22 September 2017 – Small countries, especially those in Africa, should be empowered with technologies to deal with and adapt to climate change challenges, as well as meet their development goals, the Prime Minister of Lesotho told the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level debate today.
“Attainment of sustainable development will elude us if there is no genuine commitment by all, including our development partners,” said Motsoahae Thomas Thabane.
“Indeed, the principles of common but differentiated responsibility and economic might and capability between the developed and the developing nations, are critical for our success in building a sustainable world.”
The Prime Minister called on the international community to continue mobilizing and providing additional financial resources to Africa for climate-friendly technologies.
“In the same vein, we urge countries that have reneged on their support to the Paris Agreement to reconsider their position and come back to the fold,” he said.
Agreed by 195 nations, the 2015 Paris Agreement seeks to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future. Its main aim is to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Prime Minister José Ulisses Correia e Silva of the Republic of Cabo Verde addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-second session. UN Photo/Cia Pak
While climate change is also a concern for Primer Minister Jose Ulisses de Pina Correia E. Silva of Cabo Verde, calling on the international community to prioritize efforts that would prevent destruction to the island.
“Each island that disappears because of climate change will be a nightmare for humanity,” he said.
Among other topics raised in his speech, the Prime Minister underscored the small country’s aims for “relevance” on the global scale.
“Despite our smallness, we want to make Cabo Verde a country with relevance in the Middle Atlantic in terms of economic stature, security, and diplomacy for peace and the promotion of freedom and democracy,” he said.
Resulting from mergers between Europe and Africa, Cabo Verde wants to position itself as a transit hub in the Middle Atlantic for tourism, air transport, port operations, financial and investment operations, business localization and business development in the digital and nano-technological economy, he said.
Similarly, the country wants to position itself as a “useful interlocutor in the concert of nations for dialogue, peace and tolerance.”
Pascal Irenee Koupaki, Minister of State in Charge of Coordination and Secretary-General in the Presidency of Benin, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-second session. UN Photo/Cia Pak
Also addressing the Assembly, Benin’s Foreign Minister Pascal Irénée Koupaki highlighted the importance of multilateralism as an ethical and political imperative for peace.
“Our session opens at a time when the world faces a multitude of complex problems,” he said. “Violent extremism and radicalism weigh heavily on international security and stability. The attacks against multilateralism, and thus attacks against the United Nations, are part and parcel of this pernicious tendency which we must reject.”
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