Allow me first of all to congratulate Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session. He can count on the full cooperation of the Togolese as he carries out his noble task. We would also like to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for the insight and determination which he has demonstrated in leading the Organization since taking up his post. At the high-level meeting on Africa’s development needs, held here on 22 September, 08-53129 24 Member States noted that despite the efforts that have been made, the situation in Africa demands continued serious consideration by the international community in order to help Africa face up to the many challenges it faces. It was also stressed that the fight against poverty and the fight for sustainable development cannot succeed without considerable official development assistance and fairer trade between nations. In that regard, it is unfortunate that the North- South dialogue has been exhausted, as evidenced by the recent failure of the World Trade Organization negotiations in Geneva. Indeed, while international trade should become a tool for development, the balance of global economic power, which was responsible to a great degree for the dependence of countries of the South on their partners in the North, will continue to deteriorate. Most countries perceive globalization as the status quo, which makes the objectives of development and social justice even more difficult to achieve. To think that, when the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted in 2000, many of us were hopeful that they would be achieved. For that reason we call upon the international community, especially the countries of the North, to respect the commitments made. We note with concern that today new and even greater challenges are being added to the long list of those which our States already face. The sharp rise in the price of oil and other raw materials, as well as the increasing demand for energy, along with the effects of the global food and financial crises are among these new challenges. The current food crisis will not fail to have catastrophic consequences if aid to agriculture is not reviewed and increased; it is unfortunate that such assistance was cut by half between 1992 to 2000. It should also be stressed that few resources have been allocated to agricultural infrastructure, to irrigation and to supplying water to the population. We venture to hope that the new partnership established on 4 June in Rome between the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme will contribute to an appropriate response to the situation. Togo has suffered the negative effects of a long political and economic crisis. However, since President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé’s accession to power in May 2005, the Togolese Government has sought suitable solutions to the major concerns of the Togolese people by implementing a pragmatic policy based on national reconciliation, poverty reduction and strengthening democracy and the rule of law. In that context, the head of State worked to conclude a comprehensive political agreement in August 2006, which was signed by the major political parties and which opened the way for the holding of legislative elections in October 2007. There is little need to remind members that those elections took place in a peaceful, transparent and safe environment. They led to the establishment of a broad-based Government and a pluralistic National Assembly, which shows the commitment of the head of State to strengthen the democratization process in an atmosphere of understanding and national unity. We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our thanks to the friendly countries and multilateral partners that have fully resumed their cooperation with Togo following the implementation of the agreements signed. In order to consolidate that commitment process, the Togolese Government is working tirelessly to see through the institutional and constitutional reforms provided for by the comprehensive political agreement. In the legal field, it has undertaken to modernize the justice system, so as to guarantee its independence. In the same vein, national consultations aimed at establishing a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission were launched on 15 April 2008. The Commission will be charged with shedding light on acts of political violence committed in the past and finding ways to compensate the victims. The results of those consultations have just been submitted to the head of State. Similarly, in its search for better strategies to fight corruption and improve good economic governance, Togo recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Peer Review Mechanism, by which it agrees to submit to periodic reviews by the other members of the African Union (AU) and to be directed by the jointly adopted parameters for political, economic and financial governance in Africa. As part of the financial reform, 25 08-53129 soon the post of auditor-general and a national audit office will be set up. A Government audit programme is in the process of being finalized. The torrential rainfall that struck our country last July sorely tested our Government’s efforts. It led to countless human injuries and material and financial losses, including the collapse of a dozen bridges, the flooding of railways and the destruction of roads, villages and fields. That disaster, the second of its kind in a year, makes it very difficult to move from region to region. The solidarity shown to our country enabled us to assist the affected and to start rebuilding some of the infrastructure. Here, I should like to express our deep gratitude to Ghana, Benin, France, China, the United States of America, Brazil and all the other countries, organizations and institutions that helped us. As members can see, in spite of our efforts the overall situation in our country is far from satisfactory. Therefore, our country deserves more substantial support. In that regard, the positive results of the Togo Development Partners Conference, held in Brussels on 18 and 19 September, leads us to hope that the international community is ready to play a decisive role in assisting our country to get back on its feet. We would like once again to express our profound thanks to all those who contributed to the success of that conference, in particular the European Union, France, Germany, the United States of America, Portugal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, the Niger, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Central Bank of West African States, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union. For decades, Togolese diplomacy has worked to strengthen friendship and cooperation among States and peoples. Thus, at both the bilateral and the multilateral levels, Togo has always done its utmost to achieve the peaceful settlement of disputes with the purpose of maintaining peace and stability wherever threatened. Those actions, undertaken through dialogue and consultation, are part of the efforts made by African countries to ensure better living conditions for their populations. Togo believes that dialogue and consultation must be the preferred ways to settle ethnic, religious or territorial disputes, which are true obstacles to harmonious coexistence among States and peoples. Along those lines, it must be recalled that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is at the core of the political and security problems in the Middle East, continues to be the focus of the highest concern for the international community. In order to promote peace and stability in that region, the international community must make a greater effort to find a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In that regard, Togo welcomes the ongoing dialogue between the parties and hopes that the various initiatives will lead to a comprehensive solution, based on the principle of two States, Israeli and Palestinian, living within secure and internationally recognized borders. Afghanistan and Iraq, which are experiencing a major lack of security, deserve special attention. We therefore call on the international community to increase its assistance to the Governments of those countries in their fight against terrorism, so as to promote peace and reconstruction. In Africa, while it is true that glimmers of hope are to be seen in the settlement of crises, one cannot but condemn situations such as those persisting in Darfur and Somalia. We call on the various actors to demonstrate more courage and political will to get out of the vicious circle of violence and, thus, give peace a chance. Because of the orientation of its foreign policy, the Togolese Government endorses all initiatives aimed at preventing, fighting and eliminating the causes of conflict, in particular the trafficking of and illegal trade in small arms. For that reason, it did not hesitate to support the proposal to draft and adopt a binding international instrument on the trade in small arms. Along those same lines, Togo was involved in activities linked to promoting and safeguarding international peace and security, as demonstrated by its participation in the various peacekeeping operations of the United Nations, the African Union and ECOWAS. Today more than ever, the world needs security and peace in order to devote its energies to eliminating hunger, illiteracy and disease. To that end, it is more urgent than ever to make concerted efforts to fight inequality, injustice and exclusion. 08-53129 26 In our respective countries, we must build societies where humanism and solidarity will reign in peace and security. We believe that that is one of the purposes of the founders of the United Nations and which we must strive to achieve now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century.