STATEMENT BY FELIPE PEREZ ROQUE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, AT THE FIRST MINISTERIAL MEETING BETWEEN CUBA AND THE PACIFIC ISLAND STATES 16 SEPTEMBER 2008 Your Excellency, Anote Tong, President of the Republic of Kiribati. Your Excellency, Apisai Lelemia, Prime Minister of Tuvalu. Heads of Delegations, Delegates all, On behalf of the Cuban Government and people, I wish to extend to you our most cordial welcome. We feel profoundly honored by your presence in this First Meeting between Cuba and the Pacific Island States. As a member of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and out of geographic nearness and historical links, Cuba has had a better opportunity to develop its relations and cooperation with Caribbean island States. However, I wish to underline our interest in also boosting the relations of friendship and cooperation with the island States of the Pacific. We are guided by the principle of fostering relations of friendship, cooperation and respect with all nations around the world, regardless of their geographic location, territorial extension, population or economic development. We are aware of the deficit of physicians and other professionals in the Pacific Island States. We know of the limitations in their infrastructure and, what is yet more serious, the migration of professionals, in particular trained healthcare professionals, leaving for industrialized nations, as a result of their irresponsible and unscrupulous offers of better wages and living and working conditions. Today, Cuba enjoys diplomatic relations with 10 Pacific Island States. We have signed various healthcare cooperation agreements. In addition, over the last few years, we have held fraternal meetings in New York with the heads of delegation of Pacific nations, in the context of the annual debate of the United Nations General Assembly. Last year, we hosted seven of your representatives to the United Nations. Cuba has opened embassies in New Zealand and Australia, from where we have arranged for the accreditation of non-resident ambassadors to the Pacific Island States. We believe that this step will allow for a more fluid and permanent exchange between our countries. While convening this First Meeting, we invited all Pacific Island States. We look forward to similar such meetings in the future. Our cooperation with several South Pacific Island States, already moving forward, will become an example of what political will can achieve. Cuba is only driven by its interest in extending cooperation without conditions, with a profound sense of solidarity and respect. We have 15 physicians in Kiribati and our cooperation is spreading to other Pacific Island States. Likewise, there are 64 scholarship students from nations in the Pacific studying medicine in Cuba. Once they graduate, they will return to their countries of origin to render their noble and critical service. We are ready to receive other youths from other States, until rounding up the number of 400 scholarship students offered by Cuba. Excellencies: The voice of Cuba has risen in international fora, not only in defense of the rights of the Cuban people, but also to defend the rights of developing countries and, particularly, of small island States that run the risk of being covered by the rising tides as a consequence of climate change. Paradoxically, these islands are the ones that have contributed the least to global warming, yet they are the most vulnerable and threatened by its dramatic aftermath. Climate change is unequivocal and is accelerating. Eleven of the last 12 years are among the hottest from 1850. It will cause an increase in the frequency and strength of hurricanes. Cuba is one of the countries that is more at risk due to the higher frequency and intensification of tropical hurricanes. Only in the last few weeks, we have been seriously affected by two such natural events, hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which caused the death of 7 persons, devastated our agriculture and almost 500 thousand houses. I take this opportunity to express our appreciation over your displays of friendship and solidarity in the wake of human and material losses caused by the recent hurricanes. The current international situation calls for joined efforts and solidarity among all the countries of the South. Together we must demand full respect for the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter. We must demand our right to peace and development. Both the Pacific Island States and Cuba are faced with common challenges in their effort to develop, the training of human resources, the risks of climate change and the rise in oil prices and foodstuff. In September 2007, importing a ton of rice cost 435 dollars, now it costs 830; a ton of dry beans cost 660 dollars, now it costs 1 200; a ton of chicken cost 1 480 dollars, now 2 300; one ton of corn cost 207 dollars, now it costs 300. This situation has become unsustainable for the majority of our countries. This very serious crisis is the result of the imposition by the rich and industrialized North of irrational patterns of consumption and production; of the control by monopolies, by an ever smaller number of companies, of foodstuff production and distribution; of climate change and its negative effects; and the irresponsible use of food to produce biofuel. Desertification expands, the ozone layer continues to deteriorate and Earth’s global average temperature could rise between 1.4 and 5.8°C. Close to 30% of all children living in countries of the South, where almost 80% of the world population inhabits, suffer from low body weight and insufficient growth. Almost 900 million starving people and more than 800 million of illiterates are proof of an irrational and unsustainable world that must be changed. Developed countries, where 19% of the world population lives, own 74% of telephone lines and constitute 91% of Internet users. They total 71% of trade in good and services and 58% of direct foreign investment. They control 97% of patents and account for 84% of the world’s expenses in research and development. If this dramatic reality is not changed, how can we bequeath to future generations a world where our children enjoy actual rights to justice, peace and development? Excellencies, During our First Ministerial Meeting, we will have the opportunity to exchange viewpoints on all these issues of current validity. Likewise, we shall review whatever we have been able to accomplish in terms of cooperation, we will identify new areas and make projections for coming years. I thank you for your presence in our country, especially at this juncture when once again our people rise united and calmed, and I reiterate that the peoples of the Pacific Island States can always count on the friendship and respect of Cuba. Thank you very much. |