Excellencies, president of the 81st session of the General Assembly. Mr. Secretary General, your excellencies, heads of State and government, distinguished delegates. Ladies and gentlemen. Before delivering the message of His Excellency Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of the Republic of the Congo, please allow me to express my very deep gratitude for the honour he has bestowed upon me by entrusting me with this mission, and I carry it out with respect, loyalty, and a sense of duty, fully aware of the significance of faithfully conveying the national message entrusted to me today. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of the Congo congratulates the election of His Excellency Mr. Khalilur Rahman as president of the 81st session of the General Assembly. We also pay tribute to Her Excellency, Miss Annalena Baerbock for her contribution to our work, and we further express our profound gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary general of the United Nations, for his advocacy on behalf of Africa, his constant commitment to the Congo Basin and his support to the peace, mediation and dialogue efforts undertaken by our country.

And in this regard, the Republic of the Congo is following very closely the selection process for the next UN Secretary General. We believe that Africa a continent at the centre of many UN challenges and global geopolitical issues, must remain at the heart of the future Secretary-General's agenda. The next Secretary General must embrace a truly universal vision of the United Nations, one that leaves no continent at the margins and which fully takes into account Africa's place, responsibilities and legitimate interests. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, for the Republic of the Congo, restoring trust and managing transformation of our international institutions is a collective imperative. The theme of this session, Restoring Trust and Managing Transformation, resonates as a call for clarity and courage in a world where trust is eroding, tensions are rising and double standards and relationships of force threaten to replace both the spirit and the letter of the UN charter. Humanity has never needed a renewed, inclusive and representative multilateralism more than it does today, a multilateralism that can reflect the realities of a multi-polar world in which Africa occupies its rightful place. This renewal requires a deep reform of international institutions, foremost amongst them the Security Council. Africa, strengthened by its history, its demographic dynamism and geopolitical importance, can no longer remain on the sidelines of decisions that shape its destiny. It must become a full and legitimate actor in accordance with the consensus. Africa's demand for two permanent Security Council seats with veto power is not a request, but a right, a legitimate right, grounded, which reflects the realities of the 21st century. The world has changed and our institutions must evolve with it. This is an imperative, and Africa is not asking for a favor. It is claiming its rightful place. The Republic of the Congo is a member of the Committee of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union on Security Council reform. The C10 Committee will not compromise on this shared demand. Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of the Congo reiterates its willingness to serve the international community. With your support, we renew our aspiration to serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2030 2031 term. This candidacy of ours is rooted in a long diplomatic tradition, our sustained commitment to peace and a strong sense of international responsibility.

For more than five decades, our diplomacy has contributed constantly and effectively to numerous peace processes on our continent, and which also had global implications. And let me quote the following our contribution to supporting Namibia's liberation, and then the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola through the 1988 Brazzaville Protocol. The efforts to end hostilities in the Central African Republic, the initiatives to promote reconciliation in Libya, where my country leads the African Union High level Committee. Also, the peace efforts in the Great Lakes region. Our diplomacy is not a diplomacy of confrontation. It is diplomacy based on dialogue, mediation, mutual respect and African solutions to African problems. We reaffirm here and now the Pan-African vocation of our diplomacy and our commitment to international law.

Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, sovereignty is not a rejection of cooperation. Sovereignty is the ability of a people and a nation to freely determine their priorities, to defend their legitimate interests, to choose their partners, and to preserve their independence in decision making. And this is the understanding of sovereignty that the Republic of the Congo upholds. And we intend to continue pursuing a foreign policy based on non-alignment, diversification of partnerships mutual respect among states, and the rejection of any foreign interference in domestic affairs. We are open to the world, but we intend to remain masters of our choices and our destiny.

The Republic of the Congo does not seek to choose one camp against another. Rather, we seek to be a bridge between nations. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of the Congo has embarked upon a profound transformation through our national roadmap, which is called Let's Accelerate the March towards Development. And it includes the following priorities investing in human capital, promoting youth employment, strengthening public governance, diversifying the economy, modernizing agriculture and industry, expanding infrastructure, accelerating digital transformation and innovation, and consolidating peace and social cohesion. We are building a Congo that does more than export raw materials.

We aim to process and add value to our resources domestically, and this explains our interest in special economic zones because we think political sovereignty must go hand in hand with economic sovereignty. Our vision, I would like to point out, aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals, the SDGs and the 2063 African Union agenda, the Africa we want. But let's be lucid and pragmatic here. The ambitions of our development of the Republic of the Congo and many other African countries are impeded by the burden of debt inequalities in the international financial system and the consequences of climate change. Four years before the 2030 SDG deadline, we cannot afford another collective failure. The Republic of the Congo, therefore, calls for an ambitious international action on the issue of developing country debt, including through debt relief and, where appropriate, debt cancellation measures to free resources for SDG related investments. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Africa is not the world's periphery. It is one of its centers of gravity and a source of multilateral renewal.

When Africa speaks with one voice, it advances the international agenda and inspires the world and opens new perspectives. Three major initiatives by my country illustrate this the United Nations Decade for Afforestation and Reforestation 2027 to 2036, which was promoted by my country, the Republic of the Congo. Resolution 80/250 on the transatlantic slave trade, recognizing it as a crime against humanity, which was promoted by Ghana and the correct the Map resolution promoted by Togo. These initiatives show that Africa contributes towards defining the international agenda.

It is in this spirit that the Republic of the Congo will continue with its commitment to Africa. The removal of the visas as of the 1st of January 2027 for Africans promotes free movement, intra-African tourism and solidarity amongst African people, making our trade more inclusive all the while promoting the African Continental Free Trade Area. Ladies and gentlemen, Your Excellencies, the duty of memory also forces us to look at our history squarely in the eye.

And we are working on a major historical memorial. The Loango Bay Memorial. From this region, countless people were torn from their families and homeland through the transatlantic slave trade. Loango must become a place of truth, remembrance, reflection, but also a place of renewal. And our ambition here is to make Loango like a Gorée in Senegal, like Cape Coast in Ghana or Ouidah in Benin, should become a bridge between Africa and its diaspora. The people of African descent worldwide can reconnect with their history, identity and dignity there. This is also the rationale of our 2025 meetings in Harlem with people of African descent.

Your Excellency, ladies and gentlemen, we also re affirm our determination to mobilize Congolese living abroad. Our diaspora is a human benefit and intellectual one, scientific and economic one. Its competencies, its experience, its investments, commitment are needed to accelerate our own development. We need all of our children to realize our human capital.

The Republic of the Congo, is a land of opportunity. It's endowed with natural resources, with critical minerals, with agricultural potential, with tourism potential, which has not yet been developed, our expanding infrastructure and a strategic location at the heart of Central Africa.

And we invite investors and development partners to join us through, for example, mutually beneficial public private partnerships. We want the partnerships that create added value, develop our national competencies, promote technology, transfer, respect our interests, and help us manage and develop our economy. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the Republic of the Congo also bears a special responsibility for the Congo Basin, which is the world's second largest environmental Lung. This exceptional ecosystem contains immense biodiversity and plays a crucial role in regulating the global climate.

The Congo Basin is one of Africa's principal contributions to the fight against climate change. We cannot continuously accept that countries preserve these ecosystems on their own and bear the cost alone. Conservation has a cost and international solidarity must also have a value. We therefore call for fair and predictable compensation for ecosystems and carbon services for innovative, sustainable financing mechanism increased capitalisation of the Blue Fund and for the recognition of the Congo Basin as a global priority, and for the strengthening of international cooperation aimed at preserving it. We support a United Nations institution in the Republic of the Congo dedicated to the preservation of the basin. We also are asking for launching of a decade of the United Nations on afforestation, reforestation and national plans for the implementation.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Above and beyond our rivers and forests. The tourist of the territory of the country is more than a geographical space. It is the foundation of our nation, the basis of our identity, the territory for our sovereignty. The Republic of the Congo will always defend the integrity of its territory, the security of our borders, mastering our resources, and the freedom of our strategic choices. Our sovereignty is not negotiable. It is the responsibility that we owe to future generations, the inheritance that we need to bestow on future generations.

Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, we are a defender of peace internationally, and we are therefore call for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine for de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, a just and lasting political solution in the Middle East and in Palestine. We call for the stabilization of Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Return of the lasting peace in Sudan, continued reconciliation in Libya, lifting of the embargo against Cuba, restoring of peace and stability in the Sahel. We reaffirm that peace is not weakness, that negotiation is not surrender, that dialogue is not capitulation. And in this spirit, we will continue to prioritize mediation, dialogue and looking for peaceful political solutions so as to build Africa, which is prosperous and peace, from Libya to Sahel, from Sudan to Great Lakes. We reiterate the fact that we are available to accompany our brotherly countries in their work to achieve return to peace and stability.

Through our history, we know that peace is difficult to build, but it is the only victory that benefits one and all. Ladies and gentlemen, Your Excellencies, guided by the same sense of responsibility, the recurring Ebola outbreaks and repeated pandemics have shown that global threats are no longer solely military or economic. Health security has become an essential component of collective security, and here we will continue supporting the strengthening of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville and will shoulder all of its responsibilities in accordance with the 1952 Headquarters Agreement.

We also call for international governance of artificial intelligence and outer space. These technologies must remain in the service of humanity, progress and the empowerment of peoples. Technological progress must not become a new instrument of domination. Africa must also be a center of creativity, innovation and digital sovereignty. Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, to conclude, the Republic of the Congo remains faithful to its principles peace, development, sovereignty, good neighbourliness, dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect amongst nations. We will continue to defend our national interests while fulfilling our international responsibilities. We will continue to believe in Africa and in our shared destiny, and we will continue to choose the United Nations as a privileged space for dialogue amongst people.