Paraguay

The Government of Paraguay comes to the Assembly to reaffirm its importance in examining the world situation. We have also come in order to further strengthen the United Nations as a body fit to represent the interests of all countries and ensure the effectiveness of international law. For that reason, Sir, I express my support for your successful presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-second session. It is urgent for us to contribute not only to meeting the objectives of the United Nations, but also to ensuring that the principles governing its functioning truly find expression. The world needs a better, more just and brotherly world order now. From this lofty universal rostrum, we customarily speak with eloquent urgency, but the practice of States, in particular of the most powerful, has not always been one of cooperating in order to overcome the uncertainties that overshadow our future. In recent sessions of the Assembly, we have focused on the challenges of the new millennium, but while we have been looking far ahead, in the first decade of this new century alone, relations among civilizations have clearly been marred by an absence of peace and harmony. It has not mattered that more than half of the world’s population continues to live in poverty. Of greater importance has been the senseless squandering of money on weapons and the terrible effect this has had on the world economy. Note how the price of oil has rapidly increased and how countries, such as ours, which do not produce oil, have had to make great sacrifices. How much money could have been used to alleviate poverty! As long as capital is concentrated in one area and poverty continues to rise, world peace will be precarious. In Paraguay, in South America, we are calling for the globalization of democracy combined with social development. We are calling for the universalization of security based on respect for human rights and on the dignity of human life. In this way we hope to build a regional community and a global union, which will work together to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, and which will effectively cooperate to promote the participation of all in prosperity by providing quality education and a system of social protection without exclusion. In Paraguay, we are struggling for economic stability, for political stability and for social peace. With these ideals, I have been working very hard at the head of the Government to make significant changes and score important advances. We have sought radical change beyond what is needed by the Paraguayan society. The achievements we have attained require that we continue the progressive policy to which we committed ourselves when we assumed office. Since we took office in 2003, following a turbulent transition that was constantly undermined by violence and conspiracy, Paraguay has institutionalized political stability not an easy task in an environment of political division and with a parliament that did not always meet its responsibilities in governing jointly. Nevertheless, political stability has been, and continues to be, one of the defining characteristics of our Government. Through great perseverance, we have succeeded in permanently institutionalizing political stability. We did so because I understood that stability had to be the framework for achieving economic development, which is so crucial to achieving our plans for incremental growth. Having achieved economic stability, we began a process of growth of historic proportions. After 20 years, Paraguay was able to overcome stagnation. Despite the terrible drought in the country, which continues to this day, Paraguay experienced an average annual rate of economic growth of 4 per cent for the period 2003-2007. Moreover, my country has also recorded a budgetary surplus. We have also markedly improved our tax receipts and are waging a difficult battle to control inflation. Through that policy, not only have we considerably increased our financial reserves, which have tripled, but for the first time in its history Paraguay is today able to pay its foreign debt in full and still continue to hold international reserves. Our exports are at a historical high, having doubled during my term of office. Another relevant factor has been the sustained growth in per capita production, which will rise from $915 to $1,800 by the end of my mandate, in 2008. More generally, the Government has been pursuing plans aimed at strengthening various areas of the economy, including the industrial, commercial and service sectors. We have encouraged the transformation of the country’s economy while coordinating and integrating the various sectors of production and facilitating the distribution, circulation and consumption of domestically produced goods. We have thereby been able to lower the rate of poverty we inherited from previous Governments which is now approaching 38 per cent, down from the 46 per cent at which it stood in 2003. However, the poverty and marginalization of millions of our fellow citizens continues to be the most obvious threat to democracy and political stability in Paraguay as well as the region. Our belief that we will continue to overcome poverty is due to the Government’s significant investment in society. Never before have so many houses been built nor more resources devoted to the most vulnerable members of our society. Next year, we will earmark 50 per cent of the country’s budget for the fight to reduce poverty. As a multi-ethnic country, we have not ignored the education of our indigenous citizens. We have built schools and established special programmes. As a bilingual country, we have both ensured Guaraní- language education at all levels and worked towards having it recognized as a third official language of the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR). Prior to the establishment of present-day borders, Guaraní was also spoken in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia. The Government over which I preside has ensured unfettered political freedom, as well as freedom of the press, association and expression. Unfortunately, the media have not always taken advantage of the freedom of the press in order to become channels for truthful information, serious and responsible opinion and constructive and reasoned criticism much less to overcome its vestigial Manichaeism and instead to become a source of culture and daily provider of knowledge and ethical values. Political parties are independent and represented in the parliament. Those not in parliament exercise their rights freely as new political parties are formed. There is in fact pluralism in Paraguay, although the absence of an adequate civic culture on the part of most political actors has kept it from genuinely contributing to the essential consensus needed to defend the country’s overall interests and promoting equitable development within it. Unfortunately, remnants of fascism and conservatism continue to hamper coexistence in an environment of diversity and difference, while also conspiring against the country’s progress. Nevertheless, our struggle for a participatory and inclusive democracy that promotes social justice has transformed the governing party. Today’s governing party is promoting an advanced philosophy of social change. It is also the political organization generating renewal and social mobilization to overcome the old party-based oligarchy that was so damaging to Paraguay. The party has therefore assumed responsibility for transforming the system whereby the State and its policies were subjugated to individual interests. Through its political independence, the party is in a position to able to eliminate illegitimate privileges and the illicit groups that control the economy, finances and large land holdings. We are continuing to modernize Paraguay by linking the entire country with roads, exponentially expanding its economy and ensuring that all citizens become part of the nation’s social capital and possess the qualities and competitiveness required by today’s societies. Most of the people of Paraguay understand that the historic steps we have taken in that direction must continue and become irreversible. Today, anarchy, demagoguery and theological feudalism pose a regressive threat to peace, the secular State, the rule of law and the institutional order we are building. Paraguay is the most open and dynamic country with regard to the regional integration agenda. Our support for MERCOSUR is a clear reflection of our national policy. We believe in MERCOSUR. We believe in regional integration. We believe in the possibility of Latin America having a louder voice in the world in order to manage and humanize the process of globalization. My Government also endorses and supports the proposed union of South American nations, which will above all make us stronger in claiming and defending our rights in an environment of asymmetrical globalization and better able to contribute to world peace and more equitable distribution of international trade and financing for development. The international mobilization of financial and technological resources is today threatening the stability and overall progress of countries. Speculative investments flow to countries and regions where the work force is subjected to exploitation. Then comes the invasion; and, through unfair competition, our industries are damaged and shut down. At the same time, our raw materials are undervalued. What capital should do is to promote industrialization, or at least ensure that the terms of trade become fairer instead of being imposed unilaterally. We have to change this trend. The international economic order should promote a more equitable world economy. Through solidarity, cooperation and fair treatment, all countries of the world should be admitted into the club of development. In Latin America, and in Paraguay, we don’t need charity; we need markets, transparency, technology, and the lifting of protective trade barriers. The United Nations should reflect this philosophy. For this reason, its reform cannot be delayed any longer. Its priority concerns should not be war, armed conflict or even terrorism, whether real or strategic. On the contrary, its priorities should be programmes to end poverty, ignorance and unemployment. We must educate and distribute in order to build a culture of democratic participation in the wealth of humanity. Paraguay, like the other 30 landlocked developing countries, continues to suffer marginalization and a lack of proper access to international markets. The absence of preferential treatment for us from the more developed economies has denied us a more competitive participation in trade, as well as, access to quotas and to higher tariffs. Paraguay is not only aware of the serious consequences of climate change; it also suffers from them. Proof of this is the catastrophe our country is suffering through prolonged drought and the dreadful fires that have destroyed a major part of our territory. I take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude on behalf of my people and my Government to the countries that have come to our aid in this national emergency. In particular, I would like to thank, from this rostrum, my friend Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, Nestor Kirchner, President of Argentina, my friend President Chavez of Venezuela, and the other heads of Government and multilateral organizations that have worked with us. Paraguay recognizes the importance of including gender issues in the agenda of the United Nations and the need for effective coordination among all agencies and organs in the United Nations system in addressing the situation of women in the world, particularly in developing countries. Increasingly and emphatically, we reject existing inequalities between men and women whether they be political, economic, social or cultural. Irrespective of the domestic actions we take to combat discrimination, we believe that the United Nations is the most appropriate forum for designing programmes in support of national policies to bring about true equality. The Government of Paraguay would also like to take this opportunity to express once again for its support for the request for admission into the United Nations of the Republic of China, Taiwan, a nation that has continued to struggle for its freedom and wishes to be a member of the United Nations in accordance with Rules 59 and 60 of the Provisional Rules of the Security Council and Article 4 of the United Nations Charter. In conclusion, inequalities among our peoples are not part of the human condition. On the contrary, they are the result of iniquitous relations that separate us and draw us apart. That being the case, we need only to show determination in building a universal community marked by greater equanimity and balance. This determination should be given expression by governments and citizens and should draw on the concerted efforts of States and civil society. What we are seeing, however, is that the countries that have most want more. Their humanism is disguised in hand-outs and philanthropy when what the world needs is greater solidarity and justice. We need to share science and technology; we need to share markets. The pretence of cooperation to help countries achieve balanced development is not only denounced in fruitless rhetoric; it is also exposed in protectionism and in investment choices. As long as this bipolar situation continues to prevail in the world, an organization such as the United Nations serves little purpose. Only when the powerful countries stop taking advantage of the less powerful countries will the United Nations be able to have a true impact on the lives of people. This alternative is the process that we are involved in today. Many Governments representing countries in the Third World have begun to seek our own freedom. We are drawing a new map on the international scene. I am compelled to mention this historic challenge in my final statement to the General Assembly of the United Nations because on 15 August 2008, I will hand over power to the new Government in my country. But I will continue to fight with greater fervour to help change the world. I am committed as ever to the difficult struggle to build a new world order, to ensure equality, social justice and solidarity for all countries, for all women and for all men. I will fight for their emancipation and their progress.