I would like
to extend to the President, on behalf of the people and
Government of Togo, as well as on my own behalf, our
warmest congratulations on his election as President
of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I
would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate to
the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, my country’s
sincere congratulations on and encouragement for
his efforts to enable our Organization to meet the
challenges facing our world.
By giving the sixty-ninth session of the General
Assembly the theme “Delivering on and implementing
a transformative post-2015 development agenda”, the
President wished to remind Member States of their
responsibility to spare no effort in defining, as we
look ahead in the context of the post-2015 period, a
development agenda commensurate with the challenges
facing the world. Indeed, it is undeniable that defining
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been
beneficial to humankind. While not all of those goals
will be achieved by all our States, our commitment to
working together to attain them has enabled us to make
notable progress towards each of the Goals throughout
the world. The new development agenda should therefore
provide States with an appropriate road map that takes
into account the diversity and complexity of situations
and developments resulting from the experience gained
in implementing the MDGs.
For its part, the Togolese Government remains
determined and mobilized to continue and to scale up
the necessary efforts in the context of a new post-2015
development programme with a view to a more tangible
reduction in the level of poverty in our country. In recent
years, the incidence of poverty has in fact been reduced
by three points in Togo. That trend is supported by an
improvement in the business climate that provides good
prospects for increasing the success of the job creation
programmes being implemented in the country for the
benefit of young people.
In that regard, we note, among other elements, the
positive impact as a result of conducting several job
creation and grass-roots development programmes. In
the same spirit, we have established the National Fund
for Inclusive Finance, whose goal is to make financial
services accessible to the most vulnerable people, in
particular women, who are generally excluded from
access to credit from traditional financial institutions.
In the field of agriculture, Togo continues to
develop the National Agricultural Investment and Food
Security Programme. Its implementation has led not
only to satisfactory results in the context of food self-
sufficiency but also to agricultural surpluses for several
crop years, particularly that of 2013/14.
In terms of health, encouraging results have been
achieved in reducing the maternal and infant mortality
rates and in combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis.
With regard to the preservation of the environment
and improvement in living conditions, robust actions
have significantly increased the level of access to
sanitation and clean water. Moreover, the Government
has stepped up its adaptation efforts to curb the impact
of climate change, in particular, with regard to disasters
caused by economic imbalance, which undermines the
well-being of our citizens. Our country is actively
strengthening the institutional mechanism for disaster
management. Togo has increased its contribution to
the protection of world heritage and to international
security through significant efforts in its resolute
fight against the trafficking of protected species, as
evidenced by the neutralization of several networks and
the seizure of large quantities of ivory.
The forward-looking vision of Togo as a country
able to ensure and take ownership of its development in
all respects has led the Government to initiate Vision
Togo 2030. Launched in April, that initiative is based
on a participatory approach. It should ultimately, with
the accelerated growth and job creation strategy, allow
my country to better ensure its achievement of the
MDGs and the post-2015 development agenda, which
we wholeheartedly desire. I would like to thank the
entire United Nations system and all the countries that
have helped us to achieve the progress made.
The situation of chronic instability prevailing in
Africa today, in particular in the Sahel-Sahara region,
is of concern. With its experience as a non-permanent
member of the Security Council, on which it served
in 2012 and 2013, my country, Togo, is now more
certain than ever that our agenda for peace and the new
architecture for international security must reflect the
new situation of the regionalization of conflicts.
Unfortunately, another factor that further threatens
the survival of States and their development efforts is
terrorism. In Africa, for example, Boko Haram and
Al-Shabaab frequently carry out acts that destabilize
brother countries, such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Somalia
and Kenya. Nevertheless, my country welcomes the joint
efforts of the international community, which helped
to thwart the armed terrorist groups, in particular in
Somalia and Mali. We truly appreciate the efforts of
the French Government to remain engaged in the Sahel
region so as to continue the fight against terrorists
alongside African countries in Operation Barkhane.
However, it is important that such efforts continue and
strengthen and that the international community spare
no effort in supporting the affected African countries,
just as it has mobilized to counter the spread of terrorism
in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the world.
Beyond the effective control of borders, in vast
geographical areas such as the Sahel, which in recent
years has mobilized the international community to fight
against terrorism, it is, in our view, equally essential to
further secure our coasts in order to eradicate, with the
same determination, maritime piracy.
In that spirit, mindful of the stakes involved, Togo
took the initiative to host an international conference
on maritime security and economic development
in Africa in Lomé in 2015 under the auspices of the
African Union. Togo seeks to play a leading role in
providing, with the support of all like-minded partners,
a framework to implement measures that have been
recommended on various occasions to make the
African coast a key space for international trade, free
of organized predators, who instil fear along our coasts.
With regard to the promotion of peace, stability and
security in our countries, the deteriorating situation
in the Central African Republic, Libya, South Sudan,
Syria, Palestine, Ukraine and elsewhere in the world
is of the gravest concern to us owing to the harmful
consequences. Such repercussions are likely to call into
question the very existence of those countries and to
destroy their precious development efforts.
My country, Togo, has recovered stability. It is
moving forward towards a new horizon with renewed
confidence. The daughters and sons of Togo have now
chosen to build the future in a climate of peace and
national harmony. Election after election, Togolese
democracy is being built and strengthened through
dialogue and consultation. It is being established with
functioning institutions, with the support and vigilance
of a determined civil society and all citizens, who are
more aware than ever of the remaining challenges to
overcome in terms of democracy.
The plan for our society, which is mobilizing Togo,
seeks above all to make the country an active and
responsible member of the international community,
determined to work hand in hand with other nations,
so as to systematically thwart the conduits of tension,
break the cycle of violence everywhere and prevent
entrenched insecurity. Those are prerequisites not only
for social peace but also for economic development.
I cannot conclude my statement without reminding
the Assembly of the great peril to human survival
threatening the entire African continent, and West
Africa in particular, with the outbreak of the Ebola
virus. In that regard, I would like to welcome the
Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2177 (2014),
which describes the disease as a threat to international
peace and security.
Recognizing the importance of human capital in
development work, my country welcomes efforts by
multilateral and bilateral actors to stem the epidemic.
We launch an urgent appeal to the bodies of the United
Nations system and to States to be more concerned
about the fate of our populations, in particular, those
in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, by supporting our
efforts to save the infected and prevent the spread of the
disease, which knows no boundaries.
I hope that the common values that we share and
affirm resonate well beyond the confines of diplomatic
negotiations and that daily find direct and clear
expression in places where peace, security and shared
prosperity are tangibly enjoyed.