Chad

• Mr. President of the General Assembly;
• Ladies and Gentlemen Heads of State and Delegation;
• Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations;
• Distinguished participants;
• Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a pleasure and an honor for me to speak today, the anniversary day of my country's accession to the United Nations, on behalf of the Republic of Chad, to share with you our perspectives at this annual UN gathering, the place par excellence where the stakes of our common future are discussed.

Allow me, before going further, to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis, Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago, elected President of this session of the General Assembly, and to wish him full success in his mission, during which we guarantee him our unreserved support.

I also wish to congratulate and thank His Excellency Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, the outgoing President of the General Assembly, for his brilliant mandate.

I would, however, be remiss if I omitted to pay well-deserved tribute to Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, for his commitment and his affirmed leadership in guiding the destiny of our Organization, beset by increasingly pressing and complex challenges.

• Distinguished guests;
• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our common dream of building a stable and peaceful world in which present and future generations may flourish is eroding as the years go by. The hope of a better, fulfilled life that we all wish for is increasingly giving way to anxiety and uncertainty. Armed conflicts, terrorism, climate change, large-scale migration, underdevelopment, poverty, and political, economic and financial crises are taking on unprecedented proportions.

Every day, we witness atrocious and traumatic scenes that offend our human sensibility. Thousands of refugees and displaced persons fleeing conflicts or natural disasters brave the cold or the heat with only a slim hope of finding better refuge. At this moment, the people of Chad have a devout thought for their sisters and brothers in Morocco and Libya, victims of the recent tragedies.

This is why we welcome the relevance of the theme of this 78th ordinary session of the UN, namely: "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its sustainable development goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all."

YES, this main theme is highly expressive. The words highlighted carry full meaning beyond their symbolic weight.

YES, it is time to rebuild trust and reignite solidarity, for the United Nations is increasingly showing its limits in embodying these strong values that nonetheless form its very foundation.

YES, trust is urgently needed, so much has our world lost its bearings and points of reference, notably through the practice of double standards.

YES, solidarity is an imperative of the first order, as this value, so dear and so precious to humanity, has been severely eroded.

Today more than ever, nations must combine their strengths and pool their energies to accelerate the implementation of projects and programs linked to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Peace, prosperity, progress and collective sustainability demand strong investments from all our Nations, particularly the most developed ones.

And this strongly recommended action should be carried out without exclusion and without prejudice, so that the expected trust becomes a tangible reality.

• Distinguished guests;
• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me now to share with you, briefly, the state of implementation of the 2030 Agenda in my country.

Indeed, from the adoption of the Program in September 2015, the Government of Chad committed to operationalizing the seventeen (17) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that stem from it.

This commitment is reinforced by the relevance of the SDGs to the context and development challenges in Chad, particularly in all the target areas of the SDGs, namely human capital development, poverty reduction and improvement of the population's living conditions, sustainable environmental management, and the consolidation of peace and stability.

With this in mind, the Government has included the SDGs among the priorities of the forward-looking "Vision 2030, the Chad We Want" and the National Development Plan (NDP) for the period 2017-2021, extended until December 2023, as well as the new NDP currently being adopted for the period 2024-2028.

The implementation of the SDGs in Chad has taken place in a context marked, among other things, by the collapse of commodity prices on world markets, repeated attacks by the Boko Haram sect, the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, intercommunity conflicts in neighboring countries with direct effects on our population, as well as politico-military conflicts.

This situation is today aggravated by the ongoing war in neighboring Sudan. As of this date, we count more than 400,000 new refugees, in addition to more than 600,000 refugees already settled in Chad for several years. To these figures must be added refugees coming from our immediate neighborhood and elsewhere. Thus, out of a total population of 17 million inhabitants, nearly 2 million are refugees. This is a very heavy burden for Chad.

My country calls for rapid, concerted and comprehensive action from the entire international community to address this humanitarian catastrophe, probably the worst currently unfolding in our world.

Furthermore, Chad welcomes the organization, on the margins of the UNGA, of two summits, one on climate change and the other on Universal Health Coverage.

On climate change, Chad, like other member states of the United Nations, holds hope that the momentum launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the need

for global action against climate change will make it possible to mobilize the resources necessary for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the guidelines that stem from it.

Regarding Universal Health Coverage, long committed to by our various countries, it remains, ultimately, the most appropriate solution to meet the need for quality healthcare accessible at lower cost for all, as well as to strengthen our health systems already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government is paying close attention to this matter.

• Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you know, since the sudden and tragic death of President Idriss Deby Itno (may he rest in peace), Chad has been engaged in an inclusive and transparent political transition process.

The first milestone was the conclusion of the Doha Agreement between the Government and the politico-military movements in August 2022. This agreement enabled the return to the country of many exiled or refugee Chadians. This clear political will to give our country a fresh start and enable its refoundation was translated into the holding of an Inclusive and Sovereign National Dialogue, which brought together the overwhelming majority of the nation's active forces over 45 days.

Today, the Government of National Unity resulting from these proceedings is hard at work preparing for the constitutional referendum that will determine the form of the State.

The adoption of the new fundamental law by the sovereign people will pave the way for the progressive restoration of constitutional order within the timeframe set by the DNIS.

Under the impetus of the Head of State, President of the Transition, bold reforms—administrative, judicial, security-related and military—have been carried out, and others are underway.

In the meantime, strong gestures of appeasement, ranging from the opening of political space to the presidential pardon, have helped ease tensions within the political class. This dynamic of participatory dialogue has also enabled the establishment of a framework for consultation among political parties on pluralistic bases.

• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Regarding the Sudanese crisis, Chad reiterates its call for a lasting ceasefire.

Chad believes there is no military solution to the conflict currently unfolding in this brotherly and neighboring country.

It calls upon all Sudanese women and men to make a national effort toward an inclusive political dialogue.

• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Two days ago, more precisely on September 19, at the opening of the UNGA, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres questioned global governance, symbolized by the UN Security Council and the Bretton Woods system, in strong terms, and I quote:

"The alternative is not between reform and the status quo.

The alternative is between reform and even greater fragmentation.

It is reform or rupture."

End of quote.

Who could say it better, in the face of the resurgence of current geopolitical rivalries, with the risk of a new Cold War damaging to peace in the world, at a time when multilateralism is facing a serious crisis.

Chad therefore subscribes to the call for reform of the Security Council as reflected in the common African position, known as the "Ezulwini Consensus" and the Sirte Declaration.

Finally, in the name of the founding principles of the UN, Chad encourages the solution based on the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian State living in security alongside the State of Israel.

Still in the name of this same principle, Chad reiterates its call for the lifting of the embargo imposed on Cuba, an embargo that harms the Cuban people.

Thank you for your kind attention.