Liberia, 2013

I am honoured to

address the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session

on behalf of the Government and people of Liberia and

to extend my warmest congratulations to the President

and to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda on the

occasion of his election as President of the Assembly

at this session. I trust that he will bring his wealth of

experience to bear on the work of the current session. In

a similar vein, I congratulate his predecessor, Mr. Vuk

Jeremi. of the Republic of Serbia, for his leadership of

the Assembly at the sixty-seventh session and for the

initiatives he undertook during his tenure.

Let me also extend my special appreciation to

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his inspiring

leadership and his visionary initiatives that have

mobilized the international community around many

noble objectives. Those initiatives have engendered

hope among the people around the world, especially the

poor and marginalized.

We are deeply concerned about the growing

number of acts of senseless violence around the world,

as exemplified by the ghastly and cowardly murder of

innocent persons in a terrorist attack on a shopping

mall in Kenya. We commiserate with the families of all

victims and with the Government and sisterly people of

Kenya on such a terrible loss.

Because we know first-hand the profound destruction

and long-lasting hurt inherent in civil conflict, we

also agonize with the people of Syria, particularly

those innocent women and children who suffer most

from such tragedy. We unequivocally condemn the

use of chemical weapons in Syria and anywhere else

in the world, and we call for concerted and renewed

international effort to stem the rising scourge of

terrorism and other transnational crimes through action

to control and eliminate weapons of mass destruction.

We welcome the communications revolution that

has provided a broad cyber platform for the exchange

of information. However, that should not provide a

vehicle for the promotion of terrorism and the spread

of unfounded and irresponsible information through

unregulated cyber weaponry that threatens the security

of nations, particularly fragile States, and open societies

of freedom and democracy.

Colleague after colleague who will address

the Assembly will no doubt express pride at the

tremendous progress in Africa. Our continental growth

has averaged over 5 percent annually, surpassing

that of other regions. Moreover, our economies are

diversifying, our trade infrastructure is expanding, our

democracies are strong and maturing, and our regional

institutions strengthening and leading the processes of

cooperation and integration. But the new Africa story

is not just about growth. We see improvement in school

enrolment, health indicators, in trade and investment.

The share of people living in poverty is declining.

Democracy, while still needing room for improvement,

has become the norm rather than the exception, and

governance has improved significantly over the past

decade.

We are equally pleased with the progress made in

resolving conflicts in several of our countries, as we

welcome the international support that has set Somalia

on a trajectory of peace and development.

We appreciate the strong collaboration among

regional economic communities, the African Union

and the United Nations, joined by the international

community, that responded robustly in the Malian

crisis, thereby averting the threat posed to the peace and

security of the entire region. The recent inauguration

of a new, democratically elected President in Mali is

a clear indication that such cooperation is the surest

path to world peace. We congratulate the newly elected

President of Mali, Mr. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, for

receiving the overwhelming endorsement of the Malian

people, and we commend all stakeholders for respecting

the outcome of the democratic process. We also salute

the former interim President, Mr. Dioncounda Traoré,

and all partners for working to restore constitutional

order within the stipulated time period.

Although Liberia still faces the residual challenges

of its own conflict, and despite our size and limited

military strength, I am pleased to report that a small

contingent of Liberian troops is currently participating

in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated

Stabilization Mission in Mali. We view our role in that

peacekeeping effort as a way of reciprocating, albeit in

a small way, the countless demonstrations of friendship

and goodwill that were accorded to us by Mali and

other members of the international community during

our dark days of war.

Once the epicentre of a regional war, I am pleased

to note that the neighboring countries of the Mano River

Union — Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone and

Liberia — are at peace and engaged in consolidating the

gains of stability to accelerate national transformation

through regional integration. A new Mano River Union

initiative will facilitate connectivity in our power and

transport systems, thereby enhancing cross-border

trade, in which our market women are actively engaged.

I bring greetings from the Government and people

of Liberia, who are this year celebrating 10 consecutive

years of peace and progress. In those 10 years, our

nation’s pride has been restored and we have returned

to the community of nations as a respectable and

responsible partner. With the support of the international

community, especially the United Nations through

its peacebuilding and peacekeeping efforts, we have

rebuilt a new ethnically balanced professional army and

increased the size and enhanced the professionalism

of our police, immigration and intelligence forces, in

line with our commitment to bear full responsibility

for security with in our borders as United Nations

peacekeepers execute a phased drawdown.

In that regard, we commend the Security Council

for its recent adoption of resolution 2116 (2013),

which extends the mandate of the United Nations

peacekeeping Mission in Liberia to 30 September 2014.

We fully commit to meeting all the expectations of the

resolution, including continuing to take concrete steps

aimed at developing and sustaining a self-sufficient and

competent security sector able to tackle violent crimes,

sexual and gender-based violence and the infringement

of the rights of the ordinary person.

Thanks to our commitment and the resilience

of the Liberian people, we have instituted a host of

reforms intended to improve governance, enhance

accountability and create an enabling environment

for the exercise of basic freedoms, including freedom

of speech and the press. That has put the country on

a path of irreversible progress, which has enabled us

to conduct two democratic presidential and general

elections and adjust our Vision 2030, while laying a

firm foundation for the transformation of our economy

towards moving our country to middle-income status

by the year 2030.

Liberia has come a long way, but we know that we

have an even longer way to go. We have done much

in restoring basic services and infrastructure, but

still have much to do, especially in reducing our huge

infrastructure deficits in power and in transport. We have

done much in improving governance and strengthening

our institutions of integrity, but still have much more

to do in consolidating the culture of integrity and

accountability in a society that is still beset by values

occasioned by years of conflict. We have adopted laws

and policies that eschew discrimination of any kind,

to ensure social equity and equal opportunity, but still

must do more in promoting natural reconciliation and

healing. We have done much in achieving an average

annual growth of over 7 per cent and attracted huge

multi-million-dollar direct foreign investments,

especially in our natural resource sector, but still have

much more to do in expanding growth and diversifying

our economy, making it more resilient to internal

and external shocks and more responsive to the ever-

increasing demand of our people for jobs and improved

livelihoods. We still have much to do in continuing the

reforms that will ensure equitable benefits from natural

resource capital to current and future generations.

All the policies and actions that we have pursued in

the past several years have enabled us to stabilize our

overall national condition. We must now, over the next

few years, take the hard decisions in addressing long-

standing structural systems. We know that the transition

from stabilization to transformation can be a long and

hard road subject to brickbats from vested interests. We

are bound to face criticism as we attempt to apply and

respect the rule of law and as we challenge entrenched

social habits, but we must change old mindsets and

attitudes. We remain strong in that resolve, for it is the

right thing to do.

I was honoured to have been selected by Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon as one of three co-Chairs of

a 27-member High-level Panel of Eminent Persons

tasked with making recommendations for a new global

development agenda post-2015. The mandate of the

Panel was to advise the Secretary-General on a bold

and practical development agenda beyond 2015 that

builds upon, as well as goes beyond, the Millennium

Development Goals in establishing new goals that

are ambitious and yet achievable. Last May, the

Panel submitted its report to the Secretary-General

for his consideration. We are pleased that many of

the principles we identified are emphasized in the

Secretary General’s report (A/68/202), rightly titled “A

life of dignity for a11”.

Today more than at any other time, we have an

opportunity to transform our world; to pursue an

agenda that will eradicate poverty while at the same

time sustaining nature to secure natural resources for

future generations. The solutions of yesterday may

not apply today’s challenges, so we must muster the

courage to take bold steps. I therefore call upon the

Assembly to reflect on the emerging challenges we

face, to boldly seize new opportunities and to commit

ourselves to a new global partnership that promotes

economic and social transformations for inclusive and

shared prosperity for all.

In Africa we are working towards a continental

consensus that will convey an African position on the

post-2015 development agenda. I am pleased to have

been asked by the African Union Summit to chair a

high-level committee of 10 Heads of State that will

oversee and guide the process. We held our first meeting

yesterday here in New York, and agreed upon a road

map that will ensure a global development framework

that is not only brave and ambitious, but one that

reflects African priorities, a global agenda that creates

an enabling environment for Africa’s transformation

that includes infrastructure development, increased

productive capacities, resilience to external shocks

and enhanced statistical capacities that will result will

accelerate the reation of employment that is directed

particularly to our youthful populations.

I am pleased to report that on 2 September, I

chaired and launched the High-level Panel on Fragile

States, under the aegis of the African Development

Bank. Of the estimated 7 billion people in the world,

1.5 billion live in situations of conflict and fragility.

That data puts fragile States at the centre of the new

post-2015 agenda. We hold the view that international

partners should accommodate the peculiarities and

special circumstances of post-conflict nations. The

achievement of sustained economic growth and

development in those countries is critical to reducing

their vulnerability to new political and economic

shocks, fuelled in many cases by high expectation

gaps that need to be mitigated. We therefore call on all

our partners to renew their support to the New Deal

for Engagement on Fragile States, which calls for

stronger ownership, harmonization, results and mutual

accountability.

I would like to conclude by expressing our gratitude

to the United Nations family for sustaining our agenda

of peacebuilding and sustainable development. Since

its founding, the United Nations has had its share of

challenges, but it remains the beacon of hope for the

peoples of the world who thirst for peace; a world that

is fair, a world that is prosperous, a world in which the

uncommon dreams of all will have a fair chance of

realization; a world where the weak can become strong;

a world where no nation feels developed and powerful

until all nations have their share of global wealth. The

leaders of today must rise to those challenges. The

future begins today. We must commit to a new global

development trajectory that gives all of humankind a

world of peace, dignity and prosperity.