Mr. President,
Madam Secretary-General,
Ministers, delegates, and guests,
The current system of international relations suffers from the imbalances of an unjust, unequal, and exclusionary order—one that is unsustainable for the planet and incompatible with the well-being of all, as it marginalizes the peoples of the South from global progress.
The world is in urgent need of a fairer global contract; of a new, civilized coexistence where cooperation and integration among nations prevail over differences. Peoples need less interference and more solidarity; less unequal exchange and more equity.
Without a profound reform of the international order, for millions of people—especially in the South—the possibility of a dignified future is, and will remain, a utopia.
This Conference faces the major challenge of adopting effective actions to guide the work of the Organization over the next four years.
One of the main issues that deserves close attention is the influence of new scientific developments, such as artificial intelligence and digital platforms, on international trade. These innovations must become tools to promote fairer and more accessible trade, not to deepen existing inequalities.
An inclusive and democratic governance of Artificial Intelligence is an indispensable premise—one that ensures all countries have access to its benefits.
Another matter of great importance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is financing for development and the establishment of an effective multilateral mechanism to manage the global sovereign debt crisis, with the active participation of the countries of the South, ensuring a fair, balanced, and development-oriented approach.
While wealthy nations fail to meet their commitments to development assistance, countries of the South are forced to spend up to 15 percent of their revenues on interest payments related to external debt. What kind of sustainable development can be achieved under such conditions?
UNCTAD could assume a more prominent role in promoting and implementing the Seville Commitment.
For more than seven decades, the international financial architecture has been ineffective and obsolete—deeply unjust and exclusionary. It has served only to perpetuate disparities, compelling the South to immobilize financial resources and take on debt to shield itself from the instability generated by that very system.
We need a new financial architecture that ensures fair treatment for developing countries, both in decision-making and in access to financing. We are not asking for charity or pleading for favors. We are claiming rights.
Distinguished colleagues,
There is an alarming trend toward the increasing use of unilateral coercive measures against developing nations. My country firmly condemns and rejects them. The outcome document of this Conference must do the same.
Cuba continues to advance in the implementation of its Economic and Social Development Plan through 2030, despite facing for more than sixty years an illegal and genocidal economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the Government of the United States.
This blockade constitutes the most severe and prolonged system of unilateral coercive measures ever applied against any nation.
It is a deliberate act of economic warfare by a powerful country against a small developing nation, aimed at depriving it of financial revenues, destroying the government’s ability to meet the people’s needs, collapsing the economy, and generating ungovernability.
Since 2019, the blockade has escalated to an extreme dimension—much more cruel and inhumane—expressed not only in enormous material and financial costs, but also in the unbearable strain it imposes on the daily life of our nation. The persistence of this policy has a brutal impact on Cuban families.
This policy has a deterrent and intimidating effect on third parties engaged in commercial relations with Cuba. It has increased the country risk rating and caused serious difficulties in the banking and financial sectors, international trade, access to credit, and fuel procurement. It hinders access to suppliers of essential goods and inputs for our economic development and discourages foreign investment.
On 28-29 October, the United Nations General Assembly will once again consider the annual resolution condemning the blockade. We are deeply grateful in advance for the valuable support of the nations you represent for the just demand of the Cuban people to end this policy, through the adoption of that resolution.
Mr. President,
We are witnessing the greatest scientific and technological revolution in human history. Yet these opportunities are not available to all. There exists an undeniable digital and knowledge divide.
This explains why, amid the colossal advances of science and technology, the world is regressing in the fight against extreme poverty. In the twenty-first century, it is an affront to human dignity that nearly 800 million people go hungry on a planet that produces enough food for everyone—or that in this era of rapid development in information and communications technologies, more than 760 million people, two-thirds of them women, remain illiterate.
We call for genuine cooperation—free from barriers and protectionism—that guarantees access to knowledge and technology transfer to developing countries. Knowledge must be a global public good, not a tool of commercial domination.
South-South cooperation, based on solidarity, and regional integration strengthen developing countries and bring us closer to a world where development is, at last, a right for all and not a privilege for a few.
Mr. President,
UNCTAD has a vital and indispensable role to play within the multilateral system. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the outcomes of this Conference strengthen the Organization, so that it may effectively fulfill its important mandate.
There is an urgent need for a firm and renewed commitment to multilateralism, to promote sustainable, equitable, and inclusive development for all nations. In the efforts to achieve that goal, Cuba will always stand ready to contribute.
Thank you.