Guinea, 2025

Now, I give the floor to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of State, and Secretary General of Presidency of Guinea, His Excellency Amara Kamara. Good evening to all. Madam President, Mr. Secretary General, ladies and gentlemen, heads of delegations, it is an honor and a privilege for me to speak at this universal platform and to do so on behalf of His Excellency President Mamadi Dumbuya, President of the Republic of Guinea and Head of State. On this solemn occasion, he has entrusted me with conveying his warm congratulations to Miss Annalena Baerbock, congratulations on her brilliant election as President of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and to assure her of the Republic of Guinea's full support during her mandate. We also salute the ongoing efforts of Mr. Antonio Guterres for global peace, and we pay tribute to Mr. Philemon Young. We thank him for his remarkable work accomplished during the 79th session. Guinea, whose voice it is an honor for us to express here, fully identifies with the theme of this 80th session, which is Better Together, 80 Years and More for Peace, Development and Human Rights. In our national context, this theme resonates particularly deeply, better together through re-founding. After more than 66 years of independence, peace, coexistence, development and human rights are becoming a reality in Guinea. And I am asking you, ladies and gentlemen, to receive the congratulations and greeting of the people, the President and the Government of Guinea. Two years ago, President Mboya stated, my country continues to place hope in the United Nations to find appropriate solutions to the challenges facing our world. But the founding principles of our organization must adapt to the profound changes in our society. This hope, unfortunately, is increasingly giving way to concern. It is becoming increasingly clear that the world is in turmoil and no continent is spared. Spared the following, the fact that peace is becoming a luxury, that wars and conflicts are becoming normalized, international and regional organizations are weakening, and alliances depend far too often on the will of current leaders. At this pace, we must have the courage to acknowledge that the best years of our shared organization may be behind us. Ladies and gentlemen, there is an inseparable link between peace, development and human rights. And we pay tribute to the men and women who fight for peace worldwide. But we must acknowledge that a mere denunciation of atrocities is far too often the ultimate level of international action. Furthermore, nature, which was once assaulted by human beings, now inflicts dramatic consequences in the form of the scarcity of arable lands, worsening droughts, increasing floods and increasingly unbearable heat. These realities must prompt deep reflection on our part. Ladies and gentlemen, the well-being of the people and people peacefully living together are true synonyms of peace. President Mbuye made this a guiding principle of his leadership. And it is through his rigor and consistency here, Guinea has been able to reconcile with itself and is now boldly advancing towards development. In acknowledging the end to an imbalanced and unjust era where Africa had no voice, President Mbuye chose to fully embrace our national sovereignty. First, our mining sovereignty. And this was done by revoking several permits which were not in compliance with our laws, in particular with Guinea's mining code. And then our intellectual property. And this was done by transforming the education system we have and by promoting excellence. This led to the creation of Simandou Academy, which offers top performing students of the country a chance to study in the world's best schools under the best conditions, thus providing our country with the human capital we need for development. Ladies and gentlemen, we know better than anyone the price of peace and the cost of underdevelopment. This justified the recent intervention of our defense and security forces to prevent national collapse in the country. And now, with a methodical approach, which is a forward-looking one, President Mbuye has launched Simandou 2040 program, which is built on the basis of five strategic pillars. The first one is agriculture, food industry and trade, which is the engine of our growth. The second one is education and culture. And it is the foundation of our future. The third pillar, infrastructure, transport and new technologies to better connect our country. The fourth one is economy, finance and insurance to ensure our financial sovereignty. And finally, the health and well-being pillar, which is a national priority. The Simandou project, which is home to the world's largest iron deposit, will significantly contribute to global decarbonization due to its exceptionally high ore quality, about 65%. And to ensure the sustainability of the program, a sovereign fund will be established, financed essentially by Simandou revenues, as well as other conventional mechanisms. Ladies and gentlemen, let me recall yet once again the words of a great African leader who spoke from this very podium and said, I quote, Very clearly, without being hypocritical or pretending otherwise, looking at each other face to face, we all recognize that the democratic model imposed on us after the Laboul summit in France, almost religiously, this model does not work. Various economic and social indicators show it clearly. And this is not a value judgment on democracy itself. It's a statement of fact, a conclusion from decades of chaotic experiment of this model in our environment. A time which was focused only on political jousting at the expense of the essential, which is the economy. I quoted the president, Dumbuya. And in this regard, I am pleased to announce that the Republic of Guinea has achieved a historic milestone. It's achieved its first sovereign credit rating, which was classified as B plus with stable outlook by standard and poor. Thanks to the vision and leadership of the president of the Republic, General Dumbuya, Guinea has reached today a major milestone with this international recognition. This rating now places the Republic of Guinea as the second largest economy in French speaking West Africa and opening access to more favorable and competitive international capital markets. For Guinea, respect for human rights means recognizing the inherent dignity of every person and applying the principles and standards that protect these rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Unfortunately, its application throughout the world remains inconsistent according to regions, actors, contexts and interests. Ladies and gentlemen, President Dumbuya has asked us to reaffirm here his sincere commitment to the theme of this session. He places the highest importance to peace, development and human rights. Madam President. We wanted to provide a country with a constitution that reflects and unites us, and we thus initiated a process of consultation and inclusivity. It took a long time, but it was necessary given our history. And we are proud to announce from this podium that the constitutional draft submitted to the people of Guinea by referendum has been adopted by a large majority. This is an opportunity for me to, on behalf of the head of state, to applaud the maturity of the people of Guinea and also applaud our commitment to the future of our country. As of yesterday, 26 September 2025, following its promulgation by the head of state, Guinea now has a constitution marking its long-awaited return to the constitutional order, much awaited by our people and the international community. I thank you for your kind attention. I thank the Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Presidency of Guinea.