Ivory Coast, 2025

Zealand. I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Kaku Gwaja Leon Adon, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Côte d'Ivoire. President of the General Assembly, Ms. Annalena Baerbock, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government, Mr. Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. At the outset, I would like to extend to you the warm greetings of Côte d'Ivoire on the occasion of this session as we mark the 80th anniversary of our common organisation, the United Nations. Madam President, Ms. Annalena Baerbock, we'd like to extend to you our warm congratulations on your stellar election to lead this important session. Rest assured you have Côte d'Ivoire's full support as you fulfil your mission. I'd also like to pay a glowing tribute to your predecessor, Mr. Philemon Yang. We congratulate him on the high calibre of the work he conducted throughout his term. I would like to extend our greetings in particular to Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General, for his commitment to the ideals of our organisation. As we celebrate eight decades of achievements of our noble organisation in the service of our nations, our recognition also extends to the UN's founding fathers, to successive Secretary-Generals, and all staff who selflessly served our organisation, sometimes paying with their lives. My country would like to use this very special occasion which brings us together to honour the memory of two illustrious sons of the African continent, Secretary-Generals Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan. Their actions radically transformed the United Nations at a pivotal moment in its history. Madam President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, this session is, without a doubt, a decisive moment in the history of our organisation, eight decades after it was established with a view to enthroning peace and security in our world and promoting economic and social progress of our nations. Thus, we celebrate a world forged by the paths our countries have travelled within the United Nations, as well as the resilience of our organisation which has lived through turbulent times in its history. For this very reason, Côte d'Ivoire would like to commend the relevance of the theme chosen for this year at a time when the international political architecture is undergoing serious upheaval, which is hitting our organisation very hard. Ever since it was established in 1945, the United Nations, propelled by the faith of its member states in multilateralism and international solidarity, as well as their determination to build a better world than that that was bequeathed to them by the Second World War, the organisation has managed to make great progress in discharging its mandate. Against this backdrop, the United Nations shaped the fates of many people and countries by contributing to them acceding to independence and international sovereignty. The United Nations also went to great lengths to, for eight decades now, to shield our planet from any new global conflict, as well as from any recourse to nuclear weapons. My country applauds the essential action and the crucial role of the United Nations and regional partners as regards the prevention and peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as the deployment of peacekeeping and peace building operations. In a similar fashion, Côte d'Ivoire welcomes the fact that it has been able to contribute to various UN missions over the last few years. We are also proud to be a party to most chemical, biological and nuclear ban and elimination treaties. At a time when conflicts and disputes have not abated, the United Nations have constantly been the best framework for our common efforts aimed at peace and security. The commitments helped us to prevent and to circumscribe many a conflict. Nonetheless, they didn't always produce the expected results, nor did they always prevent tragedies. I'm referring in particular to the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda between April and July 1994, which left an indelible impression on humanity. And I'd like to recall the pressing need to work together against all forms of conflicts and armed crises. President, ladies and gentlemen, as regards development and social progress, the United Nations rallied all partners behind vast initiatives aimed at supporting developing countries. This unswerving, multifaceted support from the United Nations helped many countries to establish their vital social sectors, education, health and to accelerate the fight against poverty, hunger, global warming and the various inequalities which set their progress. Furthermore, in keeping with the mobilisation promoted by the United Nations, decades of commitments on the part of the Bretton Woods Institution, the World Bank and the IMF have broadened the spectrum of resources being funnelled to the development of our countries. My country, Cote d'Ivoire, welcomes important initiatives launched by the United Nations, in particular the International Development Decades, the Millennium Development Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement covering climate change. In a similar vein, Cote d'Ivoire applauds the multifaceted humanitarian activities of the United Nations, which regularly save thousands of lives in instances of natural disasters and conflicts affecting many countries. Indeed, thanks to its specialised agencies, in particular the WFP, the HCR, the WHO, UNICEF and OCHA, the United Nations remains the best structured, most universal global humanitarian assistance actor, a powerful symbol of international solidarity that advocated for by the UN Charter. Decades of action, that's what we're celebrating throughout this session. They offer my country an opportunity to take stock of the important role played by the United Nations in strengthening the exercise of human rights and democracy the world over, as well as the United Nations' vast efforts aimed at ensuring respect for international law, which is the very bedrock for peaceful relations imbued with solidarity, bringing together different countries. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, after 80 years in existence, our organisation today finds itself at a crossroads. It is confronted with the most serious liquidity crisis in its history, as well as an unprecedented crisis of trust, in particular a crisis of trust in the Security Council. Under these conditions, the coming decades will throw up major challenges which will put to the test the organisation's capacity to respond to people's expectations and to fulfil its mission. Given the world's unpredictable trajectory and the weakening of multilateralism, there is a pressing need now more than ever to restore the effectiveness of the United Nations on the basis of inclusive and equitable multilateralism. With this in mind, my country invites Member States to reclaim the ideals enshrined in the UN Charter, as well as the constraints that fall to them as regards Charter implementation. We call on Member States to revive solidarity, solidarity which has always steered our actions. This is the collective commitment which will allow us, and of this I am certain, to tackle global challenges such as climate change, terrorism, scarce development financing, information wars and regulation of artificial intelligence. Regarding the latter, a source of many hopes and fears, Cote d'Ivoire welcomes the adoption of the Pact for the Future and the Annexes Thereto, as well as the Global Digital Compact, regulating the use of artificial intelligence, AI. We call for the adoption of binding universal standards so as to regulate the use of AI and digital technologies to ensure that it is used to achieve development for the benefit of all. The UN's effectiveness during this critical period calls for as a matter of priority the completion of Security Council reform. The paralysis of this major organ consigns the United Nations and regional organisations to powerlessness. It pushes further away all prospects of peace and the lasting settlement of conflicts and the resolution of global challenges which threaten international peace and security. Now more than ever, Security Council reform is vital for us to be able to adapt to new international realities and to strengthen the Security Council's legitimacy. Given the impasse which characterises the negotiations process that's been underway for a number of decades, my country would like to reiterate its call for Security Council reform which would first and foremost grant Africa its rightful place across all categories of this body in keeping with the common African position expressed in the Izzouini Consensus and the SIET Declaration. Today more than ever the world needs a Security Council that is fully functional so as to be able to craft just solutions to the conflicts consuming humanity. The impetus, the reform impetus which aims to mark the renewal of multilateralism must also extend to global economic and financial governance through the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions and more broadly international financial architecture. Côte d'Ivoire welcomes Africa's accession to the G20, a major step forward. We call for everyone to courageously rally, especially our bilateral and multilateral partners to rally so as to make up for the precipitous drop in the resources being allocated to financing development, especially in the countries of the south. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, under the leadership, the visionary leadership of His Excellency Mr Alassane Oudera, the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, we remain resolutely committed to respecting our obligations stemming from the UN Charter. We are attentive to the impact of geopolitical upheaval that is fracturing our world. Despite this downcast international context, Ivoirians are tirelessly continuing their efforts so as to complete the process of building a stable, inclusive, resilient and prosperous nation. On this note, my country would like to once again express its recognition and gratitude to the United Nations which thanks to the United Nations operation in Côte d'Ivoire, UNOSI, contributed to the restoration of peace after a decade of socio-political crisis in my country. On security, Côte d'Ivoire is currently a secure country. Today, we are welcoming under decent conditions, conditions of dignity, thousands of people who are fleeing terrorist attacks in the Sahel region. Turning now to the economy, my country's GDP growth is dynamic. The Alassane Oudera government is taking action to accelerate the structural economic transformation of my country, making Côte d'Ivoire more competitive, equitable and inclusive. Within this framework, ambitious policies to reduce poverty and to improve the living conditions of Ivoirians, in particular the most vulnerable, have meant that Côte d'Ivoire is in the top three countries in terms of sustainable development goal index progress. This is between 2015 and 2024. Moreover, we've significantly invested in human capital over the last few years. This has meant that Côte d'Ivoire has shown the biggest improvement in Africa, reaching fourth place in the world's human development index. Our political environment is peaceful, thanks to the dialogue that the government has been continuously promoting since 2011, as well as thanks to large-scale reforms modernising our political life, thanks to which political parties and our civil society are freely conducting their work throughout our territory. The human rights state of affairs is satisfactory. It is being consolidated thanks to the reaffirmed independence of the judiciary, as well as to the strengthening of our regulatory and institutional framework, as well as streamlined access to justice. Madam President, following over a decade characterised by significant economic and social reforms, as well as large-scale infrastructure projects which transformed Côte d'Ivoire's image, laying the groundwork for irreversible development, our country now intends to work on locking in democratic values and consolidating institutions. On this note, we are emphasising the definitive entrenchment of the rule of law in our country, especially as regards the practice of politics, so as to ensure that democracy and peace are irreversible, preserved for the benefit of our young people and future generations. It is in this spirit that this spirit is what characterises the electoral process underway in the run-up to the presidential election scheduled for 25th October 2025. Everything is being done to ensure that this vote, which consecrates my country's democratic maturity, takes place as transparently and peacefully as possible. I thank you for listening to me so graciously.