H.E. Ambassador Jia Guide,
Distinguished Delegations,
We welcome the establishment of this Group of Friends of Global Governance in Geneva.
It is a practical step that will contribute to the implementation of this important Initiative.
It is often stated that the current global governance system is failing the developing world. I disagree. The current system is not failing. On the contrary, it is functioning exactly as it was designed to.
The current global governance architecture was designed to sustain an unequal international order. It was never intended to protect developing countries. That is why it ignores the legitimate aspirations of billions of people.
The current system is only effective in preserving asymmetries within global decision-making mechanisms.
It reflects a bygone era. It is based on institutions established before most countries of the Global South gained independence. Eighty years ago, the United Nations was founded with only 51 Member States. Today, we are 193.
We now live in a global and heterogeneous world. What were once local problems are now global. Challenges such as climate change, poverty, violence and conflict, diseases, and migration flows know no borders and cannot be addressed by States in isolation. They require global responses.
Under the current system of global governance, there has not been, nor will there be, an effective response to the complex and growing challenges we face. A system in which the Global South is permanently relegated to the periphery and consistently bears the greatest costs of crises it did not cause cannot be considered legitimate or effective.
The current situation, in which a few countries monopolize the global order, cannot continue.
Humanity stands at a historic crossroads. Our future is at stake. Never has the need and urgency to redesign global governance 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 wise Global Governance Initiative proposed by China is a necessity of our time.
With its five core principles, the Initiative lays the foundations for 21st-century multilateralism, as it promotes a viable path toward shared prosperity, with benefits distributed 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 advocates for the democratization of international relations, an essential 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, on equal footing, in international affairs.
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 holds that the diversity of historical trajectories, political systems, and cultural perspectives among nations should not be a source of conflict, but rather of complementarity. It is based on respect for each country’s right to freely choose its political, economic, and social system, without interference.
The Initiative is grounded in respect for the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and international law. It supports the central role of the UN in the global system.
The Initiative calls for a new 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.
In conclusion, I wish to emphasize 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 very much.