Dear Ambassador Jia Guide,
Distinguished Delegations,
We welcome the establishment of this Group of Friends of Global Governance in Geneva.
It is a practical step forward that will contribute to the implementation of this important Initiative.
It is often stated that the current global governance is failing the developing world. I disagree. The existing system is not failing. On the contrary, it is functioning exactly as it was conceived.
The current global governance was conceived to preserve an unequal international order. It was never intended to protect developing countries. That is why it disregards the legitimate aspirations of billions of people.
Today’s global governance is effective only in safeguarding asymmetries within global decision-making mechanisms.
It reflects a bygone era. It is based on institutions established before most countries in the Global South had attained independence. Eighty years ago, the United Nations was founded with just 51 Member States. Today, we are 193.
We now live in a global and heterogeneous world. Issues that were once local are now global. Challenges such as climate change, poverty, violence and conflict, disease, and migratory flows know no borders and cannot be addressed by States in isolation. They require global responses.
Under the current global governance, there has been—and there will be—no effective response to the complex and growing challenges we face. No system can be legitimate or effective if the Global South is permanently relegated to the margins and continuously bears the highest costs of recurring crises it did not create.
The present situation, in which a handful of countries monopolize the world order, cannot continue.
Humanity stands at a historic crossroads. Our future is at stake. The need and urgency to redesign global governance have never been greater.
We need a system that is more just, inclusive, predictable, and balanced in the face of contemporary geopolitical arbitrariness, marked by unilateral imposition, hegemonism, and coercion.
In this context, the timely and forward-looking Global Governance Initiative proposed by China responds to a defining need of our era.
With its five core principles, the Initiative lays the foundations for twenty-first century multilateralism, as it advances a viable path toward common prosperity, with benefits shared more fairly and equitably among the peoples of the world.
Cuba was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to join the “Community of Shared Future” put forward by President Xi Jinping.
Our country also firmly supports the Global Governance Initiative for the following five main reasons:
The Initiative promotes the democratization of international relations—an indispensable condition for overcoming the logic of domination and hegemonism that has characterized the unipolar order. All countries, large or small, strong or weak, rich or poor, have the right to participate in international affairs on an equal footing.
In contrast to the Western logic of competition and primacy, the Initiative conceives international relations as an ecosystem in which each State sustains a part of the global order. It promotes a more plural and inclusive international system.
The Initiative upholds the view that the diversity of historical trajectories, political models, and cultural visions of nations should not be a source of conflict, but of complementarity. It is grounded in respect for each country’s right to freely choose its political, economic, and social system, without interference.
The Initiative is based on respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter and International Law. It supports the central role of the United Nations in the global system.
The Initiative advocates for a new form of civilized coexistence, in which solidarity, international cooperation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes prevail over confrontation, the use of force, aggression, and unilateral coercive measures.
I conclude by emphasizing that this Group of Friends can always count on Cuba’s active and constructive engagement. We will also encourage other countries to join this important and necessary Initiative.
Thank you.