Guinea, 2008

I would

like to discharge my first duty by conveying to the

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Assembly, on behalf of His Excellency the President of

the Republic of Guinea, General Lansana Conté, whom

I am honoured to represent here, brotherly greetings

along with a strong message of solidarity from the

people of Guinea. On this solemn occasion, I am also

pleased to convey to Mr. Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann

the warmest congratulations of the Guinean

Government following the election of a charismatic

and enlightened individual of his stature to the

presidency of the Assembly. I assure him of Guinea’s

full and entire cooperation throughout his mandate.

I would also like to take this opportunity to

express my country’s gratitude to his illustrious

predecessor for the skill with which he handled the

presidency of the sixty-second session. To the

Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, we once again

convey our deepest appreciation for the effectiveness

and vision with which he leads the work of our

Organization, which is ever more in demand, because

of the many challenges we face in shaping a world of

peace, security, justice and prosperity for all.

With regard to international solidarity, 34 years

ago the dominant groups of the world promised to

implement the noble commitment made by the

international community to eliminate the poverty that

undermines living conditions in poor countries, in

particular through the regular allocation of 0.7 per cent

of the gross domestic product of industrialized

countries to official development assistance.

In the euphoric wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall

in 1989, that promise had received only a symbolic

fulfilment when the leading powers predicted, in a

premature burst of triumphalism, that budgets that had

been devoted until then to the arms race would, as of

then, be devoted to expediting poverty eradication.

However, the current configuration of our world,

deeply divided as it is between rich and poor, shows

multiple signs of how those promises —which, when

they were made, awakened great hopes for the rapid

achievement of an international world of peace,

effective solidarity and shared well-being — have not

been fulfilled.

With regard to international peace, in spite of the

significant reduction in the current number of armed

conflicts, fears remain. Indeed, military expenditures

have increased significantly in recent years to

proportions that hearken back to the darkest hours of

the cold war, times that we had hoped were left far

behind us.

The legitimate war against blind and

unacceptable terrorism, waged on several fronts since

2001, is unfortunately far from reassuring. The

anachronistic Israeli-Palestinian conflict persists in

spite of the welcome decision to seek a negotiated

settlement of that dispute. Tensions related to nuclear

weapons control darken the horizon of a lasting

international peace. Hegemonistic urges to control the

strategic resources of the planet are obvious in various

instances, raising legitimate fears for the security of

those countries that are vulnerable in military terms.

When it comes to combating global hunger, the

current food crisis poses an urgent and pressing

challenge that demands a rapid response at the

national, regional and international levels. Beyond the

emergency, solidarity-based movement that has taken

shape, that serious phenomenon requires a global,

long-term approach from us all. To that end, the

international community as a whole must promote

policies and strategies geared towards returning

agriculture to the heart of our national and

international concerns. Our ability to satisfy the food

needs of the most vulnerable peoples and to preserve

socio-political stability in those countries depends on

it.

With regard to poverty reduction, the results

remain mixed, unfortunately. Indeed, poor countries

are foundering even further, due not only to their

population growth and insufficient social investments,

but also to the inadequate quality and inconsistency of

official development assistance. In addition, all of that

must be viewed against the backdrop of the all-too-

timid engagement of their development partners and of

global trade conditions that place them at a

disadvantage.

Currently, halfway to the 2015 deadline, official

development assistance is still not being allocated at

the necessary pace. In spite of demonstrating their full

resolve to take control of their destiny by enacting

robust measures in terms of political, economic and

financial governance, poor countries must make do

with the drafting of new versions of poverty reduction

strategy papers that are unlikely to be implemented

because of the lack of sufficient and appropriate

financing.

39 08-52265

Meanwhile, the populations of poor countries

continue to increase and to grow younger. They grow

impatient with the delay and slowness of their

integration into globalization. Their social needs are

growing and their institutional stability, prospects for

democracy and likelihood of sustainable social peace

are faltering. The picture is one of a vicious circle

within which the leaders and peoples of poor countries

are caught. They look to their partners for an extension

of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative

and the removal of the obstacles that impede the export

of their products in order to enable their economies to

escape marginalization in the global trade system.

In that context, the Guinean Government urges

the implementation of the outcomes of high-level

meetings with respect to the priority agenda of

international development agencies. Those outcomes

outline approaches and steps that could improve the

living conditions of hundreds of millions of

individuals, particularly in Africa, who feel the full

impact of extreme poverty, illiteracy, endemic diseases,

insecurity, economic marginalization and socio-

political exclusion.

Elected in April 2008 in Dakar to chair the

Leading Group on Solidarity Development Levies,

Guinea devotes all its energies to consolidating

initiatives in that field and to overseeing the design and

implementation of programmes that will serve to

supplement traditional financing sources. I appeal to

Member States and to development partners to join us

in that solidarity initiative in order to pool our

collective efforts to fight poverty and achieve our

common goals.

From this rostrum of international solidarity, I

have the pleasure of calling on global leaders, in

particular those of the wealthy and emerging countries,

to increase their support for poor countries, as the

community of humankind must preserve its meaning,

human solidarity must show its effectiveness, and

humankind must share the certain knowledge that

lasting peace cannot be forged within the current

asymmetrical divisions of our world.

More resolute than ever before to make proper

use of the official development assistance that they will

receive, the populations of poor countries are

determined to emerge from the poverty afflicting them.

Their young people want to make their parents and

their countries proud by finding decent work at home.

They do not want to get involved in clandestine

immigration networks, nor do they want to deal with

drug traffickers.

Encouraging results have been achieved in

conflict prevention and in restoring, maintaining and

building peace in the world, and in Africa in particular,

in spite of the human tragedies taking place in Darfur.

Our Organization deserves to be congratulated and

encouraged for that. Indeed, significant progress has

been achieved by Côte d’Ivoire on the path towards

restoring peace and national reconciliation.

With regard to the Mano River Union, Guinea

calls on the international community to continue to

support the efforts of the member States of that

organization in order to prevent them from relapsing

into the cycle of doubt, insecurity and instability. We

must also welcome the successful measures initiated

and led by the Peacebuilding Commission to

consolidate stability in Sierra Leone, Liberia and

Guinea-Bissau.

In the Horn of Africa and in the Western Sahara,

through the perseverance of the United Nations and the

stakeholders in those crises, positive signs of

settlement are emerging. We urge all the stakeholders

in those crises to engage in dialogue and coordination,

which, if they are to be effective, require, of course,

respect for the commitments that have been made.

In the Middle East, it is obvious that resolving

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will require a regional

solution based on the creation of an independent,

sovereign and viable Palestinian State living side by

side and in peace with Israel in accordance with the

relevant resolutions of the United Nations and the

Quartet road map.

Moreover, Guinea reaffirms its unwavering

commitment to the principle of a single and undivided

China.

I would now like to address the situation in my

country, which for the past two years has faced a

serious economic and social crisis, triggered by a

combination of internal and external factors, which I

have just described. I am pleased to be able to say

today that through a national patriotic upsurge,

supported by the efforts of the international

community, including the Economic Community of

West African States, that situation is on the path

towards normalization and improvement. A

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Government open to all stakeholders, comprising the

opposition, civil society and the two sides of industry,

has been established. That Government has drawn up

and is currently implementing a minimum emergency

programme that should pave the way for a relaunch of

the country’s economic and social development process

in the near future.

In spite of the pitfalls and unstable resources, the

results obtained to date are encouraging. The

institutional framework for governance is improving.

The pace of the democratic process, in particular the

preparation for legislative elections, is quickening. The

independent national electoral commission is up and

running. The political parties have received subsidies

for election preparations. A comprehensive coordination

movement involving all components of the nation is

under way. The mining agreements are being revised

with a view to protecting the interests of the country

and, naturally, those of the investors themselves.

Economic and financial governance is being

strengthened, sanctioned by the adoption on 28 July

2008, by the Executive Board of the International

Monetary Fund, of the conclusions of the first review

of the formal programme, which should lead our

country to the completion point under the Heavily

Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative.

Working together with all actors in the nation, the

Guinean Government remains firmly committed to

shouldering its full share of responsibility in tackling

the huge challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, drugs, lack

of security, terrorism, the illicit circulation of light

weapons and the structural causes underlying

clandestine immigration. The eradication of poverty,

maintenance of peace, institutional stability and

promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms

lie at the heart of our national priorities.

Sixty-three years after the establishment of the

United Nations, eight years after the adoption of the

United Nations Millennium Declaration and at the

midpoint towards the implementation of the

Millennium Development Goals, my country, Guinea,

believes in the future of a world of greater solidarity,

justice and fairness, thus safer in the context of a true

and fair partnership. A reformed, revitalized United

Nations, adapted to new developments, remains the

appropriate forum to meet the challenges that we all

face.

Before I conclude, I am pleased to report that

2008 marks the fiftieth anniversary of both our

country’s independence and its accession the United

Nations. That gives me the opportunity to reaffirm to

my country’s firm commitment, alongside the rest of

the international community, to achieving the noble

ideals of our Organization, and to supporting and

respecting all its principles and purposes, which are the

foundation of a true community of destiny.