Your Excellency, President of the 64th Session of the General Assembly, Mr. Ali
Abdulsalam Treki;
Your Majesties;
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government;
Your Excellency, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon;
Distinguished Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Comrades and Friends.

Let me begin by extending our warmest congratulations to you, Mr Treki, on your
election as President of the 64th Session of the General Assembly. Your election to
this high office is a befitting and eloquent tribute to the personal and diplomatic
qualities that we have witnessed in you over the years. We are, indeed, proud of the
honour that has been bestowed upon the African continent as a result of your
election. We are confident that, under your wise stewardship, we will make
pleasing progress on the important agenda before us.

In the same vein, I wish to commend your predecessor, the President of the 63rd
Session, Father Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, for having brought his experience and
wisdom to bear upon the various meetings and conferences that he presided over
during the last year. He brought integrity, transparency and credibility to the
deliberations of the General Assembly. Indeed, we share his assertion, that the G-
192, that is, the General Assembly, being the most representative body of the United
Nations, is the best forum to tackle global issues which include the current financial
and economic crises. We commend him for standing up for what is right and for
upholding the right of each Member State to be heard, no matter how small.

Mr. President,

Over the years, my delegation has underlined the need for the United Nations and
other international bodies to truly serve the collective interest of all Member States.

Our unchanging conviction is that all international institutions should abide by the
universal principles which underlie multilateral processes of decision-making,
particularly, the principle of equality among States and the right to development. It
is in this context that we welcome the appropriate, indeed, timely, theme of this
Session: "Effective global responses to global crises, strengthening multilateralism
and dialogue among civilizations." It is our hope that we will have a candid and
holistic debate on the global responses to the crises that currently affect our world.

Mr. President,

Zimbabwe supports the revitalisation of the General Assembly to make it more
effective and thus enable it to fulfil its mandate. As the pre-eminent deliberative
and policy- making body of the United Nations, the General Assembly should play a
more active role in mobilising action against such challenges today as peace and
security, the financial and economic crises, economic and social development, and
climate change. Accordingly, the encroachment of other UN organs upon the work of
the General Assembly is of great concern to us. We therefore reiterate that any
process of revitalisation should strengthen the principle of accountability of all
principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations to the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

It is our hope that the current negotiations on the reform of the United Nations
Security Council will break the deadlock that has for some time now prevented us
from making progress in an area of strategic interest for Africa. The reform of the
Security Council is not only desirable but imperative, if it is to ensure the successful
implementation of its global mandate to maintain international peace and security on
behalf of all Member States. The fact that Africa, a major geographical region,
remains under-represented and without a permanent seat on the Security Council is
not only a serious and antiquated anomaly whose time for address is overdue. It is
also clearly an untenable violation of the principle and practice of democracy in
international relations. The reform of the Security Council should urgently take full
notice of the African position which demands two permanent seats, with complete
veto power, plus two additional non-permanent seats.

Mr. President,

The UN Conference on the Financial and Economic Crises held in June 2009 rightfully
positioned the United Nations at the centre of efforts to deal with the global
financial and economic crises. The devastating effect of the current global crisis has
clearly exposed the folly of leaving the management of the global economy in the
hands of a few self-appointed countries and groupings. My delegation, therefore,
fully supports the setting up of a follow-up working group under the aegis of the
General Assembly. It is urgent and critical that the working group reaches an early
agreement on immediate policy actions to be taken by the international community
in support of developing countries, who have suffered the most as a result of this
global financial meltdown. Such actions should include the development of a global
stimulus plan to respond to the crisis and other issues related to it.

Mr. President,

These measures will not achieve the desired objectives unless accompanied by a
comprehensive reform of the Bretton Woods institutions which, among other things,
would include representation of sub-Saharan Africa on the Executive Boards of these
institutions. We are glad that our unequivocal call for their reform is beginning to
bear fruit. We, therefore, welcome the recent decision by the World Bank to
establish three seats for Africa on its Executive Board. We are similarly pleased that,
earlier this month, the IMF finalised the re-allocation of Special Drawing Rights on the
basis of the US$250 billion pledged by the G20 at its meeting in April 2009.

Regrettably, only a mere US$18 billion of this money was allocated to low income
countries, while the developed countries, which caused the crisis, got the lion’s
share.

Mr. President,

The need to ensure global food security has been raised and re-stated at many
international forums. We reiterate our call for an urgent and substantial increase in
investment in agriculture in developing countries. It is critical that provisions of
agricultural inputs, seeds, fertilisers and chemicals be put in place for small scale
farmers, particularly, women. To achieve this, there is need to channel more
support towards agriculture, which has dwindled over the last few decades. In
addition, we call upon the developed countries to remove or reduce their agricultural
subsidies and to open up their markets for agricultural products from developing
countries.

Mr. President,

In the area of health, efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality, and combat HIV
and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, still fall short of targets despite the commitments
made at the national and international levels. Over the last few years, Zimbabwe has
made great strides in the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic, our limited
resources notwithstanding. The country has witnessed a drop in the adult prevalence
rate of 20 per cent in 2000 to 11 per cent this year. However, the country still faces
a major challenge in increasing the availability of affordable anti-retroviral drugs
(ARVs). We, therefore, continue to urge the international community, in cooperation
with pharmaceutical companies, to assist in increasing access to affordable essential
drugs, particularly for people in Africa.

Mr. President,

People living with HIV and AIDS expect delivery on the commitments we have made.
For sub-Saharan Africa, malaria presents yet another still formidable challenge. The
commitment of the international community and national governments therefore
needs to be strengthened so as to eradicate the scourge of malaria from our part of
the world.
We warmly welcome the renewed enthusiasm by Russia and the United States to
pursue actions to achieve a world free of nuclear arms and we urge other nuclear
weapons states to do the same. In this regard, Zimbabwe is honoured to have
chaired, in May this year, the Third Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Nuclear
Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and takes this opportunity to thank all
members for their support. We are hopeful that, having secured agreement on the
Conference agenda, members will produce a renewed commitment to the three
pillars of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty; namely, nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation
and peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Mr. President,

May I now turn to the developments in my country. Since its formation in February
this year, the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe has demonstrated a conviction and
unity of purpose, and an unwavering commitment to chart a new vision for the
country and to improve the lives of the people in peace and harmony. In the Global
Political Agreement, we have defined our priorities as the maintenance of conditions
of peace and stability, economic recovery, development, promotion of human rights
and improvement of the condition of women and children.

Regrettably, while countries in the SADC region have made huge sacrifices and given
Zimbabwe financial and other support at a time when they too are reeling from the
effects of the global economic crisis, the western countries, the United States and
the European Union, who imposed illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe have, to our
surprise, and that of SADC and the rest of Africa, refused to remove them. What are
their motives? Indeed some of them are working strenuously to divide the parties in
the Inclusive Government. If they will not assist the Inclusive Government in
rehabilitating our economy, could they please stop their filthy clandestine divisive
antics. Where stand their humanitarian principles when their illegal sanctions are
ruining the lives of our children?

We similarly call for an immediate end to the coercive, illegal and unjustified fiftyyear
economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba which is estimated to
have cost Cuba so far a total of US$96 billion, causing untold suffering on that
country and its people. My delegation joins other Non-Aligned Movement countries
which have repeatedly condemned the use of unilateral coercive measures as a
flagrant violation of the norms of international law and international relations,
especially as they govern relations between States under the UN Charter.

Mr. President,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me conclude by reiterating the need for effective and comprehensive
multilateralism to promote the global partnership for peace and development. The
United Nations and other international organisations which carry the legitimacy of
multilateralism should play a leading role in directing the course of events and
developments, taking into account the interests of the majority of its members in an
inclusive, peaceful, just, universal and democratic manner. It is our hope that
through our unity, solidarity, cooperation and commitment, the challenges facing the
international community could be addressed. Let us rise to the occasion and
demonstrate our political will and ability to work together for the good of humanity.

Zimbabwe is willing and ready to play her part.

I thank you.

Robert Mugabe