YouSaid · the spoken record

Martín Torrijos,

lines on the record: 67
first: 2004-09-24
most recent: 2008-09-24
sittings or episodes: 5
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

“The price of oil for non-producing countries has further deepened that divide, as it takes away from the resources necessary for their development. To give an example, over the past three years the cost of net imports of oil for Panama has shown a 250 per cent increase. That is the situation for the majority of the countries in our region, as well as for those in other continents, with very few exceptions. Countries like ours that are net importers of oil have to produce more in order to export more and thereby to be able to import the same number of barrels of oil. Rising oil prices are due to the sharp increase in demand by the major consumers, which have not adopted effective policies to reduce their dependency on hydrocarbons.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Amid such uncertainty concerning our public development policies, unforeseeable events — natural disasters, epidemics and, currently, the rising price of oil, an indispensable driver of production and 15 growth — have completely altered the balance of foreign and domestic affairs. Moreover, it is unclear whether the negative impact those events have had on our economies will vanish automatically once the phenomena that have created them disappear. Indeed, it appears that we are caught in a vicious and hopeless circle: the differences that have led us to accept urgent changes have, in turn, created more difference and greater resentment in the least developed countries, with more failed States and therefore greater insecurity in the global village.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“We cannot afford to delay in bringing about a radical change in the rules that currently govern economic relations among States, because, while in the United Nations we are slowly progressing towards equality and agreement, the world is rushing towards an abyss of inequality and disagreement. Despite the efforts undertaken by a number of the least developed countries to adapt their institutions to models that were supposed to help reduce inequalities, practice has shown that there is no one-size-fits-all solution that can be applied across the board to all countries. Indeed, the application of rigid solutions has contributed rather to a further widening of the gap between countries.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Panama has gained full control of its territory and recovered the Canal thanks to its visionary leaders, but also to a large extent due to the implementation of the principles of international law that the United Nations has staunchly defended and through the support of the international community. Panama can never remain indifferent to the destiny of the Organization. As one of the signatories of the Charter and beneficiary of its institutions, Panama understands the need to adapt the Organization to the reality of our time. The formulas used for bringing this adaptation about must focus on increased participation of States in the Organization’s decisions and must aim at the full legal equality of all States, an aspiration that has yet to become a reality, but which, nevertheless, remains the mainstay of the United Nations.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“The United Nations was conceived on a fundamental premise, that of the legal equality of States, which at the time was more of an aspiration than a reality. However, much progress has been made on the path towards building a world where the power of reason, justice and dialogue settle disputes between nations and not military or economic power. My country can confirm that the United Nations and the international community have created effective instruments and institutions to ensure that equality prevails over the deep divide between the industrialized countries and the developing countries.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“Allow me, Sir, to express the congratulations of the Government of Panama on your election to preside over this historic session of the General Assembly. I would like to congratulate warmly the Secretary-General for the dedicated manner in which he has undertaken the difficult task of reforming the United Nations so as to ensure that it will be able to address the challenges of the twenty-first century. I wish to express my special thanks in particular to the outgoing President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping, for his efforts in leading the consultations and reflections in order to attain agreement and, in particular, for placing his trust in the delegation of Panama in order to facilitate this process.”
2005-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 60 (2005)
“I will return to my country optimistic, because I have seen here a determination to fight poverty. I have sensed the solidarity of the international community in the face of natural disaster and I have renewed my belief that when there is the will, when there is faith and determination, the most difficult tasks can be accomplished.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“Sometimes it seems that international aid is provided only if there are desperate tragedies or acts of terrorism. Of course, when nations are victims of national disaster or terrorism such international assistance is necessary and commendable. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate Panama’s resolve to combat terrorism wherever it may occur. But we must not forget that many more people die because of poverty than in wars or natural disasters. I am pleased to report that Panama has done its duty and has stood by the international community in its efficient and safe management of the Canal. We shall continue in future to manage that important artery of international trade in the same way, so that it will be, as it has been today, open to shipping from all countries of the world.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“Cultural heritage, natural wealth, biodiversity and animal species threatened with extinction must all be protected. It seems that sometimes financial resources are found more easily for those issues than for the millions of human beings who are dying every day of hunger, or for those who are barely surviving, unable to live a decent life, and without hope. I would like to join in the widespread call on the international community to devise and implement bold and generous approaches to tackle poverty. It is shameful that in the technological age, when so many things have been invented that were unimaginable just 10 years ago, that we have not been able to invent a way for millions of people in the world to escape from the subhuman conditions to which poverty condemns them.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“But interest on debt builds up, and the needs of a large sector of the population also increase. Progress in reducing poverty among our peoples will require much effort and great resources from the poor countries; to a degree, creditor countries and multilateral agencies could compensate them by reducing public debt. In that regard, we propose that a relief clause be included in the lending programmes of the international financial institutions to reduce future interest on our public debt if we meet agreed goals on poverty reduction. That would be one way of compensating Governments for their efforts to alleviate poverty while also allowing them to meet their financial obligations. In the past few years, people’s concerns have shifted dramatically.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“That means that we have to speak out clearly about the problems, that we have to administer our States with transparency and that we have to fight corruption in order to win back the trust of people who are tired of so much deception and frustration. Latin America needs a new economic agenda, one not based at just throwing money at social problems. It needs an agenda that seeks to understand the complex nature of our countries and institutions. Stopping payments, restructuring, adjustments — that is a road that we have been down before, and our region was the loser. The new agenda requires absolute transparency in public administration and accountability. But the task of making public administration more efficient and more transparent takes time and resources.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“Democracy, as a system of government, ended up being conflated with the limitations of individuals, while in truth the problem was that Governments were unable to produce effective responses. The problem is thus not democracy; the problem lies with Governments. Direct help to Governments, in the form of loans or grants, has not been enough or sufficiently effective to solve the problems of poverty or the lack of growth that the aid was supposed to correct. Those of us who have the responsibility of governing and trying to provide answers cannot forget that, for many, patience has yielded to despair. The immediacy of their needs demands immediate solutions, which are not always to hand.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“The fiscal problems facing most of the countries in our region make the situation even worse, as Governments lack the resources they need to try to meet the minimum needs of their people. This analysis is not a new one. The “lost decade” of the 1980s was the result of exactly the same problems, although there was also an international economic crisis and an absence of democratic 28 legitimacy in most of the continent at that time. There are, however, undeniable differences between that period and the present. On the one hand, over the past few years unprecedented wealth has been generated, while at the same time the number of poor has grown. On the other hand, although more countries are democratic today, there is also a greater amount of debate on how to effectively address society’s immediate problems.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“In Latin America the threat to democracy posed by military coups has been significantly reduced. It is no longer army divisions that threaten democracy; it is the legions of the poor and the unprotected who can destroy democratic institutions if their basic needs are not met. But then we face a contradiction: the more poverty there is in a given country, the less likelihood there is of being able to defeat it. Countries are crushed by public debt. Millions of people are being born today already owing more than they will earn in their entire lifetime. Often those debts are the result of past deficits, which, owing to excessive bureaucracy, bad projects or corruption, produced no tangible benefits for the people.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“For that reason it is necessary that the principal organs be more representative. There are political struggles and armed conflicts on every continent. There is no region of the world where peace and harmony reign. Some are regional conflicts, some are internal ones, but they are no less bloody for that. And yet, there is one struggle that is global in dimension and that requires global solutions. I am speaking of the struggle against hunger and poverty. That was the subject of a 20 September meeting of more than 60 world leaders, who were resolved to tackle it with all the tools available to them. I need not dwell on the tragic numbers, but I do endorse what has been said by the moving force of that meeting, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil: “peace can never grow out of poverty and hunger”.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“The United Nations was conceived as a way of preventing war and restoring peace. Today, all the countries of the world have to be able to feel that they can come to the United Nations to solve their problems and not just to discuss them. If that is to happen, the United Nations must reform. For some years, from this rostrum, heads of State and Government have been urging the need for reform, and the Secretary-General has welcomed that initiative. I want to join my voice to theirs so that once and for all we actually carry out the reform. We cannot afford to wait any longer or the people of the world will lose faith in the United Nations. We do not need an organization with a glorious past. We need an organization with a future, one that can tackle the world’s most serious problems.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)
“I wish to begin by warmly congratulating Mr. Jean Ping, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Gabon, on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its fifty- ninth session. I wish also to extend my country’s thanks to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the powerful and inspiring words he spoke yesterday (see ). Thousands of my compatriots are today suffering under the blows of nature. Floods of a kind never before seen have brought grief to many families. The entire country has turned to the victims in a truly moving display of solidarity. With my heart in Panama with the victims and their families, I have come to the United Nations, because the tragedy unfolding in my country highlights more than ever the need to tackle the problem of poverty urgently.”
2004-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 59 (2004)