On behalf of my delegation, I would like to express my
sincere congratulations to you, Sir, on your outstanding
election to the presidency of the General Assembly at
its sixty-third session. Your personal qualities, your in-
depth knowledge of our Organization and your great
experience in international affairs have enabled you to
gather around you the support of the entire Assembly
and certainly augur well for the success of your work. I
also extend my congratulations to the members of your
Bureau. Please be assured that our warmest wishes will
accompany you throughout the session, which, under
your leadership, is sure to be crowned with success.
29 08-53135
Allow me to pay fitting tribute to your
predecessor, Mr. Srgjan Kerim, for his work as
President.
I would also like to welcome Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon and wish him every success as he
attempts to accomplish his noble and lofty mission to
consolidate and strengthen the role of the United
Nations. My delegation and I assure him of our fullest
cooperation and support as he seeks peaceful solutions
to the problems of the world. I convey to the Secretary-
General the deepest gratitude and the sincere thanks of
His Excellency Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, President of the
Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Ivorian Government
for his personal involvement in solving the crisis in my
country. The Ivorian people still recall his historic visit
of 23 and 24 April to Côte d’Ivoire. My country will
continue to support him and, through him, the United
Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire so that it may
successfully accomplish its mission.
May I also express the thanks and gratitude of the
Government and the people of Côte d’Ivoire to the
international community, and in particular to the
French Government, for their commitment and their
efforts, through Operation Licorne, to restore peace in
Côte d’Ivoire.
I take this opportunity once again to pay sincere
tribute to the facilitator, Mr. Blaise Compaore,
President of Burkina Faso and Chairman-in-Office of
the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS), for his untiring efforts on behalf of the
peace process in Côte d’Ivoire, in particular in the
framework of the follow-up mechanism of the
Ouagadougou Political Agreement signed on 4 March
2007. My thanks also go to the heads of State of the
African Union who spared no effort to resolve the
crisis roiling Côte d’Ivoire since 19 September 2002.
I wish solemnly to reaffirm the determination of
my country to emerge from the current crisis by
organizing free, open and transparent elections.
Attesting to our resolve was the launch on
15 September 2008, of the penultimate phase of the
electoral process, which consists of identifying the
voting population and individual voters.
The efforts of the international community to
ensure the return of peace to Côte d’Ivoire — relying
on regional organizations such as ECOWAS and the
African Union, pursuant to President Gbagbo’s
approach to resolving conflicts — are gradually
bearing fruit and giving rise to improvements in the
security situation throughout the country. For that
reason, my country would be grateful if the United
Nations could take into account the new situation and
once again consider lowering its security index for
Côte d’Ivoire.
In the same vein, my country would like to see
the Security Council sanctions committee accede to its
request, made on 26 September 2007 from this very
rostrum, for the lifting of individual sanctions imposed
on a number of Ivorian citizens. Allow me also, in the
framework of the reorganization of the new Republican
Army called upon to maintain public order and
security, to appeal once again for the partial lifting of
the arms embargo, as requested by President Laurent
Gbagbo on that same occasion.
More than ever before, our Organization must
show that it is able to maintain international peace and
security throughout the world. In that context, as was
indicated by President Laurent Gbagbo at the high-
level debate on the relationship between the United
Nations and regional organizations, this universal
Organization must open broad new avenues for peace
in the world. Indeed, the United Nations, as an
instrument prepared at the end of the Second World
War to guarantee international peace, is no longer
adapted to the current world. Therefore, as wished by a
number of Member States, the reform of the United
Nations is necessary, and we must clarify its goals and
its missions.
That is why my delegation feels that, after years
of work and reflection on United Nations reform, the
time has now come to bring the process to a close.
Unfortunately, with regard to the reform of the Security
Council, although there may be a consensus on the
need to increase the number of members of the Council
in order to make it more broadly representative, there
are still differences with regard to its composition, the
extension of the right of veto to potential new
permanent members, and the improvement of its
working methods. In that respect, my country reaffirms
its adherence to the African Common Position on that
matter.
The persistent search for peace will be in vain if
we do not bring greater justice to international
economic relations. In other words, there will be no
genuine peace so long as intolerable differences remain
in the living conditions between various population
08-53135 30
groups, on one hand, and between developed and
developing countries, on the other.
In that respect, I welcome the efforts undertaken
by a number of countries to promote economic
cooperation between them and the countries of Africa.
Examples include cooperation with the European
countries through the European Union; with Japan
through the Tokyo International Conference on African
Development; with China through the Forum on China-
Africa Cooperation; with the United States through the
African Growth and Opportunity Act; and with India
and Turkey through their respective partnerships.
Economic globalization was meant to open new
horizons for international cooperation, but overall it
has not been beneficial to developing countries because
of the fragile nature of their economic structures. It
would therefore be an illusion to imagine that market
forces alone can help the development of the poorest
countries. We must therefore regulate trade by adopting
rules agreed at the global level, because only a fair
international trade system can contribute to the
expansion of underdeveloped economies.
In that respect, my delegation deplores the failure
in July of World Trade Organization negotiations that
should have breathed new life into international
cooperation and created conditions for developing
countries to benefit from globalization through trade
and investment.
The issue of debt remains a cause for concern to a
number of developing countries. That is why I would
like to welcome all the praiseworthy initiatives
undertaken to alleviate its effects on the economies of
those countries.
The recent food crisis, whose devastating effects
are being felt in several countries, requires the
international community to go beyond mere promises
and to act together, taking specific innovative and
courageous actions and measures that can, above all,
bring hope to the situation and find a global response
to a problem that has become global.
In that regard, I welcome the establishment by the
Secretary-General of the High-Level Task Force on the
Global Food Security Crisis and the efforts of
developing countries to come to the rescue of those in
their countries who have been the most seriously
affected by the food crisis.
My country also welcomes the implementation of
the Centres of Excellence project carried out by the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development,
aimed at strengthening South-South cooperation
scientific research in the agricultural field. With that in
mind, President Laurent Gbagbo recommends the
creation of a solidarity-based mechanism through
which exporting countries would provide food to
importing countries and the establishment of a United
Nations food stabilization fund.
The energy crisis being felt throughout the world,
in addition to its negative effects, is demonstrating
once again the fragility of the economies of a large
number of countries. Although the development of
biofuels seems to be a good alternative to fossil
fuels — which, much to our consternation, are running
out — we must also ensure that their production is not
carried out to the detriment of agriculture, the main
purpose of which is to feed the people of the world.
That is why, in the interest of current and future
generations, we must think carefully and deeply about
the adoption and development of new, renewable
sources of energy.
With regard to all of the crises and difficulties
that humanity is facing, now more than ever before the
international community must translate into action the
idea of solidarity and cooperation, as contained in the
Charter of the United Nations, in order to restore
credibility to the Organization. Such solidarity should
be demonstrated first and foremost by the
implementation of the commitments undertaken by the
industrialized countries to devote at least 0.7 per cent
of their gross national income to official development
assistance.
To that end, I would like to welcome all
initiatives aimed at helping developing countries in
general, and African countries in particular, to
overcome their current economic situation. The
diligent implementation of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development, the main goal of which is to
fight poverty, is part of such an approach. It is on that
note of hope that my delegation calls on the
international community to seek solutions to current
challenges in a United Nations that is more democratic
and that responds to each and every one of its
Members.