Uruguay

Good evening to all,

I would like to greet the President of the General Assembly, and extend that greeting to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to the Heads of State and Government, to the official delegations, and to the Organization that has worked so hard to bring about this Assembly today.

Once again today, I come to speak on behalf of my country, I come to speak on behalf of my fellow citizens.

We arrive here in this forum where more than 190 representatives come to deliver their message, different cultures, governments of different ideologies, different social, economic, climatic, and geographic situations; but if we are all here it means that, in some way, we agreed a long time ago to guide and protect ourselves by the same rights, obligations, and principles.

Under this international law with limited coercive power, where often the same standard is not applied to the great powers as to the smaller countries.

Once again, we bring to this Assembly a positive vision, an optimistic vision of humanity. But we cannot be naïve either: objectively, we live in a better world, although of course it currently has different challenges and threats.

We are convinced that globalization, information technology, artificial intelligence, and real-time communication are tools that help the integration and development of our peoples. Of course, provided they are used well. In this sense, there is a growing responsibility on the part of world leaders. Earlier today I heard the Secretary-General of the United Nations emphasize this very issue.

We live in a world where speeches are actions, where a world leader standing here can generate consequences with words alone: from an international conflict to a bank run, and so on.

Uruguay comes to this Assembly with a full and stable democracy. With full institutional respect, and respect for the law, which is already a historic tradition in our country, and despite the pandemic, despite the Russian invasion, despite various climatic factors, our country has recovered the economy it had before the pandemic. Employment has improved, unemployment has decreased, we have historic public investment in infrastructure, we have received significant foreign direct investment, and a large part of those returns have been reinvested in our country, which reflects significant confidence.

Public finances are in order, inflation is the lowest in the last 18 years, we have been able to lower taxes and, at the same time, we have carried out reforms that had long been called urgent, such as the education reform and the social security reform.

Uruguayans practice a highly valued responsible freedom.

Earlier today, as I was writing part of my speech, I remembered what I said here in September 2021. The end of my speech then said that the pandemic had finally solidified the idea that we are all one, and it is precisely for this reason—that we truly are all one—that today I want to speak about international responsible freedom.

It is clear that our well-being as independent countries is inextricably linked to the common good; this must be known, it must be accepted, and, of course, we must act accordingly. Since early on, many Heads of State have referred here to the environmental issue. I belong to a country that gave itself, many years ago, the name "Natural Uruguay."

Among other things, today renewable energy in our country exceeds 90%, we have significant reforestation, we have sustainable production processes, and I could go on adding a long list that affirms the concept of "Natural Uruguay."

After many years of declarations, of taking on commitments, the international community truly understood that the economy and the environment are intimately linked. A few months ago, Uruguay issued a sustainable bond, a bond based on rewards and penalties depending on whether the parameters established in the Paris Agreement are met.

I want to draw attention here today to the fact that we are convinced, we understand, that this same system of rewards and penalties should be applied to international loans, market access, quotas, and tariffs: not only with the intent to sanction non-compliance, but also to reward those who have processes that are environmentally friendly, that are sustainable. In this way, just as happens to us when we are children, incentives to improve will surely lead nations to make a greater effort that will pay off in domestic economies and, obviously, at the global level.

In this same vein, I want to share with you a situation that our country is going through, and I am sure some of your nations are as well—we could call it the sin of doing things right. And what do I mean by the sin of doing things right?

Well, our country has achieved significant human and economic development, and thanks to reaching those standards, we often find ourselves excluded from access to certain cooperation, certain preference systems, certain very important international trade relationship instruments.

Obviously, I do not want to fail to acknowledge the spirit in which these mechanisms were created; I believe we need to redesign them, because in some way they do not encourage countries to grow and sustain that growth if doing so means losing access to these conditions.

I want to make it clear, and have it on record, that Uruguay does not come here to beg, nor to make exaggerated demands; simply, as I said a few moments ago, appealing to international responsible freedom, we want justice to be done—if we do things right, let action be taken accordingly, and that means nothing more, nor less, than improving access to opportunities.

To conclude, because you have had a long day, I want once again, in this forum, as I have done on other occasions, to firmly condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and I also want to agree with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and raise my voice against authoritarian populisms that impoverish their peoples, that violate human rights, thereby condemning both current and future generations, and once again, perhaps in this forum, we should engage in some self-criticism, because often the absence of a forceful and effective reaction from the international community has deepened, or failed to prevent, these situations.

Thank you very much.