Mr. Vice President,
My delegation fully supports the statements delivered by Egypt on behalf of the Group of 77 and China; Maldives, on behalf of AOSIS; and El Salvador, on behalf of CELAC.
Mr. Co-Chairs,
We appreciate the convening of this meeting and we will focus our statement on the elements included in the letter by the Co-Chairs, dated February 15, 2018. On it, Member States were asked to provide feedback and specific guidance on how “elements of commonality and issues for further consideration" can be taken forward while reflecting on the interlinkages between all five clusters and on the core principles underlying Security Council reform.
Mr. Chairman,
Cuba associates itself with the statement delivered by the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of NAM and by El Salvador on behalf of CELAC.
We also welcome the presentation of the Secretary-General's reports and strongly support the work of the Special Committee on the Charter and its agenda. In this regard, we are pleased to have worked together with the Chair of the Committee and Member States to actively contribute to promoting and fulfilling the mandate of General Assembly Resolution 3349 (XXIX), from which this Committee emerged.
Mr. Chairman,
The Cuban delegation endorses the statement by Algeria on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and by El Salvador on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Mr. President,
Cuba associates itself with the statements delivered by the delegations of Morocco on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and by the Republic of El Salvador on behalf of the Community of Latin American States.
We appreciate the contribution to our work made by Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Mr. Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Field Support.
Mr. Chairman,
We appreciate your introductory statement and we join the rest of the delegations that have congratulated you on your election.
We would like to convey our congratulations to Ms. Henrietta H. Fore, on her appointment and her willingness to work jointly for the well-being of the girls and boys.
Mr. Chairman,
Mr. President,
Cuba supports a genuine and profound reform of the Security Council, to convert it into an effective, transparent, representative and democratic body in in line with developments of the United Nations and international relations.
We welcome the adoption by the Security Council of its Presidential Note S/2017/507, which consolidates all presidential notes on the Council's working methods.
Mr. Chairman,
As expressed in the Secretary-General's report on the priority issue, in the regions and countries most affected by poverty, statistical indicators show only a slight reduction in extreme poverty rates. More worryingly, this does not indicate that the root causes of this phenomenon have changed or tend to disappear. In reality, the situation remains very serious. In many countries, extreme poverty has continued to grow and, generally speaking, prospects for compliance with Goal 1 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are discouraging.
Mr. President,
We are grateful for the convening of this meeting within the framework of the intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform (IGN), approaching their 10th anniversary this year.
In this context, we support the renewed and sustained efforts aimed at advancing the negotiations on Security Council reform, an issue that has been on the agenda of the General Assembly for more than 20 years.
Honorable Sr. Isata Kabia, Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs of Sierra Leone,
Distinguished Permanent Representatives and delegates,
The international cooperation developed by Cuba in terms of humanitarian assistance for epidemic disaster relief is a modality that responds to the fundamental principles of our National Health Care System and our foreign policy, whose key pillars are internationalism, humanism and solidarity.
