Mr. Secretary-General;
I join the words of appreciation extended to you for participating in this meeting and presiding over the election of the Bureau of the Special Committee on Decolonization.
Allow me to extend our congratulations first of all to our Chair, the Permanent Representative of Grenada, Ambassador Keisha McGuire, whose experience in the work of that forum will enable us to make headway in our work objectives in the interest of promoting the decolonization of the territories and peoples that have not yet achieved their self-determination.
I also convey our congratulations to my colleagues, the Ambassadors of Sierra Leone and Indonesia, also elected as Vice-Chairs, and to the Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic, who will continue his functions as Rapporteur.
I wish to thank the members of the Committee for the confidence they have placed in Cuba by electing me as Vice-Chair of this important forum.
In the fulfillment of our responsibilities, and together with the members of the Bureau, we will work with resolve to make every effort to carry forward the mission entrusted to us by the General Assembly. Sixty-one years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, 17 territories continue to be subjected to colonial servitude. This means that the mandate given to the Committee is unaccomplished.
The responsibility we take on today constitutes a commitment to continue working in order to complete the process of decolonization, which includes, among other tasks our continual call for the right of the brotherly people of Puerto Rico to exercise self-determination and independence.
Despite the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our activities, we will continue to work diligently to ensure the holding of the Regional Seminar on Decolonization, as well as to hold our substantive session scheduled for the month of June, as usual.
We will not relent in our efforts to work in order to advance decolonization and to banish from international relations the practices of colonialism that still persist.
Thank you.