Before beginning my statement, I would like to
mention something that happened on our continent, in
West Africa, yesterday. Indeed, tragic events occurred
yesterday in a country in West Africa, of which Cape
Verde is a part: soldiers once again fired on a crowd.
As a neighbouring, friendly and long-standing partner
country of Guinea, I wish, on behalf of my country, to
express my deep sympathy and the unequivocal
condemnation of an act that disgraces the entire
continent. I am referring to a challenge to the brave
people of Guinea and to the international community. I
pay tribute to the numerous victims of this odious act,
which threatens stability and peace in the entire
subregion. I am pleased to congratulate Ambassador Ali
Abdussalam Treki on his election to the presidency of
the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session. I also
congratulate his predecessor, Father Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann, for his involvement, dedication and
courage, which left an important imprint on the work
of the sixty-third session. To Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, Cape Verde expresses its confidence that he
will continue to further our aspirations and consolidate
the foundations of this Organization he leads that is
dedicated to the common good. We thank him for his
detailed report on the work of the Organization
(A/64/1).
Peace, security and development are public assets
that are essential to the progress of humanity. However,
they have never before been as threatened as they are
today. Therefore, I would like to share with the
Assembly some of my country’s concerns in that
context.
During the Assembly’s sixty-second session, the
Prime Minister of Cape Verde, Mr. José Maria Neves,
said:
“We are living at a time when problems and
threats are of concern to all. They are not
confined to a single State or region. Nor can there
be local solutions to the global threats of our
era.” (A/62/PV.11, p. 2)
He was referring to terrorism, organized crime and
human trafficking and to weapons and drugs that in
certain instances threaten the foundations of the
democratic rule of law. He said that these phenomena
“corrupt values, compromise development and thwart
the most legitimate expectations of peoples” who are
exposed to them and that “Responses to these issues
will be ineffective unless they are undertaken within a
robust, balanced and fair multilateral perspective”
(ibid.).
I quote these remarks by the head of Government
of Cape Verde because they are quite current and
because the themes they address have been the object
of increasing attention by the international community.
Cape Verde and other West African States are
facing organized crime, which has found fertile ground
for its activities in our region because of our fragile
economies, the vulnerability of our emerging
democracies and, in general, our States’ weak
capacities to respond to this major threat. With the
support of the United Nations, in particular the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the logistics
capabilities of our partners, we, the States members of
the Economic Community of West African States are
pooling our capabilities to confront this tremendous
challenge that has engulfed our subregion.
In Cape Verde we believe that a small country
cannot allow itself to be poor, vulnerable and unstable
all at once. We therefore seek to reinforce our
advantages, reduce our weaknesses and diversify our
partnerships, in addition to strengthening our relations
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of solidarity for the benefit of peace, stability and
progress in our subregion.
Therefore, at the October 2008 conference on
drug trafficking in our region and at the April 2009
round table on Guinea-Bissau security sector reform,
both held in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, we
sought to define together the parameters of our actions
in these areas. We will continue to pay special attention
to this threat, as we are convinced that the zone of
peace we are building in the South Atlantic must
become a tangible reality if we wish to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals and, in general, the
life of peace and progress that we wish for all.
In this context in which States and democratic
processes are threatened by exogenous elements,
multilateralism appears as an indispensable shield and
an essential resource. There is no doubt that this
confluence of wills and means among the most diverse
countries and the most widespread regions at the heart
of the international community constitutes the path to
follow, not only for strengthening cooperation among
the entities of international life and for the timely
resolution of differences in the framework of the
principles and values of the United Nations, but also
for the strengthening of international law, which is
indispensable for strengthening peace and security in
the world.
The United Nations, in this context, remains the
central element of the collective conscience of the
community of nations. Thus the revitalization of the
United Nations system emerges as a necessity of our
time, giving priority to the participation of all, to the
detriment of unilateralism, strengthening efficiency for
the benefit of common interests and seeking solutions
that meet the aspirations of the most vulnerable and of
present and future generations.
Cape Verde is contributing to that framework as
one of the eight pilot countries testing the Delivering
as One process on the ground, which is successfully
under way as a unique programme with a unique
budgeting plan, a single purpose and single leader. This
process has had positive repercussions on cooperation
between the Government and the agencies, funds and
programmes of the United Nations working in Cape
Verde, thus enhancing the coherence of this
programme, reducing transaction and administrative
costs and benefiting all.
According to the United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development, it is expected that the global
gross domestic product will shrink by more than
2.5 per cent in 2009. The growth of developing
countries will decrease from 5.4 per cent in 2008 to 1.3
per cent in 2009, which means a reduction in the
average per capita income. In light of the stagnation
and reduction of economic growth, the developing
countries have seen an increase in poverty,
unemployment, the cost of essential goods and
malnutrition. With the drastic reduction in investment,
there is a strong likelihood that the Millennium
Development Goals will not be achieved.
It is expected that in 2009 world trade will be
reduced by at least 11 per cent in real terms and by
20 per cent in dollar terms. For the African continent,
the prognosis points to a significant deceleration of the
growth of production in 2009. However, it will remain
positive and drop to 3 per cent in North Africa and
1 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa. The medium- and
low-income countries in this context will certainly
require more support in the form of a coordinated
effort at the international level to increase official
development assistance.
The perspective of a solution to the crisis is
significant. It requires, among other things, a new
political strategy that includes regulation of the
financial market. The recent meeting of the Group of
20 in Pittsburgh offers some elements of response.
Indeed, management of the crisis in the context of
globalization and interdependence requires an
integrated response of the parties as well as a change in
the global financial system, more efficient institutions,
countercyclical policies, better monitoring of risk and
institutional regulation. The outcome document
adopted by consensus at the United Nations
Conference on the World Financial and Economic
Crisis of 24 to 26 June 2009 (resolution 63/303, annex)
contains recommendations to fight economic recession
and establishes viable and safe financial practices, in
addition to indicating important areas of intervention.
Cape Verde, despite the difficult situation created
by the economic and financial crisis, seeks to preserve
the gains already made in the various areas of the
Millennium Development Goals, thanks to a prudent
and pragmatic policy and taking its partners into
account to help diminish the impact of the crisis on the
archipelago.
19 09-53165
We think all international partners must
implement joint efforts to minimize the impact of the
economic deceleration, especially for developing
countries, and enable all to achieve more inclusive,
equitable and balanced development, oriented towards
economic sustainability, to help overcome poverty and
inequity in order to avoid an unprecedented human
crisis.
The Summit on Climate Change organized by the
Secretary-General last week was an undeniable
success. The Member States wished to participate in
large numbers to reaffirm their determination to see
this vital problem treated in a convincing, urgent and
genuine manner. The head of State of one of the heavy-
emitting countries declared that if we do not act now,
no one will ever be able to do so, reinforcing what
scientists have been demonstrating for some time: that
our planet is at serious risk of not being able to assure
life in all its fullness because of the consequences of
climate change. And the time to act is now.
The participants departed the Summit convinced
that there is no more time for evasion. The moment has
come for concerted, coherent and systematic action to
achieve a convincing and meaningful reduction of
greenhouse gases, to slow global warming and avoid
raised sea levels likely to endanger vast coastal regions
throughout the world, particularly the small developing
island States. Such States are increasingly vulnerable
and suffer the most from the consequences of a
situation created to a large extent by emitter States. At
its summit here in New York on 21 September, the
Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), of which
Cape Verde is a member, adopted a declaration
clarifying its position on various points being
negotiated within the framework of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Cape Verde is a small archipelago with a small
population, in a geographic location that leaves it
simultaneously isolated in the ocean and dangerously
exposed to the effects of climate change and global
warming. As a Sahelian State, it has long faced
drought, desertification and a serious lack of water.
Those phenomena aggravate the population’s poverty,
hinder Government efforts and strongly affect actions
in the areas of environmental preservation and human
development.
In Cape Verde we are making efforts to make the
best possible use of our river basins, saving water
wherever possible and adopting modern irrigation
methods with the help of new technologies. We are
implementing an active policy in that area. A dam on
one of our islands is energizing the local agricultural
sector and allowing us to promote better subsistence
methods among farmers, while helping us develop
renewable power sources throughout the country with
the goal of providing electricity to 95 per cent of the
country by 2011. A research and development centre
for renewable energies aimed at serving the entire West
African region is under construction in Cape Verde.
The international community, and the developed
countries in particular, must strive to support the
specific dynamics of those States in the areas of
adaptation to and mitigation of the effects of climate
change and to enable them to minimize the risks that
burden them today, given that some of those States are
already facing issues of mass dislocation and forced
migrations.
For the people of Cape Verde, the ocean is more
than a nurturing mother or a demanding lover — it is
our vital source of civilization and inspiration. We
want to protect it; we want to preserve it. But equally,
along with the coastal nations of the Atlantic Ocean,
particularly in its southern half, we want to see it be an
area of exchange, not speculation, a realm of active
solidarity, not unruly competition. Far from making it
one more focus of human greed, let us preserve its
unique value as a precious cradle of life and the
repository of the hopes of our planet.