world will
be able to overcome that scourge. To that end, we wish
to note our apprehension and express our concern
with regard to the actions perpetrated by Boko Haram
in our neighbour, the Republic of Nigeria, and the
consequences of such actions. Nigeria is a country
with which Sao Tome and Principe maintains ties of
friendship and multiple relations of understanding and
cooperation in areas of common interest.
We are also troubled by the recent phenomenon of
the Islamic State and its implications. The Middle East,
unfortunately, continues on the path of bloody conflicts.
These have taken an enormous number of human
lives, owing to the long-standing hostilities between
Israel and Palestine, whose devastating consequences
the world recently witnessed. Therefore, we welcome
the recent ceasefire between the two parties, and we
renew our call for a negotiated solution that will ensure
the Palestinian people’s right to control their own
destiny, as well as the State of Israel’s right to exist, in
accordance with the relevant resolutions.
Similarly, there is no military solution for the
persistent internal conflict in Syria, which has also
created disastrous humanitarian consequences.
Therefore, we welcome the recent ceasefire between
the parties and renew our call for a compromise to be
reached, with the help and support of the international
community, in order to end the hostilities and clear the
way for a frank dialogue across the negotiating table
and a political solution for lasting peace.
As to the conflict in Ukraine, which is also
causing the loss of many human lives, the Democratic
Republic of Sao Tome and Principe regrets the situation
and calls on the parties to move forward rapidly,
through dialogue, in resolving their differences. The
international community must make all efforts to
facilitate such dialogue.
We believe that the Assembly will agree with us when
we say that global security is vital for the sustainable
development of our countries. Therefore, considering
that Sao Tome and Principe is centrally located in the
Gulf of Guinea, a region that is strongly affected by
piracy, terrorism, drug trafficking and other illicit acts
committed at sea, we have taken national steps to fight
those phenomena, including the drafting of a legislative
framework for the modernization of the armed forces,
based on a strategy that focuses decisively on the sea
and its resources.
At the subregional level, we have worked, as
part of the tripartite partnership of ECOWAS, the
Economic Community of Central African States and
the Gulf of Guinea Commission, to implement the
recommendations of the Summit of Heads of State
and Government on Maritime Safety and Security
in the Gulf of Guinea, held in Yaoundé. To that end,
we welcome the progress achieved in the process of
establishing the Interregional Coordination Centre,
which is scheduled to begin operations very soon, and
we renew our call to the international community to
continue with us on the arduous task of ensuring our
collective security.
We strongly believe that taking steps to reduce the
harmful effects of climate change is a responsibility that
must be shared by developing countries and developed
countries alike, in order to ensure the continuity of the
clean development mechanism, particularly for the least
developed countries, as well as to mobilize the political
will for a legally binding global agreement through the
adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change at the twenty-first Conference of
the Parties, scheduled to take place in Paris in 2015.
The trade embargo imposed against Cuba decades
ago constitutes another matter of great concern for us,
and we therefore renew our call for the sanctions to be
lifted. Cuba should be allowed to address its economic
and social development challenges in an environment
of normalcy, without the restrictions imposed by such
sanctions, and to take better advantage of opportunities
for trade relations on an equal footing with other States
Members of our Organization.
The African continent is once again assailed by an
epidemic of haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola
virus, with incalculable consequences. In the light of
the high level of mortality and the devastating effects
of the disease, on the one hand, and the chance that it
may spread to other areas of the world, on the other
hand, we must urgently identify synergies to engage in
an all-out struggle to save the thousands of lives that
are threatened by this terrible scourge.
In Sao Tome and Principe, we fortunately have
not yet seen any Ebola cases. However, in the light
of our country’s vulnerability, our economic and
financial weaknesses, and our health institutions’ lack
of experience in dealing with the outbreak, we have
prepared a contingency plan and taken prevention and
response measures, including entry and exit restrictions
at our ports and airports, which may impact our fragile
economy. Members will understand that we must count
on the World Health Organization’s help and on the
support and experience of friendly nations in order to
protect our population against all sources and forms
of contamination. In that regard, we welcome the
Secretary-General’s initiative in convening a high-
level meeting on the margins of this session in order to
discuss the matter and take appropriate measures.
Before I finish my statement, please allow me
to note the situation of calm and progress between
the two sides on the Taiwan Strait. We welcome that
environment and encourage the parties to develop their
relations through negotiations. Our country is pleased
to see the participation of the Republic of China on
Taiwan in the General Assembly of the World Health
Organization and applauds the fact that Taiwan was
invited, for the first time since 1971, to participate
in the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation
Organization in 2013.
Therefore, and considering the enormous potential
of Taiwan, we would like to see its participation
further extend to other specialized agencies of
the United Nations, such as the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, and to the
implementation process of the post-2015 development
agenda, in which it could be of significant help to the
international community.
In conclusion, we reiterate our country’s willingness
to continue to participate in the efforts to mobilize
wills and facilitate synergies for the achievement of the
basic principles and noble objectives that guided the
establishment of the United Nations.
It is certain that today we are a democratic country
with a community of free citizens, but challenges will
continue to arise in the future. Therefore, we have taken
steps to consolidate democracy, so that our citizens
may have an increasingly aware and active involvement
in our collective existence and the political debate may
be broader and more responsible. It is hoped that these
steps will enable compromises among all the political
forces to be achieved and to serve as the basis for the
reforms that our country needs. We are fully aware that
our country’s economic performance hinges on political
stability and our citizens’ trust in our democratic
institutions.
I cannot conclude without informing the Assembly
that Sao Tome and Principe will hold long-awaited
legislative, regional and local elections on 12 October.
The electoral process is being managed in an
environment of full normality, and we have resolved
the financial difficulties related to the elections with
the generous support of our development partners, to
which we express our profound gratitude and esteem.
We expect the election results to be transparent and
fair, as our tradition dictates, and that our country
will continue to be a benchmark of democracy in our
subregion.