YouSaid · the spoken record

Boni Yayi

lines on the record: 32
first: 2006-09-24
most recent: 2012-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It presupposes inclusive governance in international political, financial and economic bodies. Moreover, the continuing challenges facing humanity make us fully aware of our interdependence and the need for an agreed system of governance in managing international relations rather than withdrawal and resort to unilateralism and coercive domination. I remain convinced that a new world characterized by peace, stability, security and the shared prosperity of our planet and our peoples will emerge only by the international community sharing its technology and financial resources, together with the wealth of the African continent. May God bless our planet.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“My fervent wish is that the current difficulties of development partners of the North, due to the sovereign debt and bank crises, and the austerity measures that they are rightly imposing on themselves do not def lect them from their commitments to a significant increase in development aid. In that regard, I am pleased by the reaffirmation at the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development of the resolve of heads of State and Government to spare no effort to more promptly achieve internationally agreed development goals, including attaining the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, while bearing in mind the concerns linked to the risks that current production and consumption methods pose to the planet in terms of the accelerated depletion of resources and the challenges for future generations. I am convinced that a new world is possible.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I call on the spirit of solidarity of developed countries and of countries of the South that are experiencing considerable economic expansion to set up, according to their historic responsibility and their abilities, opportunities to assist the efforts of African countries, as was agreed during the fourth Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed Countries, held in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2011, as well as at the Group of 20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, in June. The recommendations of those bodies reflect well our common ambition to transition of half of the least developed countries to the category of middle-income countries by 2020 — an ambition that has been fully integrated into the Rio+20 vision.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is a top priority for the continent, and we will not be idle as long as we have not achieved the objectives that we set in Abuja. In that regard, we welcome the decision adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union asking the Commission of the Union to develop a road map for the African Union for shared responsibility and global solidarity in combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa for the period of 2012 to 2015. A high-level coordinating meeting on the subject will take place tomorrow, 26 September 2012, at United Nations Headquarters.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Africa has decided to establish a free trade zone throughout the continent and is in the process of accelerating its economic integration through its ambitious programme of developing infrastructure — namely, energy, railroad networks, airports and ports. That feeds the hope that we will have support for private-public partnerships to finance those wide-ranging infrastructure programmes. In our implacable fight against poverty, Africa has no choice but to persevere in its efforts to ensure progress in the areas of food, nutrition, health, water provisioning, sanitation, primary, technical and professional education for all, and the independence of women and children.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Indeed, thanks to the incalculable potential of its subsoil and to the youthfulness of its population — which in 2050 will number 2 billion, 60 per cent of whom will be less than 35 years old — Africa could become the driving force for growth of the global economy, if that youth becomes professionalized. That is why we raised to cardinal principles the values of unity, stability, peace, security, good governance and the struggle against any impediments to our development, particularly corruption, impuntiy, the loss of accountability, fratricidal wars, political and institutional instability and brutal challenges to the constitutional order. We have affirmed all of those values through the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African charter on public service and the African peace and security mechanisms, et cetera.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The impact of those conferences will be measured by the fulfilment of the decisions and commitments. Africa hopes that the results of the work of the high-level group of eminent persons selected by the Secretary-General to advise him on the post-2015 development programme and the working group to define sustainable development goals will be able to achieve convergence in their efforts to suggest a vision of sustainable human development, capable of mobilizing the international community so as to achieve equity and attain a prosperity shared by all. Africa, the cradle of humankind, is also a continent of the future, of hope and hopefulness.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We also welcome the positive initiative of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition taken by President Barack Obama on the margins of the Group of Eight Summit, held on 18 and 19 May at Camp David, which calls for bringing together donors, partner countries and the private sector for a common cause aimed at pulling 50 million people out of poverty in the next ten years. We hope that this will allow us to mobilize more assistance for African countries in order to improve food security and nutrition in order to accelerate their progress towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals. It is also important not to disappoint the hopes raised by the conclusions of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which adopted more than 700 official commitments and promises of gifts totaling more than $500 billion.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In fact, of 40 countries facing a food shortage throughout the world, 34 still are in Africa, even though about twenty of them have allocated at least 20 per cent of their budget to agriculture. That is why the nineteenth ordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted a decision declaring 2014 the Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa to mark the tenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. The forecasted increase in food commodity prices, according to recent estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the already high costs of energy are certainly additional burdens for already vulnerable populations.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The prices of raw materials, which are the major source of export earnings for developing countries, have become very volatile, as have the prices of food commodities. Flows of private capital meant for foreign direct investment cannot escape the negative impact of the crisis. At the same time, we see a tangible reduction of aid for development and other forms of official f lows from countries of the North to those of the South. With regard to food security, almost 16 million people in Sahel countries face problems of famine and nutrition, in spite of the many efforts made individually by our States and the collective initiatives in the African Union through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Africa is fully in favour of the “one land, two States” solution to restore lasting peace in the Middle East, because in the end the two peoples — Palestinians and Israelis — must be able to live in love, friendship, peace and prosperity. As the Assembly knows, the world economy still suffers from the financial and economic crisis that was unleashed in 2008. In spite of the macroeconomic policies established by both developed and developing countries, with the support of the national and international financial institutions, the economic slowdown that began in 2008 has persisted, with the corollary of weak and fragile economic growth and more than 75 million unemployed people throughout the world, with very high unemployment rates in the developing countries.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It would also allow it to shed the inconsistencies that limit it to the incongruous role of an observer of carnage taking place before its very eyes. Those laudable reforms must be complemented by a system offering the youth and women an opportunity to get more involved in the life of the United Nations. Peace in the world is possible. We cannot ignore the situation in the Middle East. Today the United Nations has the means to find a fair and sustainable solution to the Palestinian problem, and under no pretext should it shirk its duty and historical responsibility. We are talking about security, stability and peace, not only in the Middle East, but for the entire world.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In the same spirit, negotiations to reform the Security Council must be intensified to achieve in the near term the establishment of an inclusive Council, one that would repair the historical injustice done to Africa with respect to its presence in that organ, which heads the collective security system established by the Charter of the United Nations. Completing Security Council reform would, I am sure, result in more serenity in the handling of the world’s current major problems in the area of international peace and security. It would confer greater legitimacy upon the actions of our common Organization and would allow it to renew its original vocation as an instrument of conflict prevention and resolution.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It is therefore high time to accelerate the process of reforming the international system in order to democratize the mode of operation of its institutions and mechanisms that regulate and promote cooperation among States. Since the 2005 World Summit, various measures having to do with rationalizing the United Nations system have been taken and have resulted in particular in the establishment of new bodies that have proven very useful. The Peacebuilding Commission, created to break the cycle of violence in countries emerging from conflict, has contributed to their stabilization by providing them targeted support to confront troubling situations. Similarly, the Human Rights Council is contributing to improving global governance with regard to the protection and promotion of human rights, humanitarian law and fundamental freedoms.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We must strengthen the strategic partnership established between the United Nations Security Council and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union with regard to conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and the promotion of human rights and humanitarian law for the certain benefit of our people. We must also think more deeply on ways to ensure predictable and sustainable financing for African Union peacekeeping operations, including the African Standby Force. As shown by the crises that are shaking our planet, the system of global governance that has prevailed up to now is suffering from serious disfunctions.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I am not forgetting the situation in Guinea-Bissau, which continues to hold the attention of ECOWAS and of the African Union in spite of progress made through mediation between the different the parties concerned, including ECOWAS, the African Union, the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, the United Nations and the bilateral and multilateral partners. I hope that the initiatives will continue to help to bring about a coordinated approach to the crisis in order to reach an international and national consensus on the situation in that country. I welcome the different efforts by the African Union and the international community in pursuit of peace with regard to the various other hotbeds of tension on the continent, namely, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, the Sudan, South Sudan, Madagascar, et cetera.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In Mali a very disturbing situation is developing which has to do with the occupation of the north of the country by terrorist cells that threaten to destabilize the entire West African subregion and could threaten security on the continent and throughout the world. The terrorist cells share the same intolerance that is destabilizing the democratic Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The international community has a duty to act decisively against that terrorist and fundamentalist threat and ensure that human rights are respected. I would like to reiterate from this rostrum my pressing appeal for the international community to commit itself, along with ECOWAS and the African Union, to eliminate that serious threat to peace and security in the subregion and to prevent large-scale humanitarian disasters.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In spite of the difficulties and shortfalls noted in their operation, the different elections that have taken place in many African States in 2011 and 2012 show the determination of the African peoples and their adherence to the process of implanting democracy and the rule of law in our dear continent. I take this opportunity to focus particularly on the efforts underway in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), supported by the African Union, to deal with the grave security and institutional crises that have taken place in particular in Mali and Guinea-Bissau.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“There is an upsurge in terrorist acts in the Sahelo-Saharan area and activities related to transnational crime, such as abductions and illegal trafficking of all kinds, in particular of humans, and trafficking in narcotics and counterfeit medications. Piracy and armed robbery at sea confront the States of the Gulf of Guinea and the Horn of Africa. We see ongoing unemployment and underemployment, lack of food in some regions and chronic malnutrition in many countries. Soil degradation and erosion increase, and natural disasters, the consequences of climate upheavals and change recur. Poor governance in international economic relations engenders an economic and financial crisis.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We hope that the General Assembly’s attention, focused since its previous session on the thorny question of conflicts and how to settle them peacefully, will help Africa to find appropriate solutions so that it can dedicate its resources and energies to the sustainable development of its States and to the well-being of its populations. The major constraints on Africa’s economic development and social progress are at once sundry and variable. They include, inter alia, the illicit and massive circulation of small arms and light weapons, which feeds chronic insecurity and transnational organized crime in States and regions of the continent heretofore havens of peace and prosperity.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It is a logical follow-up to that of the previous session, which focused on mediation in the settlement of disputes, and amply demonstrates the importance that the United Nations accords to international peace and security, the foundation of a better world characterized by stability, equity, solidarity among nations, justice, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and international cooperation. With regard to the conflicts and other wars that shake our world, the African continent faces many challenges which it cannot straighten out by itself.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“On behalf of the African continent and as Chair of the African Union, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session, and at the same time congratulate the Secretary-General for his leadership role for the peace and prosperity of our people. In our world, shaken by so many multifaceted crises, the Assembly’s general debate offers us the opportunity to transcend our national interests to contemplate together the ways and means to ensure international peace and security and to improve global governance for healthy economic growth, which is the guarantor of sustainable human development. In that regard, I welcome the relevance of the theme of this session, on the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The Government of Benin is ready to continue participating in peacekeeping operations in order to allow peoples affected by armed conflicts to overcome them and to create the conditions for stability that are necessary to ensure the reconstruction of their countries and their economic and social development. For us in Benin, another word for peace is development. This is the message that I wished to bring, on behalf of the people of Benin and of the least developed countries, during this general debate.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“That is why in 2005 Benin, while it was on the Security Council, sought to contribute to the efforts to enhance the effectiveness of that body in preventing armed conflicts. We welcome the Secretary-General’s prompt action through the inspired and wise recommendations he recently submitted on questions related to the prevention of conflicts. Resolving various conflicts enables the affected developing countries to resolutely get themselves back on the track of reconstruction and national development. From this rostrum, my country pays tribute to the decisive action being taken by the United Nations in the area of peacekeeping, and we repeat that we are willing to contribute actively to it.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Among other reasons, they floundered because of the crucial question of agricultural subsidies, which are stifling the producers in developing countries. My country, Benin, will continue to work with other affected countries to ensure the abolition of those subsidies. or at least to get compensations equal to the harm we suffer. In order to promote development, our countries are seeking to implement democratic reforms. However, as I said at the opening session of the meeting of the least developed countries, any democracy that does not go hand in hand with development is doomed to fail. Also, our efforts to promote development will not bear fruit if we do not succeed in maintaining peace in our own countries and throughout the world.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“The support of the international community should contribute to strengthening microcredit systems, which could be extremely useful in the context of efforts to counteract unemployment among young people and to promote the empowerment of women in order to improve their living conditions and enhance their contribution to the national income of the countries concerned. We must ensure the full insertion of developing countries, particularly the least advanced, into international trade so that they can be sure that, through that mechanism appropriate resources for financing their development are mobilized. Here we express our disappointment at the failure of the multilateral trade negotiations in the framework of the Doha Round.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“We are pleased that mobilizing the remittances of migrant workers can in some respects also contribute to development action. Nonetheless, it is important to facilitate those transfers so that they can effectively contribute to improving the living conditions of the beneficiary populations and their impact on poverty reduction can be maximized. But it should be stressed that the resources that come from remittances by migrant workers cannot be 06-52885 14 considered part of ODA and should not be included in ODA calculations. We must also mobilize resources through microcredits for the poorest sectors.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“It is good to note that some donor countries have achieved the objective of allocating 0.7 per cent of their gross national income to official development assistance (ODA) for developing countries, with 0.2 per cent earmarked for least developed countries. It is also important to encourage those who have already established a specific timetable for achieving those objectives. Given the inadequacy of official development assistance, it is important to examine new sources of financing for development activities, and some are already doing so. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the proposals that have been made by some countries, such as the French Republic and President Jacques Chirac. Identifying new sources of financing thus deserves special attention.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“They made the commitment to use international institutions in order to encourage economic and social progress for all people. Hence, reform of the United Nations, if it is to be viable and effective, must also help ensure that our Organization can do better as a framework and an instrument for development through the promotion of the well-being of the poorest of our planet, ensuring the economic growth of the most vulnerable members of the community of nations, in particular the least developed countries. Financing for development is a factor on which genuine partnership needs to be built between donor countries and developing countries. In this context, the Monterrey Consensus, as members know, continues to be relevant.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I am pleased to note that the Assembly is already progressing in the preparation of this great endeavour: the promotion of development is the key issue for the general debate at the sixty-first session, focusing in accordance with Ms. Al-Khalifa’s proposal, on the establishment of a global partnership for development. My country, the Republic of Benin, joins in this debate with the conviction that we will make significant progress in finding pragmatic ways of fulfilling the commitments that have been adopted on many occasions, for the promotion of economic and social development throughout the world. The question of development is at the heart of the mission of the United Nations. In the Charter, Members proclaimed their belief in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“Jan Eliasson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden, who had the weighty task of leading the sixtieth session of the General Assembly, which was focused, essentially, on the implementation of the major decisions taken at the 2005 World Summit. Allow me to pay a resounding tribute to my friend Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who over the past 10 years has wisely and skilfully led our Organization at a time of new challenges and threats created by changes unprecedented in the history of humanity. My country, Benin, believes that the future Secretary-General should come from the continent of Asia. We hope that the new Secretary-General will be able to take the measures necessary to lead the Organization towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)
“I am taking part personally in this session of the General Assembly in order to reiterate Benin’s commitment to the noble purposes and principles of the United Nations, and to express the readiness of the Beninese delegation to cooperate and contribute, as best it can, to the success of these deliberations. But first, allow me, to once again warmly congratulate Ms. Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa on her unanimous election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first session, and to express our appreciation for the remarkable way in which she guided the work of the High-level Meeting on the midterm comprehensive global review of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010. I also wish to pay tribute to the remarkable efforts of her predecessor, His Excellency Mr.”
2006-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 61 (2006)