Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, June 26-27, 2008

Mr. Chairman,

Your Excellencies,

I wish to thank the African Union and Egypt, our host country, for giving us the honourable opportunity of addressing the African foreign ministers on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, to which all of the nations gathered for this important event belong.

I address this meeting as Cuba is about to look back on two years as Chair of the Movement.

During this time, the Non-Aligned Movement has yielded concrete results which have strengthened our position within the United Nations and other multilateral fora. Importantly, we have been able to avail ourselves of our chief strength, which lies in the preservation of unity in defence of our positions and interests. United, nothing is impossible for us.

The Movement has broadened its capacity to negotiate and have a real say in important processes within the UN framework. It has impelled initiatives in numerous areas and has pushed for the revitalization of the NAM – G77 coordination mechanism. This has made it possible for us to move towards the creation of a united front to defend a South agenda.

The role that non-aligned countries have played within the Human Rights Council has been significant. Not only did we play a central role in the creation of this institution and its agenda, we also successfully defended our positions in its most recent meetings. Proof of this was the calling of the Seventh Extraordinary Period of Sessions, this past May 22, aimed at reviewing the effects that the world food crisis has had on the right to food.

The non-aligned caucus at the Security Council and the caucus at the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace are also becoming more active. The range and quality of the discussions at both of these bodies has increased gradually, and we have been successful in denouncing the frequent attempts of the Security Council to take on issues that do not concern it, to the detriment of the functions of other UN mechanisms and in clear violation of the sovereignty and security of our nations.

The progress we’ve made will be reviewed at the Inter-Summit Ministerial Conference of our Movement, to be held in Teheran, from July 27 to 30. This meeting will give us an opportunity to evaluate the activities we have undertaken, revise and update the Action Plan adopted the Summit held in Havana, and identify the key actions we must undertake in the period that still remains before the holding of the 15th Summit in Egypt.

The importance and scope of the questions to be debated on and the decisions to be made demand the presence of the foreign ministers of all our countries at the Teheran Conference. This will guarantee the adoption of agreements that impel and consolidate our unity and solidarity and allow us to continue renewing our capacity, as Movement, to steer international events. We rely on all of you to succeed in our efforts.

At an earlier date, from July 2 to 4, 2008, we will be holding an important thematic meeting, the Seventh Conference of Information Ministers of Non-Aligned Countries (COMINAC VII), on Isla Margarita, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. There, we will review the challenges we face and agree on initiatives to objectively divulge the voice and realities faced by the South, in a world in which racist, xenophobic and hegemonic stereotypes are imposed upon the flow of information, monopolized by a handful of transnationals. It is a highly relevant topic today. We must arrive at decisions that can help non-aligned countries take steps toward putting an end to the lies and misinformation. It is an imperative in the defence of the dignity and sovereignty of our peoples.

African countries have always defended the need to present the realities of our peoples from an autochthonous perspective, which can prevail over the tendentious and distorted perceptions and stereotypes to which we are condemned.

Other Movement meetings have met with success over the past two years. Suffice it to recall the two meetings of Labour Ministers of Non-Aligned Countries held as part of the International Labour Conference; the meeting of Health Ministers held during the 61st Session of the World Health Assembly and the Ministerial Meeting on Human Rights and Cultural Diversity held in Teheran in September 2007. All of these saw the participation of numerous African countries.

The Non-Aligned Movement has strengthened its position in other venues. Vigorous efforts are underway in Vienna, particularly within the International Atomic Energy Commission, at The Hague, to promote our positions within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and within the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, the Movement's newest chapter, in whose Executive Council we have already had our first successes.

At all meetings and as part of all processes, we have discussed topics which are priorities for the members of the Movement and we have arrived at important agreements to defend the interests of our peoples and impel cooperation among South countries.

We are living a crucial moment in which the very survival of the human species is at stake, facing the growing deterioration of the environment, which stems from the unsustainable patterns of consumption and development and an unequal and unjust international economic order. The current world food crisis is telling proof of the urgent need to reform today's economic system, imposed on our countries. This year, we celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Declaration and Action Program for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, which, for decades, was a key instrument in the defence of our aim to create a fairer and more equitable international economic order. We must insist on its continued validity and application.

We work to globalize solidarity; we stress the need to use resources economically and rationally, particularly energy resources; we condemn the million-dollar military budgets of powerful nations and demand that those immense financial, technological and human resources be destined to the fight against the global crisis we face and the eradication of hunger and poverty in the world.

Your Excellencies,

Cuba proudly proclaims the African roots of its culture and national identity. Cuba is immensely grateful for the solidarity and support it has always received and continues to receive from its African brothers, in our struggle against the blockade and external aggression.

Cuba assumes, as its own, the reality faced by African peoples and is next to them in their efforts to break out of underdevelopment. More than 2 thousand volunteer Cuban combatants generously gave their lives in these African lands in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid. Nearly 400 thousand Cubans lived those years of pain and glory next to their African brothers. The magnificent relations Cuba maintains with the governments and peoples of Africa are today much more solid than in 1963, when the Organization for African Unity was founded.

More than 35,000 young Africans have graduated from Cuban institutions in the last four decades. Today, more than 2,400 study at our universities and are treated as family by the Cuban people. More than 100 thousand Cuban doctors, engineers and teachers have worked in Africa over the years. Currently, more than 2, 700 Cubans offer their fraternal aid as part of civilian cooperation efforts in 35 African countries. Nearly 1,500 of them are medical doctors.

The people and government of Cuba feel deeply honoured and proud of their strong relations of friendship and cooperation with their African brothers and are fully convinced that, with the support of the African peoples, the Non-Aligned Movement shall be able to meet the important goals it has set for itself.

We wish you every success at this 11th African Union Summit.

Thank you very much.