Zimbabwe, 2009

Let me begin by extending

our warmest congratulations to you, Sir, on your

election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-fourth session. Your election to this high office is

a fitting and eloquent tribute to the personal and

diplomatic qualities that we have witnessed in you over

the years. We are indeed proud of the honour that has

been bestowed upon the African continent by your

election. We are confident that under your wise

stewardship we will make pleasing progress on the

important agenda before us.

In the same vein, Mr. President, I wish to

commend your predecessor, the President at the sixty-

third session, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, for

having brought his experience and wisdom to bear

upon the various meetings and conferences that he

presided over during the last year. He brought integrity,

transparency and credibility to the deliberations of the

General Assembly. Indeed, we share his assertion that

the “G-192” — that is, the General Assembly — being

the most representative body of the United Nations, is

the best forum in which to tackle global issues, which

include the current financial and economic crises. We

commend him for standing up for what is right and for

upholding the right of each Member State, no matter

how small, to be heard.

Over the years, my delegation has underlined the

need for the United Nations and other international

bodies to truly serve the collective interest of all

Member States. Our unchanging conviction is that all

international institutions should abide by the universal

principles that underlie the multilateral processes of

decision-making, particularly, the principle of equality

among States and the right to development. It is in this

context that we welcome the appropriate, indeed,

timely, theme of this session, namely, effective global

responses to global crises, and strengthening

multilateralism and dialogue among civilizations. It is

our hope that we will have a candid and holistic debate

on the global responses to the crises that currently

affect our world.

Zimbabwe supports the revitalization of the

General Assembly in order to make it more effective

and thus enable it to fulfil its mandate. As the

pre-eminent deliberative and policymaking body of the

United Nations, the Assembly should play a more

active role in mobilizing action against such challenges

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today as the maintenance of peace and security, the

financial and economic crises, economic and social

development and climate change.

Accordingly, the encroachment of other United

Nations organs on the work of the General Assembly is

of great concern to us. We therefore reiterate that any

process of revitalization should strengthen the principle

of the accountability of all principal and subsidiary

organs of the United Nations to the Assembly.

It is our hope that the current negotiations on the

reform of the Security Council will break the deadlock

that for some time now has prevented us from making

progress in an area of strategic interest to Africa. The

reform of the Council is not only desirable but

imperative if it is to ensure the successful

implementation of its global mandate to maintain

international peace and security on behalf of all

Member States.

The fact that Africa, a major geographical region,

remains underrepresented and without a permanent seat

on the Security Council is not only a serious and

antiquated anomaly whose time for address is overdue.

It is also clearly an untenable violation of the principle

and practice of democracy in international relations.

The reform of the Security Council should urgently

take full notice of the African position, which demands

two permanent seats, with complete veto power — as

long as the veto lasts — plus two additional

non-permanent seats.

The United Nations Conference on the World

Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on

Development, held in June 2009, rightfully positioned

the Organization at the centre of efforts to deal with the

global financial and economic crisis. The devastating

effect of the current global crisis has clearly exposed

the folly of leaving the management of the global

economy in the hands of a few self-appointed countries

and groupings.

My delegation, therefore, fully supports the

setting up of a follow-up working group under the

aegis of the General Assembly. It is urgent and critical

that the working group reach an early agreement on

immediate policy actions to be taken by the

international community in support of developing

countries, which have suffered the most as a result of

this global financial meltdown. Such actions should

include the development of a global stimulus plan to

respond to the crisis and issues related to it.

Those measures will not achieve the desired

objectives unless accompanied by a comprehensive

reform of the Bretton Woods institutions. Such reforms

would, inter alia, include representation of sub-Saharan

Africa on the Executive Boards of these institutions.

We are glad that our unequivocal call for their reform

is beginning to bear fruit. We welcome the recent

decision by the World Bank to establish three seats for

Africa on its Executive Board. We are similarly pleased

that, earlier this month, the International Monetary

Fund finalized the re-allocation of special drawing

rights on the basis of the $250 billion pledged by the

Group of 20 at its meeting in April 2009. Regrettably,

only a mere $18 billion of this money was allocated to

low-income countries, while the developed countries —

which caused the crisis, after all — got the lion’s share.

The need to ensure global food security has been

raised and restated at many international forums. We

reiterate our call for an urgent and substantial increase

in investment in agriculture in developing countries. It

is critical that provisions of agricultural inputs —

seeds, fertilizers and chemicals — be put in place for

small-scale farmers, particularly women.

To achieve this, we need to channel more support

towards agriculture, which has dwindled over the last

few decades. In addition, we call upon developed

countries to remove or reduce their agricultural

subsidies and to open up their markets to agricultural

products from developing countries.

In the area of health, efforts to reduce maternal

and child mortality and to combat HIV and AIDS,

malaria and tuberculosis still fall short of targets

despite the commitments made at national and

international levels. Over the last few years, Zimbabwe

has made great strides in the fight against the HIV and

AIDS pandemic, our limited resources

notwithstanding. The country has witnessed a drop in

the adult prevalence rate from 20 per cent in 2000 to

11 per cent this year.

However, we still face a major challenge in

increasing the availability of affordable antiretroviral

drugs. We therefore continue to urge the international

community, in cooperation with pharmaceutical

companies, to assist in increasing access to affordable

essential drugs, particularly for people in Africa.

People living with HIV and AIDS expect delivery on

the commitments we have made.

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For sub-Saharan Africa, malaria presents yet

another still-formidable challenge. The commitment of

the international community and national Governments

therefore needs to be strengthened to eradicate the

scourge of malaria in our part of the world.

We warmly welcome the renewed enthusiasm on

the part of Russia and the United States to pursue

actions to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons, and

we urge other nuclear-armed States to do the same. In

this regard, Zimbabwe is honoured to have chaired, in

May of this year, the third session of the Preparatory

Committee for the 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Treaty Review Conference and takes this opportunity

to thank all members for their support. We are hopeful

that, having secured agreement on the Conference

agenda, members will produce a renewed commitment

to the three pillars of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Treaty: nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and

peaceful use of nuclear energy.

I would now like to turn to developments in my

country. Since its formation in February this year, the

Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe has demonstrated

a conviction and unity of purpose and an unwavering

commitment to chart a new vision for the country and

to improve the lives of the people in peace and

harmony. In the Global Political Agreement, we have

defined our priorities as the maintenance of conditions

of peace and stability, economic recovery,

development, promotion of human rights and

improvement of the condition of women and children.

Regrettably, while countries in the Southern

African Development Community (SADC) region have

made huge sacrifices and given Zimbabwe financial

and other support at a time when they too are reeling

from the effects of the global economic crisis, the

Western countries — in particular the United States

and the European Union, who imposed illegal

sanctions on Zimbabwe — have, to our surprise, and

that of SADC and the rest of Africa, refused to remove

the sanctions. We wonder what their motives are, and

we ask what they would want to see us do. Indeed,

some Western countries are working strenuously to

divide the parties in the Inclusive Government. If they

will not assist the Inclusive Government in

rehabilitating our economy, could they please, please

stop their filthy clandestine, divisive antics. Where

stand their humanitarian principles, we ask, when their

illegal sanctions are ruining the lives of our children?

We simply call for an immediate end to the

coercive, illegal and unjustified 50-year economic,

commercial and financial embargo against Cuba, which

is estimated to have cost Cuba a total of some

$96 billion so far. My delegation joins other countries

of the Non-Aligned Movement that have repeatedly

condemned the use of unilateral coercive measures as a

flagrant violation of the norms of international law and

international relations, especially as they govern

relations between States under the United Nations

Charter.

Let me conclude by reiterating the need for

effective and comprehensive multilateralism to

promote a global partnership for peace and

development. The United Nations and other

international organizations that carry the legitimacy of

multilateralism should play a leading role in directing

the course of events and developments, taking into

account the interests of the majority of the

Organization’s members in an inclusive, peaceful, just,

universal and democratic manner.

It is our hope that through our unity, solidarity,

cooperation and commitment, the challenges facing the

international community can be addressed. Let us rise

to the occasion and demonstrate our political will and

ability to work together for the good of humanity.

Zimbabwe is willing and ready to play its part.