On behalf of His Excellency Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. I would like to begin by congratulating His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis on his unanimous election as President of the seventy-eighth session of the General Assembly, and I extend those congratulations to the other members of the General Committee. We assure him with absolute certainty and confidence that he can count on the support and cooperation of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea during his presidency.
We would like to convey the utmost expression of our heartfelt solidarity to the Kingdom of Morocco and to the State of Libya following the tragedies that those two fraternal countries recently experienced, which have led to great loss of life and to massive destruction of infrastructure.
The theme of the seventy-eighth regular session of the General Assembly is “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all”.
Indeed, we welcome the relevance of this theme, as it fits perfectly into the current context of the most burning problems that the world is currently facing, including war. the increase in armed groups, the real threat of terrorism and mercenary ism. climate change, the prospect of new health crises, the economic and financial crisis, as well as the food crisis, which is likely to result in famine in various countries. The moment is so decisive that it requires world leaders to seek lasting, consensual, transformative and sustainable solutions as intertwined challenges that have a cross-cutting and negative impact on all continents.
Once again we are here to denounce and condemn the interference of certain countries and the exploitation of our natural resources, which continue to be a determining factor is promoting underdevelopment, conflicts and instability, as well as the very worrisome and increasingly serious situation that the countries of the Sahel and other regions of the African continent are going through, with very negative implications for their development.
Africa deserves priority attention from support and assistance initiatives, with a decisive materialization of the financing commitments to sustainable development for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — leaving no one behind to overcome all the phenomena that hinder Africa’s development.
We express our grave concern about the chronic crises that Haiti has been suffering. Haiti is currently besieged by a gang of criminals inflicting enormous damage to the population. Equatorial Guinea therefore proposes the holding of a United Nations conference for Haiti, in order to conduct an in-depth analysis and find a sustainable and lasting solution.
Equatorial Guinea insistently reiterates the need to reform the United Nations system, including the Security Council, which is currently one of the greatest injustices and constitutes a serious failure in the application of international law. The African continent continues to suffer from the historical injustice of being the only continent without permanent representation in the Security Council, despite the fact that a large part of the issues on the agenda of that decision-making organ are matters of concern to Africa.
In this increasingly interdependent world, where no one can walk alone, we strongly reject the unilateral imposition of coercive measures that run counter to the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. We urge States to refrain from enacting and applying them, as they severely hinder State development, especially in developing countries.
We once again raise our voice for the immediate lifting of the trade, economic and financial embargo imposed against the Republic of Cuba several decades ago. This brotherly country deserves the opportunity to integrate into the global context as a sovereign country.
Before concluding. I would like to inform the Assembly that the Government of Equatorial Guinea has conceived the 2035 strategic plan for economic diversification, and we would like our partners to join us in the implementation of that plan. To that end. we extend an invitation to businessmen from all friendly and brotherly countries to come and invest in the attractive national market.
We live in a globalized world. We are therefore expected to forge supportive partnerships of collaboration and solidarity through frank and inclusive dialogue in order to peacefully resolve current conflicts and inequalities, as well as our differences. We call for the need and importance of giving greater priority to multilateralism and international cooperation, both so necessary to addressing the global challenges currently facing humankind as a whole. Our determination to address pressing issues — from climate change to peace, security and development — is strong. I have no doubt that, with a true spirit of solidarity, there will be no difficulty that we cannot overcome for the good of our planet and its people.