First, I congratulate
Mr. Joseph Deiss on his election to preside over the
Assembly at this sixty-fifth session. I am convinced
that our work will be crowned with success thanks to
his proven competence and experience.
To the former President, Mr. Ali Treki, I express
my recognition of the wise manner in which he
conducted the Assembly’s work during its sixty-fourth
session.
My compliments also go to the Secretary-
General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, and the entire United
Nations team, the women and men who, on our behalf
15 10-55103
and on behalf of the nations and peoples of the world,
work throughout the four corners of the planet to
preserve human dignity, in which are expressed the
values of peace and security, resulting in the
development of friendly relations among nations and in
international cooperation. To them all I express our
respect and admiration for their courage and
selflessness.
Similarly, I congratulate the Assembly on the
recent adoption of resolution 65/1, on the achievement
of the Millennium Development Goals, 10 years after
their adoption. This important document will certainly
create a new climate for the achievement of the eight
Goals by 2015.
My compliments to all those present are also
extended on behalf of the people of my country, which
just yesterday, 24 September, celebrated its thirty-
seventh year as a sovereign, independent State. The
country has undergone a series of transformations, but
we must recognize that there remains much to be
desired in terms of meeting legitimate aspirations for
social and economic progress. Such progress would
translate into improved quality of life and well-being
for our combatant people, on whose behalf Amílcar
Cabral spoke from this rostrum more than 40 years
ago, in an historic statement in the fight against
colonial domination.
Thus at the present session, when the peoples of
the world meet to evaluate the fulfilment of the
Millennium Development Goals and to define new
strategies to achieve them by 2015, Guinea-Bissau is
still dealing with essential, basic factors for the
achievement of goals that are so fair and that everyone
deserves: stability, peace and security.
Less than a year ago we dealt with tragic events
that had a major impact on Guinea-Bissau’s internal
and external image and led to early presidential
elections, which exactly a year and seven days ago
resulted in my starting to guide the country’s destiny.
The heinous acts to which I refer were unanimously
condemned. The international community supported
the country in its efforts to prepare and hold elections
which ultimately were considered to be free, fair and
transparent, and at the same time to consolidate peace
and internal security, particularly with reforms of
public administration, of defence and security and of
judicial power, and with support for the State budget.
There was a positive trend in projecting the
image of the country and dealing with new challenges:
the promotion of internal and institutional dialogue; the
mobilization of development partners; the organization
of a high-level meeting in New York; and the
preparation of a planned donors’ round table, scheduled
to be held before the end of this year, to discuss the
development of Guinea-Bissau.
Unfortunately, that trend contrasted with the
incident of 1 April this year, which of course was to be
condemned. The handling of the incident and its
consequences did not receive the understanding of all
the partners of Guinea-Bissau, despite the country’s
authority having been maintained with a dynamic
harmonization at the local, bilateral, regional and
international levels. In this world body, let me appeal
to all our partners to proceed in the same spirit of
friendship, solidarity, assistance and cooperation with
our people and their democratically elected
institutions, because it is now, in our current
circumstances, that our country most needs such
support.
The reform that we desire in our defence and
security sector, for which we have sought international
assistance, has become a matter of prime urgency and
extreme sensitivity. The main target is the very men
and women who 40 years ago bartered their youth and
education — in other words, their future — for our
national liberation: the same armed forces who were
then so applauded and admired for their determination
and courage in forging the freedom and independence
of the peoples of Guinea and Cape Verde, as well as for
their intervention in other theatres of war, following
their international vocation. Today, an appropriate
structure to attend to their basic needs is lacking,
resulting in an erosion of dignity already won, and thus
in a threat to the peace, stability and well-being of our
people.
Another consideration is that Guinea-Bissau has
an insular platform comprising more than 80 islands
and reefs, where a confluence of favourable waters and
winds creates an ideal microclimate for much of the
world’s fauna, in what could and should be a true
paradise. Instead, due to an assumed inability of the
authorities to exercise effective control, there is a risk
that it may become a sanctuary of evil-doers who use
and abuse the space and the local people, leading to a
regrettable situation, giving us a terrible reputation and
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potentially compromising the proper functioning of
Government institutions.
The Assembly may find those facts frightening
and deserving of condemnation. They are tragic and
completely alien to the people of my country. A
coordinated regional and global response is needed in
order to take advantage of all the synergies that can be
mobilized.
However, to this body of nations, of which we are
proud to be an integral part, we bring more than a
lament in the hope of an appropriate response not only
commensurate with the problems but at the level of the
capacity that mankind has already demonstrated. We
are making our contribution as a people that is
confident, mobilized and determined, a people proud of
its past and determined to reverse the current situation.
We bring a guarantee of multifaceted involvement in
harmonizing an extensive internal dialogue, whose
foundations we have just laid jointly with the Guinean
parliament: an initiative on ways to consolidate peace
and development. This will culminate with a
conference on national reconciliation, to restore the
promise of a positive and lasting commitment.
Despite the current serious situation, for which
we take full responsibility, we have never confused our
internal problems with those of our friends, and we
take great pride in our present stable relations with our
neighbours. Similarly, we are proud of the peaceful
spirit of our people, who never blame others for our
own problems and do not feel any animosity towards
the thousands of world citizens who continue to choose
our country as a place in which to settle.
During the period of instability we have
nonetheless preserved some 15 per cent of our territory
as a protected area and nature reserve, as has been
highlighted in particular by international organizations
such as UNESCO, the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and others. That is a major
contribution to meeting the universal concern for the
preservation of biological and ecological balance in
this International Year of Biodiversity, within the
context of severe climate change that affects us all.
So, we call urgently for the solidarity and support
that Member States can give my people. We appreciate
and express the warmest gratitude for the attention we
have received from our regional organization, the
Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), headed by Nigeria, in the form not only of
stabilization initiatives, but also of concrete support for
Government programmes. We similarly salute the
follow-up and attention provided by the Community of
Portuguese-speaking Countries, which shows a spirit of
determination at the bilateral and multilateral levels, as
evidenced by the restoration of a climate of trust
conducive to peace, stability and development.
Within the same framework, we salute the
contribution of Portugal and Brazil, again at both the
bilateral and multilateral levels, to keeping the world’s
attention focused on giving Guinea-Bissau another
chance. This extends to various other countries and
institutions that maintain with us a relationship based
on partnership and cooperation. I think particularly of
Senegal, Libya, China, Cuba, the United States,
France, Algeria, Morocco and South Africa, among
others, as well as ECOWAS, the African Union and the
European Union, along with the United Nations itself,
through the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding
Office in Guinea-Bissau.
The unstable internal socio-political environment
that I have outlined has a negative impact on
management of my country’s public finances, despite
the Executive’s great and broadly acknowledged
efforts. This means that our financial situation is very
difficult, despite some recovery in our growth rate,
which stood at 2.7 per cent in 2007 and 3.5 per cent in
2008.
The international crisis of 2009 had a small direct
impact, and the country registered growth of 3 per cent
thanks to a good agricultural year. The increase in
international basic commodity prices in 2008
accelerated inflation, which reached an annual average
of 10.4 per cent, though it retreated in 2009. The good
performance in 2008-2009 in the export of cashew
nuts, representing 90 per cent of exports, led to an
improvement in the balance of payments, including
donations.
However, the external debt burden continued to
be unsustainable. At the end of 2009 it was equivalent
to 126 per cent of the corrected gross domestic product
and 640 per cent of exports of goods and services. The
fact that we were unable to complete the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative resulted in
an accumulation of delays in paying the external debt.
In 2008 the Government concluded with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) a post-conflict
programme, later extended to 2009, which successive
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IMF missions evaluated as being broadly satisfactory.
Hence, on 7 May this year the IMF Executive Board
approved a three-year agreement with my country
based on a credit facility which will cover the period
2010-2012.
The public administration of Guinea-Bissau has
earned a very positive evaluation by the IMF and the
World Bank, which reflects the extraordinary effort in
fulfilling the programmatic targets set with regard to
cleaning up public finances and regularizing major
expenses. Therefore, it is essential that partners show
no hesitation that might jeopardize the fulfilment of the
decision-point requirements of the HIPC Initiative.
We are coming to the end of the first decade of
the millennium, which had been declared a decade of
globalization, with the promotion of a lasting peace
and aimed at a new international order. We cannot slide
backwards, nor can we show weakness in the face of
the challenge that we have set ourselves in addressing
problems such as migration, human trafficking and the
trafficking of organs and trying to find ethically
acceptable responses to them.
We support the efforts being made to resolve the
conflicts in the Middle East, through coexistence of a
Palestinian State with the State of Israel. Our
membership of the Alliance of Civilizations and of the
Community of Democracies in particular is based on
the rules of peaceful coexistence among ethnicities and
religions, and on the promotion of human rights.
We support global efforts to rehabilitate Haiti and
we also follow with great attention and interest the
process that will lead to the restructuring of the
Security Council. We hope that this will result in a
more equitable representation of the world and be a
factor in the ascent of the African continent towards
peace, democracy and development.