New York, 9 May 2021. Cuba welcomed today the Global Development Initiative, launched by President Xi Jinping at the United Nations General Assembly on 21 September, during the High-Level Meeting of the Group of Friends of Global Development Initiative, which was held today at the United Nations General Assembly.
Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who spoke virtually, described it as an inclusive proposal consistent with the need for a new fair and equitable international order that guarantees the legitimate right to development of the countries of the South.
The Caribbean Foreign Minister affirmed that seven years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda, sustainable development is still a pipe dream for the vast majority of nations, especially when most of them are suffering the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current unjust and undemocratic international order has led to a very small minority of the richest people on the planet increasing their wealth in the midst of the pandemic, while hundreds of millions of people, according to conservative estimates, fell into poverty and extreme poverty last year alone, he stated.
Rodríguez Parrilla also expressed that the responsibility of developed countries to support the efforts of the rest of the nations in terms of sustainable development cannot continue to be postponed or diluted. It is a historical debt after centuries of plundering and colonization, he emphasized.
He criticized how some powers continue to allocate substantial resources to the arms race, while failing to comply with the commitment to contribute 0.7 percent of their GDP to Official Development Assistance.
Likewise, the imposition of unilateral coercive measures continues, which violate the UN Charter and international law and cause serious human and economic damage, as is the case of the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for over 60 years on Cuba.
This system of unilateral sanctions, which is the longest imposed on any country in history, was intensified by Washington in an opportunistic manner, to an unprecedented point in the context of the pandemic, stressed the top representative of Cuban diplomacy.
Rodríguez Parrilla called on all nations to demonstrate true commitment, political will and willingness to cooperate among all States, if sustainable development is to be possible.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations