PR reinforces Cape Verde's ties with international partners

The President of the Republic, José Maria Neves, received New Year Greetings this morning from the diplomatic corps accredited in Cape Verde. A moment used for the parties to underline the will to strengthen bilateral and multilateral relations between Cape Verde and the countries and international organizations represented in the act, which took place in the Salão Nobre 5 de Julho. PR Neves stresses the recognition of Cape Verde and Cape Verdeans for the contribution made by international partners to the development of Cape Verde.

Another opportunity to reiterate Cape Verde's position in defense of differentiated treatment for small island countries, "in terms of access to financing under concessional conditions, trade facilitation and external debt relief, as well as the adoption of an Index of Multidimensional Vulnerability, as a criterion for access to financing for Sustainable Development”.

These options are even more necessary in the current global and national context, as a result of the multiple crises in 2022 and which are dragging on into 2023, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

PR Neves also highlights the political instability in some countries of our continent, in particular in the ECOWAS sub-region, of which we are a part, and which can also harm the sustainable development of African countries.

The Head of State argues that Cape Verdean diplomacy “is called upon to continue to play an active, dynamic and coherent role in the international community, based on the basic principles of the democratic rule of law, peace, security, stability and Search for Negotiated Solutions to disputes; defending the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Gender Parity and Inclusion, the Fight against Poverty and Inequalities as a means of building more just, peaceful and inclusive societies.”

Cape Verde, stresses the PR, “maintains and reiterates its firm intention to continue to be an active and useful Member, fully assuming its responsibility as a useful actor in the international arena, as a spokesperson for the diversity and designs of the African continent, as an active element within the SIDS and as a champion of multilateralism, considering that the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals is vital for advancing the causes of progress and well-being of humanity”.

Check out, in full, His Excellency's speech. the President of the Republic, here:

It is with renewed satisfaction and pleasure that I receive from Your Excellencies, and through you, from the countries and international organizations that you represent, the New Year Greetings addressed to me and, naturally, also to the Cape Verdean Nation.

I am grateful for the kind and encouraging words spoken by the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr. Carlos Alberto Pires Gomes, Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe. I wish Your Excellencies a year 2023 filled with peace, health, well-being and prosperity, which I extend to the Heads of State and the leaders of the International Organizations who so dignified you
it is up to represent.

The year 2022 was, worldwide, a year of many hardships and enormous challenges. Cape Verde was no exception and continues to suffer the harsh consequences of the multiple crises that have been plaguing the country, namely, climate change and successive years of severe drought, the COVID 19 pandemic that brought enormous health and socioeconomic costs, the war in Ukraine with a heavy impact on access to and costs of energy and food, causing a slowdown in economic growth and rising inflation, unemployment, poverty and inequalities. And to all this is added the worsening of conflicts in the West African sub-region, with negative effects on stability and security in the sub-region where Cape Verde is located.

But, with resilience – characteristic of the people of these islands – but also counting on the permanent friendship and solidarity of its international partners represented here, Cape Verde has known how to deal with difficulties. On this occasion, I cannot fail to address my most heartfelt thanks for the continued and essential support for the development
from the country!

Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors,

The COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, associated with climate change, greatly aggravated Cape Verde's constraints and structural vulnerabilities, taking into account its status as a Small Island Developing State. The worsening of the public debt and the degradation of social indicators constitute enormous challenges for achieving the goals established in national plans and set by the Sustainable Development Goals in the United Nations 2030 Agenda and by the African Union 2063 Agenda.

It is in this context that Cape Verde has been advocating for the urgent international legitimacy of a differentiated treatment in terms of access to financing under concessional conditions, trade facilitation and external debt relief, as well as the adoption of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index, as a criterion of access to financing for Sustainable Development and that meets the specificities of small island economies, more vulnerable to climate change and natural catastrophes. At the same time, Cape Verde has appealed to the international community to consider the possibility of transforming the debt of Small States,
Islands in Development, SIDS, in climate investments and in education,
in health and in the fight against poverty and inequalities.

In these desideratums, we hope to be able to count on the support of our partners in
development, namely the countries and International Organizations that
Your Excellencies here represent. Despite these priority challenges, Cape Verdean diplomacy is called upon to continue to play an active, dynamic and coherent role in the community
international law, based on the basic principles of the Democratic Rule of Law,
Peace, Security, Stability and the Search for Negotiated Solutions to disputes; defending the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Gender Parity and Inclusion, the Fight against Poverty and Inequalities as a means of building more just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

Cape Verde maintains and reiterates its firm intention to continue to be an active and useful Member, fully assuming its responsibility as a useful actor in the international arena, as a spokesman for the diversity and goals of the African continent, as an active element within the SIDS and as a champion of multilateralism, considering that the implementation and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals is vital for advancing the causes of human progress and well-being.

In the current situation, the world needs an effective, inclusive, preventive, dissuasive and cooperative Multilateralism, which can lay the foundations for a new global commitment and lead to a more just, balanced and inclusive governance where all countries can have access to the mechanisms of
financing and see their economies better integrated into regional and global value chains, in other words, an international system based on universal values such as Peace and Security, Human Rights and Sustainable Development.

Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors,

The world order is changing and the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the immense vulnerabilities and weaknesses that still persist on the African continent, where several challenges have given way to open crises, successive or concomitant, which have been multiplying, such as the climate crisis, the health crisis, the geopolitical crises that lead to conflicts and wars, the
arising from the nuclear arms race, the crises caused by terrorism and in the field of cybersecurity, the subversion of the constitutional order instituted, through coups d'état, the food, energy and inflationary crises, in short, the crises associated with people on the move, displaced ,
refugees or migrants.

The emergence of these multiple crises has deepened the gap that separates Africa from sustainable development for all, further increasing its dependence on vital domains such as security, energy, food, digital and health.

I argue that in order to mitigate these crises, it is necessary, from the outset, to do our homework. It is necessary, at the level of the continent, to carry out, effectively, the reform of the African Union, to create a true system of multilevel governance, with the distribution of work between the Union, the sub-regional organizations and the States; carry out structural reforms at the level of each African country; to have inclusive political and economic institutions capable of bringing together and mobilizing all our forces and energies and putting them at the service of development.

Create the necessary conditions, at country level, to form public policies capable of responding to the expectations, demands, demands of African men and women, particularly young people. Therefore, the necessary changes must be made to face climate change, reduce and eliminate the info-exclusion, make the digital transition and the energy transition and create the necessary conditions for the inclusive growth and competitiveness of African countries and, thus, create the conditions of greater social stability and ensure peace and security on the continent.

Africa has resources, it has talents, it has capabilities, it has an immense Diaspora spread across the world, and if it manages to mobilize all these resources, all these talents and all these capacities, we will be able to build the Africa we want.

Africa can be one of the most important political and economic actors in this
XXI century!

Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors and Representatives of Organizations
international,

The New Year offers us new opportunities to selflessly embrace the various challenges that lie ahead of us and here we are, ready to walk towards 2023, imbued with renewed confidence and hope that we will overcome them, despite the uncertainties that still persist regarding to the future.

I hope that you will continue to work towards the consolidation and deepening of friendly and cooperative relations between Cape Verde and your respective countries and international organizations, especially in this international collective effort to mitigate the effects of multiple crises, in a complex environment full of uncertainties .

I conclude by sending a hug of morabeza to the peoples and organizations represented here and I renew my wishes for a good Year, with more health, more peace, more security, prosperity and happiness for all.