Guinea-Bissau, 2010

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

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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.