Only a new international economic order will ensure the sustainable and inclusive development of landlocked nations, Cuba points out at the UN

New York, 5 December 2019. The United Nations held today the High-Level Meeting for the Midterm Review on the Implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024, known as the Vienna Programme of Action.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba and Chargé d'Affaires a.i., Ambassador Ana Silvia Rodríguez Abascal, who spoke on behalf of the island, underscored the interconnection existing between the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Vienna Programme of Action, which, in her opinion, should be boosted in unison, since each of their lags and progresses negatively impacts on the endeavors for sustainability and resilience.

The Cuban diplomat --who recognized the special development needs and problems of landlocked developing countries arising from their status and geographical constraints that negatively affect their sustainable development, including their long distance from world markets and their vulnerability to the effect of climate change-- called for translating political commitments into concrete actions, in a coordinated, coherent and effective manner, for the benefit of those nations.

Rodríguez Abascal emphasized that only through the promotion of a new, just and equitable International Economic Order, where developed countries honor their historical responsibilities and comply with their international commitments, will the well-being and development that the peoples of the South deserve be achieved in a sustainable and inclusive manner.

Cuba, she added, calls for the consolidation of an effective global partnership for sustainable development on the basis of mutual respect and the recognition of common but differentiated responsibilities and on the basis of the particular vulnerabilities faced by developing countries, in this particular case, landlocked developing countries.

Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations