Mr. Chairman,
It is my duty, first and foremost, to acknowledge the performance of Palestine as Chair of the Group of 77 and China.
Mr. Chairman,
Fifty-five years ago, faced with the dilemma of playing by the rules of the strongest or planning their own strategies, 77 developing countries decided to come together to promote equity of the international economic and social order and to foster a paradigm shift in political cooperation and integration. Today, no one can ignore the achievements we have attained together or the political strength that the Group of 77 and China represents.
In this regard, and given the efforts to divide and defeat us, it is decisive to maintain unity and cohesion within the Group and to defend its role as the main negotiation and consultation forum among developing countries. Let us not forget that the common challenges and aspirations that led to the founding of the Group of 77 and China continue to have marked validity.
Imperialism in its eagerness to submit the world to a neoliberal fundamentalism based on the "philosophy of dispossession", financial globalization and the reproduction of irrational and unsustainable production and consumption patterns, has placed us in a highly complex and dangerous international scenario. The imposition of an unjust international economic order has not only deepened socio-economic polarization, but has hindered the solution of alarming problems such as extreme poverty, hunger, food insecurity, illiteracy, deaths from preventable and curable diseases, unemployment, environmental degradation and the intensification of extreme weather events related to climate change.
Similarly, several armed and unarmed conflicts are intensifying, most of which are promoted by the great powers with the aim of ensuring control of strategic natural resources. The imposition of unilateral coercive measures has become a recurrent resource to exert political and economic pressure against our peoples.
The external debt has quadrupled in the last 20 years, rising from 2,379,341,000,000 US dollars in 1998 to 10,057,936,000,000 US dollars in 2018[1]; and developing countries continue to be forced to devote huge resources to it. While this is happening, most industrialized countries are failing to honor their commitment to pay 0.7% of their GDP for Official Development Assistance (ODA) and are allocating billions of dollars of financial resources to the speculative market and the arms race. It should not come as a surprise that in 2018 military expenditures exceeded 1.8 trillion US dollars and that 36% of this figure is attributed to the United States[2].
Mr. Chairman,
In this scenario, it is essential to seek and implement global solutions to solve the problems accumulated during years of colonization and exploitation. In this regard, the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a comprehensive and universal document that places the human being at the center of processes and complements the three pillars of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental pillars.
Likewise, South-South Cooperation continues to be an innovative expression of solidarity among developing countries and a new way of interpreting the political, economic and social relations among our peoples. Hence the importance of promoting and perfecting it, without forgetting that it is not a substitute for North-South Cooperation.
Industrialized countries have the moral duty, the financial and technological means, as well as the historical responsibility to increase investments and cooperation with developing countries, and to contribute decisively to the creation of an international environment conducive to sustainable development. Therefore, a climate of peace is essential, because there can be no peace without development and no development without peace.
The international community cannot continue to postpone the realization of the right to development.
The Group of 77 and China has the challenge of working in a cohesive manner to definitively transform international economic and financial relations, for which it is necessary to modify the functioning and governance pillars of the main international financial institutions and to achieve a fair representation, participation and decision-making capacity of developing countries.
Mr. Chairman,
In addition to the highly complex international situation in which we live today, the United States Government has intensified the implementation of unilateral coercive measures that directly undermine the sovereignty of States, the efforts towards economic development and the enjoyment of the human rights of our peoples, particularly the right to life, health services, food, education, employment and housing.
The illegal behavior of the U.S. government not only sets highly dangerous precedents for the maintenance of international peace and security, but shamelessly violates the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states, the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, and the international law instruments that we have built together.
Cuba has been a victim of this illegal and ruthless attitude of the Empire and, for almost 60 years, it has been forced to face an economic, commercial and financial blockade, whose main purpose is to compel our people to surrender from starvation and hardship.
Cuba reiterates that this unjust and genocidal policy constitutes the main obstacle to the development of the island and to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and represents the longest-lasting unilateral coercive measure imposed to any country. At the same time, Cuba denounces that the extraterritorial nature of the blockade has been recently tightened, with the complete activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, and the implementation of extreme actions, such as the persecution to derail our country's economic-financial transactions and the surveillance and imposition of sanctions against companies, ships and shipping companies that transport fuel to Cuba.
For these reasons, our country will continue its struggle to end the blockade and will submit its draft resolution entitled "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba" on 6 and 7 November within the framework of the 74th session of the UNGA. In this context, we deeply appreciate the solidarity of the members of the Group of 77 and China and their unconditional support to this struggle of the Cuban people.
Mr. Chairman,
The Group of 77 and China, a group that represents more than half of the world's population, is called upon to demand and promote the construction of a new international economic order based on equity, sovereign equality, common benefit and cooperation among all States; that corrects current inequalities and injustices and ensures prosperous and sustainable economic and social development for present and future generations. Only unity will allow us to face the complex common challenges and maintain the dream of achieving a better world, where the first law is the worship of the full dignity of man.
Cuba reiterates its commitment to the objectives and principles that motivated the founding of the Group of 77 and stresses its firm decision to unconditionally support the just causes of our brotherly peoples.
Allow me to conclude by recalling the words of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, at the closing session of the South Summit in 2000, I quote (...) "We are fighting for the most sacred rights of the poor countries; but we are also fighting for the salvation of a First World, incapable of preserving the existence of the human species, of governing itself in the midst of its contradictions and self-serving interests, and much less of governing the world, whose leadership must be democratically shared; it could be mathematically demonstrated that we are fighting to preserve life on Earth. This is the only way we can look forward to life and not to death.”
Thank you very much