Paraguay, 2005

At the outset, I would like to express the condolences of

the people of Paraguay over the tragedy caused by

Hurricane Katrina. I express my Government's

solidarity with the victims and with the Government of

the United States, and I ask God to swiftly assuage the

grief of so many families.

We are gathered here to commemorate the

sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations. Six decades

is time enough to reflect on the historical process of

this Organization and, above all, on the debate

concerning the relevance of reforming it. This reform

is absolutely crucial and must be directed not only to

set up standards that would regulate the capacity of

Powers to make war; it is of primary importance that

the reform promote equitable economic development,

because in a selfish world, where the number of

societyís orphans grows daily, it will be very difficult

to have global peace.

Changes cannot be partial or superficial and must

not merely satisfy the hegemonistic ambitions of a few.

We need to govern globalization with democratically

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agreed legal norms and bodies that, through their

inherent legitimacy, would have the authority to ensure

compliance with their regulations.

It must be a desire for world balance, not

financial clout within the Organization, that should

determine the direction to be followed in the United

Nations; otherwise, the power of money will prevail

over the power of justice and the rights of peoples,

which would dangerously thwart the noble mission of

the United Nations. This means that reform cannot

deepen divisions; that would be illogical. The Charter

must reassert the role of unity among diverse nations

which, in spite of their differences, must live together

and share their resources and values, which give

dignity to the lives of men and women and of our

peoples.

Development in equity and democracy is the

formula. But to reach this stage, we need more

international trade and cooperation. Lately a wall is

rising to block our exports, while cooperation is being

watered down ó or the little cooperation that remains

is undertaken unjustly or according to the mood of

those involved. The old promise taken on by the richest

nations to devote 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic

product (GDP) to less developed countries has not been

respected thus far, except for the honourable

exceptions of Norway, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden

and the Netherlands. But it is a hopeful sign that the

President of the United States has said in this forum

(see A/60/PV.2) that his Government is in a position to

eliminate all the subsidies that cause backwardness and

poverty for peoples with emerging economies insofar

as the other rich nations do likewise. That would be of

great benefit to people who are experiencing shortages

due to the unfair international order that the President

of the United States himself mentioned, so that our

peoples' democracy can be stable and sustainable.

It is important to point out that between 1990 and

2003 the rich countries increased their per capita

income by $6,070, while during the same period, their

assistance per capita fell to one dollar; this reflects the

great stinginess that prevails in the current

globalization model. The United Nations has a primary

role to play in humanizing that model.

The subsidies granted by rich countries to their

agricultural sectors, as well as the assistance that they

give to each other, are a cruel paradox. That assistance

amounts to a little more than $1 billion annually and

the subsidies to a little less. That global policy - weak

in terms of cooperation and perverse in terms of

trade - will end by undermining the emerging

democracies in developing countries.

We in Paraguay are deeply convinced of those

tenets. Our wish is to cooperate so that our noble

purposes will govern the new world order. In our

domestic affairs, we have managed to reverse a long

process of deterioration to achieve macroeconomic

stability and political institutionalization. We are

working to increase growth and to strengthen

democracy through good governance, thereby tackling

and resolving our social problems in a way we had

never done in the past.

Today my country, Paraguay, is becoming a

nation in a predictable situation and one worthy of

international trust. We are not bound by any political or

economic dogma. Rather, we are seeking to liberate our

people from crude fanaticism, from ideological

prejudices, from political violence and from fatalism,

because we believe we are capable of forging our own

destiny in a world of greater brotherhood.

Indeed, Paraguay is rich in development

potential. We have abundant natural resources: land,

water and energy. And, even more important, we have

a young population that is highly motivated to grow, to

learn and to work. Even though our economy is still

small, we are adopting policies and plans to expand our

production, increase employment, improve domestic

purchasing power and increase exports. We are moving

towards an economy that can compete in terms of both

quality and innovation.

Our country is among those States that lack direct

access to the sea. Tragically, Paraguay is landlocked,

which is a considerable obstacle to our aspiration to

build an economy based on production and

international trade. For that reason, we need to create

special lending arrangements for landlocked

developing countries, ensuring them differential

treatment in areas such as lower interest rates and

longer grace periods. Such measures could attenuate

the comparative disadvantages we feel as a result of

our geographical situations.

Another dimension I would like to touch on is the

importance of new information and communication

technologies and of biotechnological and other

scientific research. The knowledge and use of those

resources cannot be concentrated in the hands of the

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few. They must be made universally available.

Paraguay believes this to be a necessary prerequisite

for the growth of global competitiveness.

Two years ago my Government inherited a

situation of economic stagnation, recession, sterile

political antagonism, violence, growing poverty and

weak and unreliable public institutions that led to timid

social policies that were a long way from addressing

the Millennium Development Goals. Today we are

recovering political and macroeconomic stability,

democratic governance and, above all, trust in the

Paraguayan State and in our business sector. We have

great challenges ahead of us, but, with faith in the

capacity of our people, we are tackling them to build a

more just international order.

The major challenges in my country are tackling

extreme poverty and health care, which affect the

neediest sectors of the population: indigenous people

and small farmers. To address those issues we have

promoted a rapid increase in spending for social

services to put a stop to growing poverty. We are

financing new programmes: a social protection

network for vulnerable groups, with financial subsidies

linked to school attendance; in the field of health care,

a nutrition programme for pregnant women and for

boys and girls at risk for malnutrition; large-scale

shipments of seeds for subsistence crops; the purchase

of land for small farmers, with a view to ensuring

social peace; free medical care for all children under

the age of five; concessional electricity rates; and a

scholarship programme for students from the most

vulnerable schools. With humility, but also with great

faith in the future and in the international community,

democracy and freedom - we in Paraguay are

building a socially, fiscally and environmentally

responsible State.

In the international context, we join the appeal

for a more just and humane world order in which the

less developed nations are not condemned for all time

to discrimination, indifference and backwardness. In

order to achieve those goals we have no alternative to

an inclusive multilateralism that offers balance,

rationality and justice in international relations.

We also condemn terrorism in all its forms. We

believe that terrorism is a threat to civilized processes

and to the imperatives of resolving conflicts and

establishing peaceful coexistence in the world in order

to ensure the development and prosperity of our

peoples.

Similarly, we reiterate, as we have done year after

year, our formal support for Taiwanís inclusion in the

United Nations, so that the brotherly and supportive

Republic of China can have a place and become an

integral part of our Organization as a full-fledged

Member, in accordance with the principle of

universality and the norms of international law.

In addition, my country is deeply concerned by

the instability and high prices in international oil

markets, which militate against our hard-won

macroeconomic stability. Our country has not escaped

the harmful impact of that phenomenon, given the most

unjust burden on society: inflation. We are making

every effort to control inflation, because we know that

high oil prices have a negative impact on economic

growth and poverty reduction. Today, our Government

is significantly subsidizing the price of oil, thus

depriving the State of major financial resources for

necessary social programmes.

I would like to say at this meeting that Paraguay

is suffering from a misapplication of international

justice. There is an attempt to prohibit payments to our

State from financial transactions carried out by

representatives of a corrupt dictatorship which, with

the complicity of a group of international banks, wants

to deprive us of resources that we desperately need for

social peace in our country. We hope that the

appropriate United Nations bodies will not permit the

peoples of developing economies to be deprived of

major resources through devious legal procedures. We

hope for justice in this area from international

institutions.

The United Nations must either change to lead

and to take up the challenges of our time, or it will hide

behind a superficial change in order to survive and will

become an accomplice in the regression of our peoples

and the perpetuation of backwardness. This is a crucial

moment that we are experiencing as leaders of our

countries, sixty years after the creation of the United

Nations and five after the Millennium Development

Goals. We find ourselves at a crossroads with two

paths before us: one of injustice and indifference that

leads to a world that is increasingly poor, unfair and

insecure, and the other the path of far-reaching change

that leads to peace and global well-being.

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I would like to express my hope that this historic

session of the General Assembly will obtain the

commitments and actions required to reduce and

eliminate the suffering, abandonment and frustration of

thousands of millions of people and that our efforts

will yield its expected fruits for the well-being of

mankind.

I trust that God will give us the necessary wisdom

and strength required to lead our countries along the

path of liberty, peace, development and justice.