I am honoured to
address the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session
on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia and
to extend my warmest congratulations to the President
and to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda on the
occasion of his election as President of the Assembly
at this session. I trust that he will bring his wealth of
experience to bear on the work of the current session. In
a similar vein, I congratulate his predecessor, Mr. Vuk
Jeremi. of the Republic of Serbia, for his leadership of
the Assembly at the sixty-seventh session and for the
initiatives he undertook during his tenure.
Let me also extend my special appreciation to
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his inspiring
leadership and his visionary initiatives that have
mobilized the international community around many
noble objectives. Those initiatives have engendered
hope among the people around the world, especially the
poor and marginalized.
We are deeply concerned about the growing
number of acts of senseless violence around the world,
as exemplified by the ghastly and cowardly murder of
innocent persons in a terrorist attack on a shopping
mall in Kenya. We commiserate with the families of all
victims and with the Government and sisterly people of
Kenya on such a terrible loss.
Because we know first-hand the profound destruction
and long-lasting hurt inherent in civil conflict, we
also agonize with the people of Syria, particularly
those innocent women and children who suffer most
from such tragedy. We unequivocally condemn the
use of chemical weapons in Syria and anywhere else
in the world, and we call for concerted and renewed
international effort to stem the rising scourge of
terrorism and other transnational crimes through action
to control and eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
We welcome the communications revolution that
has provided a broad cyber platform for the exchange
of information. However, that should not provide a
vehicle for the promotion of terrorism and the spread
of unfounded and irresponsible information through
unregulated cyber weaponry that threatens the security
of nations, particularly fragile States, and open societies
of freedom and democracy.
Colleague after colleague who will address
the Assembly will no doubt express pride at the
tremendous progress in Africa. Our continental growth
has averaged over 5 percent annually, surpassing
that of other regions. Moreover, our economies are
diversifying, our trade infrastructure is expanding, our
democracies are strong and maturing, and our regional
institutions strengthening and leading the processes of
cooperation and integration. But the new Africa story
is not just about growth. We see improvement in school
enrolment, health indicators, in trade and investment.
The share of people living in poverty is declining.
Democracy, while still needing room for improvement,
has become the norm rather than the exception, and
governance has improved significantly over the past
decade.
We are equally pleased with the progress made in
resolving conflicts in several of our countries, as we
welcome the international support that has set Somalia
on a trajectory of peace and development.
We appreciate the strong collaboration among
regional economic communities, the African Union
and the United Nations, joined by the international
community, that responded robustly in the Malian
crisis, thereby averting the threat posed to the peace and
security of the entire region. The recent inauguration
of a new, democratically elected President in Mali is
a clear indication that such cooperation is the surest
path to world peace. We congratulate the newly elected
President of Mali, Mr. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, for
receiving the overwhelming endorsement of the Malian
people, and we commend all stakeholders for respecting
the outcome of the democratic process. We also salute
the former interim President, Mr. Dioncounda Traoré,
and all partners for working to restore constitutional
order within the stipulated time period.
Although Liberia still faces the residual challenges
of its own conflict, and despite our size and limited
military strength, I am pleased to report that a small
contingent of Liberian troops is currently participating
in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated
Stabilization Mission in Mali. We view our role in that
peacekeeping effort as a way of reciprocating, albeit in
a small way, the countless demonstrations of friendship
and goodwill that were accorded to us by Mali and
other members of the international community during
our dark days of war.
Once the epicentre of a regional war, I am pleased
to note that the neighboring countries of the Mano River
Union — Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone and
Liberia — are at peace and engaged in consolidating the
gains of stability to accelerate national transformation
through regional integration. A new Mano River Union
initiative will facilitate connectivity in our power and
transport systems, thereby enhancing cross-border
trade, in which our market women are actively engaged.
I bring greetings from the Government and people
of Liberia, who are this year celebrating 10 consecutive
years of peace and progress. In those 10 years, our
nation’s pride has been restored and we have returned
to the community of nations as a respectable and
responsible partner. With the support of the international
community, especially the United Nations through
its peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts, we have
rebuilt a new ethnically balanced professional army and
increased the size and enhanced the professionalism
of our police, immigration and intelligence forces, in
line with our commitment to bear full responsibility
for security with in our borders as United Nations
peacekeepers execute a phased drawdown.
In that regard, we commend the Security Council
for its recent adoption of resolution 2116 (2013),
which extends the mandate of the United Nations
peacekeeping Mission in Liberia to 30 September 2014.
We fully commit to meeting all the expectations of the
resolution, including continuing to take concrete steps
aimed at developing and sustaining a self-sufficient and
competent security sector able to tackle violent crimes,
sexual and gender-based violence and the infringement
of the rights of the ordinary person.
Thanks to our commitment and the resilience
of the Liberian people, we have instituted a host of
reforms intended to improve governance, enhance
accountability and create an enabling environment
for the exercise of basic freedoms, including freedom
of speech and the press. That has put the country on
a path of irreversible progress, which has enabled us
to conduct two democratic presidential and general
elections and adjust our Vision 2030, while laying a
firm foundation for the transformation of our economy
towards moving our country to middle-income status
by the year 2030.
Liberia has come a long way, but we know that we
have an even longer way to go. We have done much
in restoring basic services and infrastructure, but
still have much to do, especially in reducing our huge
infrastructure deficits in power and in transport. We have
done much in improving governance and strengthening
our institutions of integrity, but still have much more
to do in consolidating the culture of integrity and
accountability in a society that is still beset by values
occasioned by years of conflict. We have adopted laws
and policies that eschew discrimination of any kind,
to ensure social equity and equal opportunity, but still
must do more in promoting natural reconciliation and
healing. We have done much in achieving an average
annual growth of over 7 per cent and attracted huge
multi-million-dollar direct foreign investments,
especially in our natural resource sector, but still have
much more to do in expanding growth and diversifying
our economy, making it more resilient to internal
and external shocks and more responsive to the ever-
increasing demand of our people for jobs and improved
livelihoods. We still have much to do in continuing the
reforms that will ensure equitable benefits from natural
resource capital to current and future generations.
All the policies and actions that we have pursued in
the past several years have enabled us to stabilize our
overall national condition. We must now, over the next
few years, take the hard decisions in addressing long-
standing structural systems. We know that the transition
from stabilization to transformation can be a long and
hard road subject to brickbats from vested interests. We
are bound to face criticism as we attempt to apply and
respect the rule of law and as we challenge entrenched
social habits, but we must change old mindsets and
attitudes. We remain strong in that resolve, for it is the
right thing to do.
I was honoured to have been selected by Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon as one of three co-Chairs of
a 27-member High-level Panel of Eminent Persons
tasked with making recommendations for a new global
development agenda post-2015. The mandate of the
Panel was to advise the Secretary-General on a bold
and practical development agenda beyond 2015 that
builds upon, as well as goes beyond, the Millennium
Development Goals in establishing new goals that
are ambitious and yet achievable. Last May, the
Panel submitted its report to the Secretary-General
for his consideration. We are pleased that many of
the principles we identified are emphasized in the
Secretary General’s report (A/68/202), rightly titled “A
life of dignity for a11”.
Today more than at any other time, we have an
opportunity to transform our world; to pursue an
agenda that will eradicate poverty while at the same
time sustaining nature to secure natural resources for
future generations. The solutions of yesterday may
not apply today’s challenges, so we must muster the
courage to take bold steps. I therefore call upon the
Assembly to reflect on the emerging challenges we
face, to boldly seize new opportunities and to commit
ourselves to a new global partnership that promotes
economic and social transformations for inclusive and
shared prosperity for all.
In Africa we are working towards a continental
consensus that will convey an African position on the
post-2015 development agenda. I am pleased to have
been asked by the African Union Summit to chair a
high-level committee of 10 Heads of State that will
oversee and guide the process. We held our first meeting
yesterday here in New York, and agreed upon a road
map that will ensure a global development framework
that is not only brave and ambitious, but one that
reflects African priorities, a global agenda that creates
an enabling environment for Africa’s transformation
that includes infrastructure development, increased
productive capacities, resilience to external shocks
and enhanced statistical capacities that will result will
accelerate the reation of employment that is directed
particularly to our youthful populations.
I am pleased to report that on 2 September, I
chaired and launched the High-level Panel on Fragile
States, under the aegis of the African Development
Bank. Of the estimated 7 billion people in the world,
1.5 billion live in situations of conflict and fragility.
That data puts fragile States at the centre of the new
post-2015 agenda. We hold the view that international
partners should accommodate the peculiarities and
special circumstances of post-conflict nations. The
achievement of sustained economic growth and
development in those countries is critical to reducing
their vulnerability to new political and economic
shocks, fuelled in many cases by high expectation
gaps that need to be mitigated. We therefore call on all
our partners to renew their support to the New Deal
for Engagement on Fragile States, which calls for
stronger ownership, harmonization, results and mutual
accountability.
I would like to conclude by expressing our gratitude
to the United Nations family for sustaining our agenda
of peacebuilding and sustainable development. Since
its founding, the United Nations has had its share of
challenges, but it remains the beacon of hope for the
peoples of the world who thirst for peace; a world that
is fair, a world that is prosperous, a world in which the
uncommon dreams of all will have a fair chance of
realization; a world where the weak can become strong;
a world where no nation feels developed and powerful
until all nations have their share of global wealth. The
leaders of today must rise to those challenges. The
future begins today. We must commit to a new global
development trajectory that gives all of humankind a
world of peace, dignity and prosperity.