Mr. Chairman,
Cuba endorses the statements by Egypt on behalf of the Group of 77 and China; by El Salvador on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States; and by the Maldives on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States.
For decades, the aspiration of developing countries has been to achieve a fairer, non-discriminatory international order enabling growth and development for all and narrowing the gaps with developed countries. Today, however, for the vast majority of the countries of the South, the international environment continues to be an obstacle to achieving the realization of their right to development.
Structural changes in the international economic, commercial and financial level are urgent, if we want to put an end to the underdevelopment of our peoples. We must achieve greater representation, equity and participation of developing countries in the mechanisms of global economic governance.
Compliance with the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda will only be possible through a real political will with a view to mobilizing additional, predictable and non-conditioned resources for developing countries to meet their development goals. Very few of the developed nations meet their commitments to offer 0.7% of their GDP as Official Development Assistance, which in 2017 only represented 0.31% of the GDP of all donor countries.
Mr. Chairman,
We support external debt relief, including the cancellation and restructuring of the debt of the nations of the South, in particular, the poorest and most in need countries. It is necessary to implement a multilateral mechanism for the renegotiation of sovereign debt enabling a fair, balanced and development-oriented treatment.
There is a need to build a new international financial architecture that guarantees greater stability and access and less conditionality, volatility and speculation of financial flows to developing countries.
We must achieve a universal, rule-based, open, transparent, inclusive and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system that guarantees special and differential treatment for all developing countries.
We reject unilateral, discriminatory and protectionist trade practices hindering our countries’ development efforts and undermining the foundations of multilateralism.
We also reject the implementation of unilateral coercive economic measures as a means of exerting political and economic pressure on developing countries, contrary to international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and which hinder the full realization of our rights, including the right to development, as well as the fulfilling of the 2030 Agenda.
For almost sixty years, Cuba has been imposed an unjust economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes deprivations to the Cuban people and constitutes the main obstacle for the country’s development, the achievement of its macroeconomic policy objectives and, consequently, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
The right to development of Cubans is limited by the negative effects of the blockade, whose cumulative economic damage amounts to 933 billion 678 thousand dollars. This prevents my country from accessing the best technologies on equal terms, from establishing normal trade, financing or investment relations with the world, and from maintaining normal relations with international financial institutions and companies from other countries, particularly those of the United States.
Mr. Chairman,
Without urgent, deep and comprehensive actions on macroeconomic matters, we will not be able to overcome the most pressing problems of our time: poverty, hunger, inequality and marginalization of billions of people, mainly in developing countries.
I conclude by reiterating Cuba's commitment to seek common solutions to global macroeconomic challenges.
Thank you very much