Cameroon

Madam President,

The honor falls to me to deliver this statement, which His Excellency Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, Head of State, has instructed me to deliver on his behalf.

Allow me, in this capacity, to renew Cameroon's warm congratulations on your election to the presidency of the 80th session of the General Assembly of our Organization. Your diplomatic experience and your vision, which encourage us to unite our efforts for a better future, are guarantees of success both for your term and for our deliberations throughout this session. In this regard, you may count on the full and complete cooperation of the delegation of Cameroon.

As you know, my country was honored to see your predecessor, Ambassador Philémon Yang, preside over the 79th session of the General Assembly. I wish to salute here the commitment, professionalism, and determination, marked by a spirit of listening and dialogue, that he demonstrated in carrying out his mandate.

Allow me also to reiterate to Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Cameroon's sincere appreciation for his tireless efforts at the head of our Organization and his manifest commitment to strengthening multilateralism in a particularly difficult and complex international context.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen Heads of State and Government,

Mr. Secretary-General,

Distinguished representatives,

We meet this year at a pivotal moment for our Organization, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary. The celebration of an anniversary is always a joyful occasion. But we must acknowledge that the current celebration leaves us rather questioning. This is also an opportunity for us to take stock and reflect on the ways and means of making it more effective in carrying out its missions, and the recommendations and promises contained in its Charter.

In this regard, Madam President, you proposed the pooling of our will, our efforts, and our resources. You rightly believe that we are "better together."

Cameroon shares this vision with you and welcomes the choice of theme for our discussions: "Better together, 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights." This theme is more than a slogan. It is a relevant program that we must translate, at the level of states and of the international community as a whole, into concrete actions.

The union of our forces is the very foundation of the United Nations Charter. Its founding fathers were aware that maintaining international peace and security, and fostering economic and social development for all, could only be the fruit of collective work. That is why we must maintain this momentum, for the well-being of our populations.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

The UN was created to be both a vector of hope, a forum for dialogue, and a catalyst for concrete action to build a fairer, safer, and more united world.

80 years later, it is useful, as I just noted above, to take stock and draw lessons for the future. The following questions arise: Have we achieved this? Have we succeeded in sheltering our peoples from the fear of war, uncertainty about their future, and famine? The current international situation, characterized by numerous crises, offers us a negative and eloquent answer to these questions.

In 2025, the global security environment unfortunately remains marked by a proliferation of conflicts and threats of all kinds to human security, including the nuclear threat that we thought belonged to another era.

Whether in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, or Africa, flashpoints of tension are emerging or persisting, and are endangering international peace, stability, and security more than ever before.

The armed conflicts currently under way in the world are a painful reminder that, 80 years on, we have neither been able nor known how to spare the world the scourge of war.

This situation is further exacerbated by the most varied natural disasters. These include, among others, extreme natural phenomena such as storms, hurricanes, forest fires, earthquakes, and other landslides causing significant material damage and numerous losses of human life, not to mention the various pandemics.

The world will only be able to meet the challenge of development if it wins the challenge of peace. We bear a historic responsibility to choose: either to allow war and these multiple scourges to prosper, or to offer our children a stable, united, and prosperous world. Cameroon has made its choice — that of peace and development — and stands resolutely at your side to turn this aspiration into shared reality.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

It is well known that there can be no development without peace, nor lasting peace without development. The ongoing crises, which have harmful effects on international trade, the cost of raw materials, and market supply, undeniably slow the development of many countries.

Yet economic development, through the Sustainable Development Goals, remains a primary objective that the United Nations should achieve for the well-being of populations.

In recent years, however, it is regrettable to note that millions of people still live in extreme poverty, in precarity compounded by disease and food insecurity. In this particular context, children, women, the elderly, and persons with reduced mobility are the most vulnerable.

While access to education has expanded, many children and young people remain out of the school system. At the same time, we note a decline in life expectancy, a deterioration in health indicators, and a critical shortage of health professionals, particularly in Africa.

With five years remaining until the deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, urgent, concerted action is needed to keep the promises contained in the 2030 Agenda. We must indeed take our responsibilities, individually and collectively, in order to achieve these objectives that we voluntarily set for ourselves.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

Cameroon, a ward of the United Nations, remains attached to the objectives and principles of the United Nations Charter, and spares no effort, under the very high impetus of H.E. Paul Biya, President of the Republic, to promote international peace and security.

It is in this spirit that my country actively participates in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and works, through its three major specialized schools, to train police officers, gendarmerie personnel, and other African civilians who take part in these operations. Furthermore, Cameroon remains consistently engaged in the fight against terrorism in general, including in the Sahel, and in particular in the Lake Chad Basin, where the Boko Haram sect operates.

Economically, my country has equipped itself with an ambitious national strategy that promotes harmonious economic and social development for the entire nation, while fostering progress in democracy, respect for human rights, and good governance.

This allows us to progressively and methodically realize the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063, among others.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

In the Congo Basin, Cameroon actively participates in the search for solutions to global climate change and the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. It will always do its part and expects the promises made in terms of financing to be kept. For Cameroon, it is important that the efforts of developing countries be supported.

In this regard, it is worth recalling once again that, more than a decade ago, developed countries made the collective commitment to mobilize 100 billion US dollars per year to support efforts to combat climate change. The same applies to development assistance, set at 0.7% for some fifty years now.

To date, all these promises have not been kept. Cameroon believes it is time for the expected funds to be effectively mobilized to support the significant efforts made by developing countries, including those in Africa, so that our shared environment may be preserved, for the benefit of all.

On another note, a general mobilization of resources is taking place in Cameroon in favor of major projects in the fields of education, health, infrastructure, and rural development, among others, with a view to bringing about structural transformation in the country. We take this opportunity to thank our multilateral and bilateral partners who are accompanying us in this effort. We encourage them to strengthen this partnership to enable us to achieve the expected objectives.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

The Pact for the Future and its two annexes, namely the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations, call on us for their implementation.

Likewise, the recent outcome documents of the Nice and Seville conferences, as well as the Yaoundé Declaration on the Sustainable Blue Economy in the Gulf of Guinea, have renewed commitments in terms of financing and access to technology, especially in this digital and artificial intelligence era, as decisive factors in promoting sustainable development.

Cameroon welcomes these advances as well as the commitments made on these occasions for the reform of the international financial architecture and the energy transition. My country ardently hopes for the realization of other long-awaited reforms, in particular that of the United Nations Security Council, to enable Africa to occupy the place it deserves, in accordance with the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration.

On human rights, Cameroon welcomes the development of the International Covenant on the Right to Development. The eventual adoption of this important instrument will mark a milestone in human history by unequivocally establishing that development is a fundamental right and not a favor.

Madam President,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Secretary-General,

At this particular moment in the history of the United Nations, it falls to us to act, and this is an imperative obligation from which we cannot shy away.

This means, in my view, honoring our commitments to finance development, translating our promises for peace into reality, and ensuring the effectiveness of our choices on human rights and humanitarian assistance.

It is also our responsibility, in the years ahead, to strengthen the foundations of lasting peace, anchored in prevention, resilience, and justice.

We have the means to do so, especially at this moment when global wealth in 2025 is reaching unprecedented levels, and when technological development makes it possible to significantly improve the living conditions of all and each one.

In conclusion, and as an exhortation, we must do better and do more so that the United Nations keeps the promises made to the peoples of the world, and so that it becomes, more than ever, the engine of a strengthened multilateralism, of fair and equitable cooperation, and of a rethought solidarity in the face of the worrying advance of multipolarity.

Thank you for your kind attention.