Allow me at the outset to convey to all present
the apologies of His Excellency Paul Biya, President of
the Republic of Cameroon, who wanted to participate
in the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly
but was not able to owing for constraints relating to the
national political calendar. He instructed me to read out
the following message:
“As President Ashe takes the reins of the
General Assembly, the United Nations is entering a
critical period that should lead to the defining of the
international development agenda that will follow
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Aware of his vast responsibility and the tremendous
amount of work he will be facing during this
session, I would like to convey to him the sincere
congratulations of my country in connection with
his election to preside over the Assembly and wish
him every success in this challenging but rewarding
undertaking. His vast experience in the area of
diplomacy, which was made clear when he presided
over the Commission on Sustainable Development
and the Group of 77 and China, ensures a fruitful
outcome to our present deliberations and to the
work of the General Assembly for the 12 months
ahead.
“Those same qualities were the major strengths
of his predecessor, Mr. Vuk Jeremi., and I should
like here to commend his dynamic and effective
presidency of the Assembly at its sixty-seventh
session.
“Lastly, I would extend our sense of satisfaction
to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his efforts
in the service of peace and economic and social
development worldwide.
“This session is beginning in a context marked
by the bloody terrorist acts committed in a mall in
Nairobi, Kenya, several days ago. This is for me
an opportunity to strongly condemn those acts
of violence and to convey to the people and the
Government of that brotherly country the deepest
condolences of the people and the Government of
Cameroon.
“Let me, on a more optimistic note, welcome
the end of the crisis in Mali, which resulted in the
democratic election of President Ibrahim Boubacar
Keita. The end of that process, which had the
welcome support of the international community,
represents a milestone in peacebuilding, security,
national reconciliation and development in that
country.
“As I noted at the start of my remarks,
throughout this session we must reflect deeply
on the post-2015 development agenda. During
the 2010 high-level debate, we noted that while
progress made in achieving some of the MDGs,
significant disparities persisted between countries
and between regions.
“We noted that, despite the progress, at the
current pace of implementation very few countries
would achieve all the MDGs by the deadline.
With two years to go, we must point out that it
will be difficult for Cameroon to achieve some of
the Goals. Substantial progress has been made in
reaching some of the targets. In the area of health
care, which is considered to be the catalyst for
economic and social development, with a view to
reducing poverty, my country remains committed
to the effort to combat the AIDS pandemic. The
allocation of substantial resources to the fight
against that disease, the distribution of free
antiretroviral drugs, the effective care of the sick
and the implementation of an efficient prevention
programme, including the transmission from
mother to child, have led to a considerable decline
in the rate of HIV infection in Cameroon. From
10.5 per cent in 2000, the rate dropped to 4.3 per
cent in 2012, a decline of more than 50 per cent.
“Another genuine source of satisfaction for
Cameroon is the progress made in the area of
education. The Government has strived to continue
and strengthen the numerous efforts to ensure
primary education for all Cameroonians. I would
underscore that the national target is to provide
to all children — boys and girls — throughout
Cameroon, the resources to achieve a complete
primary schooling cycle. The implementation of
the sectoral strategy on education has led to clear
progress in the implementation of the education
policy. I can mention, among other things, the
expansion of school infrastructure, the improvement
in the teacher-student ratio, the reduction in the
number of students who repeat a school year and
the improvement of girls’ education. The result of
those actions is that the Cameroon today has one
of the highest literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa,
with an enrolment rate of nearly 100 per cent.
“But the same progress has not been achieved
with respect to the targets of the other Goals.
That is the case for most developing countries,
including Cameroon. Hence the need to further our
thinking that began in Rio de Janeiro in the context
of the post-2015 development agenda and, as the
President wished, to set the stage for the post-MDG
development agenda. That thinking should be based
on a clear assessment of the challenges encountered
and lessons learned in the implementation of the
MDGs in order to consider the prospects for the
future international framework.
“The full implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals faces structural difficulties for
some and temporary difficulties for others. They
include climate change, the financial crisis and
food insecurity. Those difficulties raise a number
of important questions about how the MDGs were
formulated. Were we too ambitious? Was the 2015
deadline realistic? Would an effective follow-
up and support mechanism for States not have
been necessary? Did we give ourselves adequate
resources to ensure implementation? Clearly,
Millennium Development Goal 8 — ‘develop a
global partnership for development’ — was the
beginning of an answer to the last point. However,
that Goal will also be difficult to achieve by 2015.
“All the MDGs will probably not all be achieved
by 2015. We should, however, acknowledge that
the programme will enable the achievement of
clear progress in many areas. It has allowed us to
convey the very complex language of development
in clear objectives accessible to all and enabled
every one to articulate simple requirements and
needs to their Government. We should safeguard
those achievements in framework of the post-2015
agenda.
“The post-2015 agenda should also take into
account the viewpoint of developing countries,
which are the primary targets. In that regard, I
congratulate the United Nations for having initiated
a broad and inclusive process of consultations
to garner the views of all, in particular those of
academics and civil society organizations, with
respect to the MDGs and the framework that will
follow them. Consultations of that kind have been
held in Cameroon. They have enabled civil society
to issue recommendations for the post-MDG
framework. Those recommendations are in keeping
with the MDGs in terms of strengthening the
actions to undertake in order to provide universal
access to primary education, to reduce maternal
and infant mortality and to improve access to water
and sanitation.
“Furthermore, in the context of the next
programme, my country believes that particular
focus should be placed on creating decent jobs
as an engine of economic growth and sustainable
development. It is in that context that, in 2010,
Cameroon crafted a strategy document for
growth and employment. That document is part
of Cameroon’s shared development vision to 2035,
through which the economic performance of my
country will lead to concrete results in terms of
creating jobs, reducing poverty and significantly
improving the living conditions of our people,
especially for women and youth.
“While the creation of decent jobs should,
according to Cameroon, occupy a central position,
environmental issues should not be neglected. In
accordance with the spirit of Rio de Janeiro, those
issues will make it possible to determine the future
we want for humankind and to work seriously to
bring it about.
“To ensure that new development goals
will be achieved by the established deadline,
coherent national initiatives must be supported
by an effective global partnership. Therefore, in
addition to the provisions that may be taken at the
international level by donors — increased pledges,
concessional loans, debt swaps, debt restructuring
and debt cancellation — and at the national level
by developing countries, it is crucial that control
be better maintained over the financial and raw
materials markets in order to enable countries to
better withstand external shocks.
“We should also consider the possibility of
setting up a support fund for implementing the new
development programme, as well as regular follow-
up mechanisms at the international and regional
levels for achieving each goal.
“Beyond the difficulties I have already
noted, the MDGs, like the future international
development framework, can be optimally achieved
only if an appropriate security environment is
ensured. Unfortunately, developing countries, and
Africa in particular, continue to be a stage for many
conflicts.
“The situation in the Central African Republic,
that in the eastern part of the Democratic People’s
Republic of the Congo and the turmoil following
the crises of the Arab Spring in North Africa are
all sources of concern that could jeopardize the
development efforts undertaken by the States
involved. With respect to the political, security and
humanitarian crisis in the Central African Republic
in particular, which has reached proportions
unprecedented in the history of that country,
Cameroon and other States of the Economic
Community of Central African States (ECCAS)
have shouldered their responsibilities by sending
troops to Bangui to stabilize the situation. Similarly,
we have actively contributed to the establishment
of a road map that should enable them to restore
normal constitutional order within 18 to 24 months.
“Cameroon calls on the international
community to support the efforts of the Central
African subregion, in particular in order to quickly
operationalize the international support mission
for the Central African Republic and to mobilize
humanitarian assistance commensurate with the
problems the country faces.
“Those political, security and humanitarian
crises are compounded by recurrent acts of banditry,
such as abductions of civilians and maritime piracy.
The development of the latter criminal activity,
which poses a threat to international trade, has
reached alarming proportions. According to the
International Maritime Bureau, the number of acts
of piracy identified along the coast of West Africa
in 2012 exceeded for the first time the number of
attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
“To deal with that problem, Yaounde,
Cameroon’s capital, hosted on 24 and 25 June, in
accordance with Security Council resolution 2039
(2012), of 29 February 2012, a joint summit of the
Economic Community of Central Africa States,
the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) and the Commission of the Gulf of
Guinea (GGC) on maritime safety and security in
the Gulf of Guinea. This was aimed at combatting
piracy, armed robbery and other illegal activities
perpetrated in the maritime space of the Gulf of
Guinea.
“The Heads of State and Government of
ECCAS, ECOWAS and the CGG, meeting together
for the first time since the establishment of those
three institutions, decided to set up an interregional
coordination centre to monitor anti-piracy efforts
in their common maritime space and to pool their
resources. The headquarters of the centre, whose
purpose is to implement a regional strategy to
combat piracy, armed robbery and other illicit acts
in the Gulf of Guinea, was given to Cameroon.
Everything is being done to make it operational as
quickly as possible. I would here like to commend
the assessment of the results of the summit by the
United Nations and other strategic partners and
their commitment to support the implementation of
the resolutions Yaounde meeting.
“As I pointed out on the occasion of the summit,
in order to achieve the desired security objective,
it will be necessary for all stakeholders to fully
assume their role in the effective implementation
of the instruments that the three organizations have
put in place. As with the MDGs, the support of all
of our strategic partners is crucial to effectively
fight against piracy and other forms of insecurity
in the Gulf of Guinea.
“Anything that will promote the development
of the region will contribute to improving global
growth and security and represent significant
progress towards ‘The future we want’ — a future
of peace and prosperity for all.”