🇹🇱 Timor-Leste - President Addresses United Nations General Debate, 77th Session (English) |

José Ramos-Horta, President, Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, addresses the general debate of the 77th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 23 September 2022).

Noting that “there’s more liquidity in Asia than in Europe and USA combined”, the President of Timor-Leste asked the UN Secretary-General to host a “historic summit” to come up with a plan to fight poverty with the wealth from the Global South.

Addressing the General Assembly on Friday (23 Sep), José Ramos-Horta said that “it is time for the richest families and corporations of the so-called Global South” to “commit themselves to a vision and plan of action to rid Asia, Africa and Latin America of extreme poverty, child malnutrition, provide clean water and sanitation to every poor community, vaccines and basic public health, better education facilities, and better housing with renewable energy and connectivity for better access to education and business.”

According to Ramos-Horta, “this can be done by the rich of the global South” and “all it requires is vision, great hearts, audacity and understanding that investing on the poor of our own countries we are investing in Peace.”

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, the Head of State said that aid to poorer countries should not be cancelled out to be reallocated. He noted that, In 2015, donor countries reallocated their official development assistance commitments to the North African, Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugee crisis flowing into Europe, causing an estimated 15 percent drop in total aid.

For Ramos-Horta, “the potential for a diversion of aid is even greater now, after 349 billion dollars were estimated as needed for the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

“We must ensure that the Ukrainians are supported, but not at the expense of unity with the many struggling people in other nations,” said the leader of Timor-Leste.

Ramos-Horta also highlighted the progress made by his country since independence in 2022.

“At independence 20 years ago, we had 20 medical doctors, today we have more than 1,200 doctors for a population of 1,5 million. This would not have been realized without Cuban solidarity. At independence 20 years ago, life expectancy was less than 60, now a Timorese woman can expect to live beyond 71 years of age,” concluded the President.

General debate website: https://gadebate.un.org/

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