São Tomé and Príncipe, 2014

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to take the floor

for the first time in this world forum as Prime Minister

and Head of Government, proudly representing the

Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe.

At the outset, please allow me to congratulate

you, Sir, on your election as President of the General

Assembly at the sixty-ninth session and to offer our full

support during the current session, which we wish to

be crowned with success. Your election resulted from

the Member States’ recognition of the experience that

the Republic of Uganda has accumulated and of the

increasingly significant role that the African continent

plays in the international community in consolidating

peace and security worldwide. It also reflects your

efforts to achieve sustainable development for the

developing countries, in addition to your outstanding

professional qualifications, which testify to your

technical knowledge and life experience. We are certain

that your diplomatic experience will greatly contribute

to the favourable outcome of our work and help us to

discover ways of resolving matters of major concern to

the international community.

We also welcome the important and relevant theme

of this session, “Delivering on and implementing

a transformative post-2015 development agenda”.

The post-2015 development agenda, when properly

defined and structured, will certainly become a useful

instrument to guide developing countries, particularly

those of the African continent, to sustainable

development.

We wish to express our appreciation to Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon for his competent, selfless

and zealous stewardship of the Organization. We

congratulate Mr. John William Ashe, who zealously

and selflessly presided over the deliberations of the

Assembly at the sixty-eighth session for the past

12 months.

The pertinence of the theme chosen for the sixty-

ninth session of the General Assembly is clear in

the light of the persisting economic and financial

crisis that continues to ravage the world. We must

combine our efforts and focus them on building the

more just and auspicious future to which our peoples

legitimately aspire. To that end, Africa has identified

the six pillars on which its sustainable development

should rest: structural economic transformation and

inclusive growth; science, technology and innovation;

people-centred development; environmental

sustainability, natural resources management and

disaster management; peace and security; and finance

and partnerships.

From our perspective, those pillars emanate from

the aspirations of our African nations. All partners of

the African continent should take them into account

in the arduous efforts to bring about sustainable and

equitable development and enhance the dignity of our

peoples. Therefore, Sao Tome and Principe believes in

sustainable development in Africa, based on the pillars

proposed by the African Union. It calls on the United

Nations to adapt its programme to the specific realities

of Africa, without losing sight of the accomplishments

of certain countries in attaining some of the eight

Millennium Development Goals.

It is an indisputable fact that the raison d’être of

the United Nations is to maintain peace and security

around the world, which is a sine qua non for the

promotion of development. However, in the light of

the significant changes that the world has undergone

since the establishment of our Organization in 1945,

we must stress the urgent need to adapt it to the new

challenges of our time. Therefore, we again reiterate

our call for the acceleration of the ongoing process of

reform throughout the entire United Nations system, in

order to imbue its operations with greater dynamism,

representativeness, effectiveness, capacity and

legitimacy, thereby leadingto the maintenance of peace

and security and thus to the promotion of development

worldwide.

We unfortunately continue to observe the persistence

of some conflict areas and the outbreak of new

tensions, with alarmingly significant humanitarian

repercussions, throughout the world. In Mali and in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the relative

stabilization of conflict zones as a result of United

Nations efforts, we think that the combined operations

must continue in order to consolidate and strengthen

the achievements.

We are grateful for the resolution of the situation

in Guinea-Bissau, where the transition process has

led to the election of a new President of the Republic

and a new Government, thereby repositioning the

country in accordance with regular and institutional

democratic processes. However, it is incumbent on

the international community, particularly the United

Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community

of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Community

of Portuguese-speaking Countries, to continue to

collaborate and combine their efforts to consolidate

the democratic rule of law so that our sister nation may

advance the progress and well-being of its people.

It is with enormous and fraternal satisfaction that

we commend the political actors in Mozambique for

their great maturity and for taking into account the

higher interests of their people by recently signing a

peace agreement, thereby avoiding more suffering and

loss of human lives.

With regard to the Central African Republic, we

welcome the decision of the United Nations to dispatch

the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission

in the Central African Republic to end the suffering

of that country’s people and clear the way for national

reconciliation. The reconciliation process began with

the recent Brazzaville forum and should be completed

by the Bangui forum and the holding of elections. These

should open a window of opportunity for the resolution

of the disturbing crisis in the Central African Republic,

which is in our subregion, and enable it to return to

institutional normalcy.

With respect to South Sudan, we encourage

efforts to convince the conflicting parties to engage

in negotiations with a view to seeking solutions for

their existing differences and ending the suffering of

innocent civilians. In Western Sahara, the long-standing

situation continues to be a matter of concern for us and

to require a greater involvement from the international

community so that the long negotiation process can

finally be completed. Therefore, we renew our call for

the involved parties to return to the negotiating table in

order to reach a mutually acceptable political solution.

In the light of the resurgence of acts of international

terrorism everywhere, it is imperative for all the

members of the international community to coordinate

their actions, since that is the only way the world will

be able to overcome that scourge. To that end, we wish

to note our apprehension and express our concern

with regard to the actions perpetrated by Boko Haram

in our neighbour, the Republic of Nigeria, and the

consequences of such actions. Nigeria is a country

with which Sao Tome and Principe maintains ties of

friendship and multiple relations of understanding and

cooperation in areas of common interest.

We are also troubled by the recent phenomenon of

the Islamic State and its implications. The Middle East,

unfortunately, continues on the path of bloody conflicts.

These have taken an enormous number of human

lives, owing to the long-standing hostilities between

Israel and Palestine, whose devastating consequences

the world recently witnessed. Therefore, we welcome

the recent ceasefire between the two parties, and we

renew our call for a negotiated solution that will ensure

the Palestinian people’s right to control their own

destiny, as well as the State of Israel’s right to exist, in

accordance with the relevant resolutions.

Similarly, there is no military solution for the

persistent internal conflict in Syria, which has also

created disastrous humanitarian consequences.

Therefore, we welcome the recent ceasefire between

the parties and renew our call for a compromise to be

reached, with the help and support of the international

community, in order to end the hostilities and clear the

way for a frank dialogue across the negotiating table

and a political solution for lasting peace.

As to the conflict in Ukraine, which is also

causing the loss of many human lives, the Democratic

Republic of Sao Tome and Principe regrets the situation

and calls on the parties to move forward rapidly,

through dialogue, in resolving their differences. The

international community must make all efforts to

facilitate such dialogue.

We believe that the Assembly will agree with us when

we say that global security is vital for the sustainable

development of our countries. Therefore, considering

that Sao Tome and Principe is centrally located in the

Gulf of Guinea, a region that is strongly affected by

piracy, terrorism, drug trafficking and other illicit acts

committed at sea, we have taken national steps to fight

those phenomena, including the drafting of a legislative

framework for the modernization of the armed forces,

based on a strategy that focuses decisively on the sea

and its resources.

At the subregional level, we have worked, as

part of the tripartite partnership of ECOWAS, the

Economic Community of Central African States and

the Gulf of Guinea Commission, to implement the

recommendations of the Summit of Heads of State

and Government on Maritime Safety and Security

in the Gulf of Guinea, held in Yaoundé. To that end,

we welcome the progress achieved in the process of

establishing the Interregional Coordination Centre,

which is scheduled to begin operations very soon, and

we renew our call to the international community to

continue with us on the arduous task of ensuring our

collective security.

We strongly believe that taking steps to reduce the

harmful effects of climate change is a responsibility that

must be shared by developing countries and developed

countries alike, in order to ensure the continuity of the

clean development mechanism, particularly for the least

developed countries, as well as to mobilize the political

will for a legally binding global agreement through the

adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change at the twenty-first Conference of

the Parties, scheduled to take place in Paris in 2015.

The trade embargo imposed against Cuba decades

ago constitutes another matter of great concern for us,

and we therefore renew our call for the sanctions to be

lifted. Cuba should be allowed to address its economic

and social development challenges in an environment

of normalcy, without the restrictions imposed by such

sanctions, and to take better advantage of opportunities

for trade relations on an equal footing with other States

Members of our Organization.

The African continent is once again assailed by an

epidemic of haemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola

virus, with incalculable consequences. In the light of

the high level of mortality and the devastating effects

of the disease, on the one hand, and the chance that it

may spread to other areas of the world, on the other

hand, we must urgently identify synergies to engage in

an all-out struggle to save the thousands of lives that

are threatened by this terrible scourge.

In Sao Tome and Principe, we fortunately have

not yet seen any Ebola cases. However, in the light

of our country’s vulnerability, our economic and

financial weaknesses, and our health institutions’ lack

of experience in dealing with the outbreak, we have

prepared a contingency plan and taken prevention and

response measures, including entry and exit restrictions

at our ports and airports, which may impact our fragile

economy. Members will understand that we must count

on the World Health Organization’s help and on the

support and experience of friendly nations in order to

protect our population against all sources and forms

of contamination. In that regard, we welcome the

Secretary-General’s initiative in convening a high-

level meeting on the margins of this session in order to

discuss the matter and take appropriate measures.

Before I finish my statement, please allow me

to note the situation of calm and progress between

the two sides on the Taiwan Strait. We welcome that

environment and encourage the parties to develop their

relations through negotiations. Our country is pleased

to see the participation of the Republic of China on

Taiwan in the General Assembly of the World Health

Organization and applauds the fact that Taiwan was

invited, for the first time since 1971, to participate

in the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation

Organization in 2013.

Therefore, and considering the enormous potential

of Taiwan, we would like to see its participation

further extend to other specialized agencies of

the United Nations, such as the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change, and to the

implementation process of the post-2015 development

agenda, in which it could be of significant help to the

international community.

In conclusion, we reiterate our country’s willingness

to continue to participate in the efforts to mobilize

wills and facilitate synergies for the achievement of the

basic principles and noble objectives that guided the

establishment of the United Nations.

It is certain that today we are a democratic country

with a community of free citizens, but challenges will

continue to arise in the future. Therefore, we have taken

steps to consolidate democracy, so that our citizens

may have an increasingly aware and active involvement

in our collective existence and the political debate may

be broader and more responsible. It is hoped that these

steps will enable compromises among all the political

forces to be achieved and to serve as the basis for the

reforms that our country needs. We are fully aware that

our country’s economic performance hinges on political

stability and our citizens’ trust in our democratic

institutions.

I cannot conclude without informing the Assembly

that Sao Tome and Principe will hold long-awaited

legislative, regional and local elections on 12 October.

The electoral process is being managed in an

environment of full normality, and we have resolved

the financial difficulties related to the elections with

the generous support of our development partners, to

which we express our profound gratitude and esteem.

We expect the election results to be transparent and

fair, as our tradition dictates, and that our country

will continue to be a benchmark of democracy in our

subregion.