2022 Speech - Cabo Verde
| Session Number | 77 |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
| Country | Cabo Verde |
| Country Code | CPV |
| Speech |
The Republic of Cabo Verde encompasses the inhabitants of the 10 islands that make up the national territory, located in the mid-Atlantic, off the West African coast, and an immense diaspora, which is our eleventh island, scattered across the four corners of the world.
As President of the Republic and the highest representative of this global nation, I have the enormous privilege of extending my greetings to the entire General Assembly and, from this rostrum, to bring mantenhas — “greetings”, in the mother tongue of Cabo Verde — from Cabo Verdeans to the peoples of the world represented in this Hall by their highest dignitaries, expressing our best wishes for prosperity and happiness for all. We look forward, with hope, to the Summit of the Future in 2023, as foreseen in the Secretary-General’s proposal expressed in “Our Common Agenda” (A/75/982), so that it may effectively help “forge a new global consensus on what our future should look like, and what we can do today to secure it”. With that in mind, Cabo Verde reiterates before the General Assembly its firm intention to continue being an active and useful member of the United Nations system, acting and articulating its action on four major fronts, from the more specific to broader: to fully assume its responsibility in the framework of national governance; to value its specificity and grow from its status as a small island developing State; to be a spokesperson in the context of the diversity of and the designs for Africa, the continent to which it belongs; and, ultimately, to continue to be a champion of multilateralism for the advancement of the causes of progress and well-being of humankind. In their journey, small island development States (SIDS) face such structural limitations as geographical remoteness and isolation, their small economic dimension and dependence on imports and high costs, on the one hand, and exports of sector-concentrated services, on the other, which more frequently and intensely expose them and make them vulnerable to the impact of external shocks, whether climate-related, economic or of other nature, such as pandemics and geopolitical conflicts. For example, my country, Cabo Verde, in the past 15 years — between 2007 and 2022 — has suffered the economic and social impact of multiple crises: the economic and financial crisis of 2007-2008, at the very moment when we graduated from the list of least developed countries; the coronavirus disease pandemic, which caused a recession of 14.6 per cent in 2020; the ongoing inflationary impact of world events; and, in the last five years, one of the most profound and most serious droughts in the recent history of the country. But like other small island developing States, Cabo Verde has the ambition to become a small island developed State. In order to achieve that, Cabo Verde will have to progressively overcome its vulnerabilities and increase its resilience, and for this, it is imperative to be able to count on external solidarity in terms of sustainable financing and indebtedness, albeit always in a process and a logic of gradual reduction of the need for external support. Although this is not a new narrative, it is nevertheless urgent that it be implemented, since with fewer than eight years to go before the culmination of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all signs and indicators suggest that we are not moving at the desired pace for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by that date. It is also pressing because less than two years before the fourth SIDS Conference, in 2024, it is certainly legitimate and expected that the Conference make a transformative decision on the best evaluation indicators and the policy modalities that will best support SIDS in meeting the goals of the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action Pathway. Cabo Verde has already submitted its application to host, in 2023, the regional preparatory meeting of the SIDS members of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and South China Sea region, to which it belongs, and is also prepared to monitor and support the whole process up to the conclusion of the General Conference in 2024. It is within this context of emergency that we welcome the Secretary-General’s recommendation and the decision of the President of the General Assembly to establish a United Nations high-level expert panel to conduct the effort, including the completion and use of a multidimensional vulnerability index (MVI). We look forward to a satisfactory conclusion of the work of the high-level panel, and, in particular, that the General Assembly may adopt its MVI proposal, which we hope will be accepted and used in a consensual manner both inside and outside the United Nations. After all, we, the SIDS, also want to free ourselves from the dependence on external support, which necessarily entails reducing our vulnerabilities, while also being aware of the duty to do our homework, to be competitive and resilient, and to achieve inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth. Since 2015, Africa’s cultural and natural, material and immaterial heritage has been celebrated around the world to raise awareness and sensibility on the importance of its preservation. The African Union therefore proposed the theme “Arts, culture and heritage: levers to build the Africa we want” as the theme for the year 2021. However, in this regard, there are still questions about urgencies and the measures to be taken. In my capacity as President of Cabo Verde, and counting on my African counterparts, I propose investing in the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the whole of Africa and reflecting on how to promote climate justice and equity in Africa and for Africa. It is a question of striving to reach consensus on a more flexible and less abstract notion of climate equity that places common but differentiated responsibilities at the heart of a public and global debate, and to create a common platform for Africa, with view to transferring responsibilities from one generation to the next. Accordingly, I must refer to the worldwide movement to support the candidacy of Creolization and Creole Cultures for the World Heritage List, for which I have accepted to be sponsor and spokesperson, as Cabo Verde was the first Creole society in the world. This is a civil society-led initiative, which seeks for Creole countries to be able to position themselves with one voice as to their intangible heritage, promoting peace, friendship between peoples and development cooperation, based on the values that creolization has brought to civilization and a new ethos based on tolerance, diversity and fusion of cultures. Accordingly, we call for strong political support and engagement from dignitaries of Creole countries and their Heads of State. The adoption of the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs was a high point for multilateralism, and its progressive implementation and realization should continue to benefit from the impetus of an increasingly renewed and reinvigorated multilateralism anchored on the United Nations system. This has not happened at the desired level on the various fronts where, unfortunately, global challenges remain, while, at the same time, crises that have constituted genuine obstacles to progress have emerged, endangering the desired reinvigorating of multilateralism adapted and prepared to deal with the scale and complexity of the new challenges. In this regard, Cabo Verde advocates an effective, inclusive, preventive, dissuasive and cooperative multilateralism, which could, as has already been stated, establish, a new global agreement between States, as well as a new global governance for the international system. We advocate a multilateralism that calls for less confrontation between blocs and greater cooperation among Member States in the construction and delivery to all of such global public goods as peace and security, human rights and sustainable development. Finally, we call for a multilateralism that is useful and facilitates a more peaceful international context, which opens the doors for countries, such as Cabo Verde, to more external funding and more and better integration in regional and global value chains. In conclusion, I wish the General Assembly fruitful deliberations during this seventy-seventh session, the results of which we hope may pave the way for and prepare the Summits of the Future and the SIDS Conference, in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The future is to be found in each day that lies ahead, but also in the solutions we take and make possible in each of these days. We extend our best wishes to the United Nations. |