Togo, 2014

I would like

to extend to the President, on behalf of the people and

Government of Togo, as well as on my own behalf, our

warmest congratulations on his election as President

of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I

would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate to

the Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, my country’s

sincere congratulations on and encouragement for

his efforts to enable our Organization to meet the

challenges facing our world.

By giving the sixty-ninth session of the General

Assembly the theme “Delivering on and implementing

a transformative post-2015 development agenda”, the

President wished to remind Member States of their

responsibility to spare no effort in defining, as we

look ahead in the context of the post-2015 period, a

development agenda commensurate with the challenges

facing the world. Indeed, it is undeniable that defining

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been

beneficial to humankind. While not all of those goals

will be achieved by all our States, our commitment to

working together to attain them has enabled us to make

notable progress towards each of the Goals throughout

the world. The new development agenda should therefore

provide States with an appropriate road map that takes

into account the diversity and complexity of situations

and developments resulting from the experience gained

in implementing the MDGs.

For its part, the Togolese Government remains

determined and mobilized to continue and to scale up

the necessary efforts in the context of a new post-2015

development programme with a view to a more tangible

reduction in the level of poverty in our country. In recent

years, the incidence of poverty has in fact been reduced

by three points in Togo. That trend is supported by an

improvement in the business climate that provides good

prospects for increasing the success of the job creation

programmes being implemented in the country for the

benefit of young people.

In that regard, we note, among other elements, the

positive impact as a result of conducting several job

creation and grass-roots development programmes. In

the same spirit, we have established the National Fund

for Inclusive Finance, whose goal is to make financial

services accessible to the most vulnerable people, in

particular women, who are generally excluded from

access to credit from traditional financial institutions.

In the field of agriculture, Togo continues to

develop the National Agricultural Investment and Food

Security Programme. Its implementation has led not

only to satisfactory results in the context of food self-

sufficiency but also to agricultural surpluses for several

crop years, particularly that of 2013/14.

In terms of health, encouraging results have been

achieved in reducing the maternal and infant mortality

rates and in combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and

tuberculosis.

With regard to the preservation of the environment

and improvement in living conditions, robust actions

have significantly increased the level of access to

sanitation and clean water. Moreover, the Government

has stepped up its adaptation efforts to curb the impact

of climate change, in particular, with regard to disasters

caused by economic imbalance, which undermines the

well-being of our citizens. Our country is actively

strengthening the institutional mechanism for disaster

management. Togo has increased its contribution to

the protection of world heritage and to international

security through significant efforts in its resolute

fight against the trafficking of protected species, as

evidenced by the neutralization of several networks and

the seizure of large quantities of ivory.

The forward-looking vision of Togo as a country

able to ensure and take ownership of its development in

all respects has led the Government to initiate Vision

Togo 2030. Launched in April, that initiative is based

on a participatory approach. It should ultimately, with

the accelerated growth and job creation strategy, allow

my country to better ensure its achievement of the

MDGs and the post-2015 development agenda, which

we wholeheartedly desire. I would like to thank the

entire United Nations system and all the countries that

have helped us to achieve the progress made.

The situation of chronic instability prevailing in

Africa today, in particular in the Sahel-Sahara region,

is of concern. With its experience as a non-permanent

member of the Security Council, on which it served

in 2012 and 2013, my country, Togo, is now more

certain than ever that our agenda for peace and the new

architecture for international security must reflect the

new situation of the regionalization of conflicts.

Unfortunately, another factor that further threatens

the survival of States and their development efforts is

terrorism. In Africa, for example, Boko Haram and

Al-Shabaab frequently carry out acts that destabilize

brother countries, such as Nigeria, Cameroon, Somalia

and Kenya. Nevertheless, my country welcomes the joint

efforts of the international community, which helped

to thwart the armed terrorist groups, in particular in

Somalia and Mali. We truly appreciate the efforts of

the French Government to remain engaged in the Sahel

region so as to continue the fight against terrorists

alongside African countries in Operation Barkhane.

However, it is important that such efforts continue and

strengthen and that the international community spare

no effort in supporting the affected African countries,

just as it has mobilized to counter the spread of terrorism

in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the world.

Beyond the effective control of borders, in vast

geographical areas such as the Sahel, which in recent

years has mobilized the international community to fight

against terrorism, it is, in our view, equally essential to

further secure our coasts in order to eradicate, with the

same determination, maritime piracy.

In that spirit, mindful of the stakes involved, Togo

took the initiative to host an international conference

on maritime security and economic development

in Africa in Lomé in 2015 under the auspices of the

African Union. Togo seeks to play a leading role in

providing, with the support of all like-minded partners,

a framework to implement measures that have been

recommended on various occasions to make the

African coast a key space for international trade, free

of organized predators, who instil fear along our coasts.

With regard to the promotion of peace, stability and

security in our countries, the deteriorating situation

in the Central African Republic, Libya, South Sudan,

Syria, Palestine, Ukraine and elsewhere in the world

is of the gravest concern to us owing to the harmful

consequences. Such repercussions are likely to call into

question the very existence of those countries and to

destroy their precious development efforts.

My country, Togo, has recovered stability. It is

moving forward towards a new horizon with renewed

confidence. The daughters and sons of Togo have now

chosen to build the future in a climate of peace and

national harmony. Election after election, Togolese

democracy is being built and strengthened through

dialogue and consultation. It is being established with

functioning institutions, with the support and vigilance

of a determined civil society and all citizens, who are

more aware than ever of the remaining challenges to

overcome in terms of democracy.

The plan for our society, which is mobilizing Togo,

seeks above all to make the country an active and

responsible member of the international community,

determined to work hand in hand with other nations,

so as to systematically thwart the conduits of tension,

break the cycle of violence everywhere and prevent

entrenched insecurity. Those are prerequisites not only

for social peace but also for economic development.

I cannot conclude my statement without reminding

the Assembly of the great peril to human survival

threatening the entire African continent, and West

Africa in particular, with the outbreak of the Ebola

virus. In that regard, I would like to welcome the

Security Council’s adoption of resolution 2177 (2014),

which describes the disease as a threat to international

peace and security.

Recognizing the importance of human capital in

development work, my country welcomes efforts by

multilateral and bilateral actors to stem the epidemic.

We launch an urgent appeal to the bodies of the United

Nations system and to States to be more concerned

about the fate of our populations, in particular, those

in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, by supporting our

efforts to save the infected and prevent the spread of the

disease, which knows no boundaries.

I hope that the common values that we share and

affirm resonate well beyond the confines of diplomatic

negotiations and that daily find direct and clear

expression in places where peace, security and shared

prosperity are tangibly enjoyed.