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South-South cooperation remains an important complement to ODA. Partnerships among developing countries have enabled us to share expertise, technology, innovation and practical solutions suited to our circumstances. The support of Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, India and our Pacific family embodies the true spirit of South-South solidarity and we value it deeply. We also acknowledge the partnership of multilateral organisations, NGOs and the private sector in supporting development work in Solomon Islands. At home, my government is working hand in hand with churches to build stronger, more inclusive communities. Cooperation and partnership at every level and across borders are critical to nation building, and my government remains fully committed to them. Mr. president, as a small island developing state, our vulnerability remains a fundamental reality. A single natural disaster can erase years of investment and progress and push the nation backwards. The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index captures the special circumstances of SIDS in a way that income measures alone does not. We call on international financial institutions to integrate the MVI into their financing decisions for SIDS without further delay. Mr. president, last year, the world spent more than $3 trillion on its militaries. That is more than 16 times all ODA. In less than 18 days, the world spends more on arms than developed countries provide in a full year of climate finance. In the same year that military spending reached its highest share of global output since 2009, development aid had its steepest fall on record. Bilateral aid to the least developed countries fell by a quarter. This imbalance must be corrected. Redirecting even a small share of this spending would fully capitalize the Pacific Resilience Facility and the Loss and Damage Fund, secure the Green Climate Fund's third replenishment and meet ODA targets.
Trust returns when cooperation produces real, measurable results. It returns when a child is in school, a community is protected from violence, a mine is removed from a field or food reaches family, and it returns when institutions prevent conflict before it even begins. Last year alone, the world's official development assistance was reduced by almost 25%. This drop is the largest annual contraction on record for international aid. Refusing to spiral into negative trends, Croatia is contributing more, not less. Between 2016 and 24, our official development assistance increased five fold, while our humanitarian assistance grew more than 21 fold. With our U.N. partners, we are translating our commitment and funds into action. We support girls education in Kenya, provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza and assist Syrian refugee children. We also advance mine action in Ukraine, drawing on Croatia's own post-war experience and protect women and girls from digital violence. This practical, inclusive and human centered approach is also what Croatia brings to ECOSOC. If elected to the presidency of ECOSOC for the 2027–2028 cycle, Croatia will work to strengthen coordination and accountability. As 2030 approaches, accelerating implementation of the sustainable goals continues to be a central priority. Croatia persistently ranks among the world's 15 highest performing countries in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Our experience is not a universal prescription, but evidence that national reform and international responsibility can and do advance together. It is this credibility that is in the foundation of trust in multilateralism that we wish to see rebuilt. Credibility, which is strongest when every country regardless of its size, wealth or power, has a meaningful voice. The answer is therefore not less multilateralism that delivers. It is multilateralism that must deliver. It is this approach that Croatia would bring to the Security Council if elected to serve in 2030–31. Excellencies, Croatia's modern journey began in war, but war did not define its destination. Our experience has shaped the way we understand international cooperation and the responsibilities that come with it.
We have a long tradition of supporting mediation through the UN. It began in 1948 with UN's first mediator, Sweden's Folke Bernadotte. We have long been a major donor of development assistance, and we remain devoted to tackling global development challenges and contributing to urgent humanitarian efforts. Sweden remains a generous donor, but development assistance alone will not be enough to meet the challenges before us.
Over the last 8 years, my country has opposed all wars of aggression wherever they have started, whether it's in Ukraine, in Lebanon, or in Iran. We have refused to increase our military spending to 5% of GDP, and we've done everything possible to avoid aggressions that run counter to the UN Charter, placing sanctions on the Russian aggressors, imposing an arms embargo on the Netanyahu government in Israel, and prohibiting the use of our territory to deploy an aggression that was against international law, and unequivocally condemning the genocide that Netanyahu is still perpetrating in Gaza. We have also mobilized resources to do more. And in the face of the chainsaws that have cut close to a third of world development aid in just 2 years, Spain has doubled its investment in cooperation and has increased its contribution to the multilateral system by 60%.
Last year OECD donors spent about $175 billion on development assistance... a 23% drop year-on year. And yet military expenditures approached $3 trillion.... capping 11 straight years of growth. All the while progress on the SDGs has stalled at just over a third of targets, and developing countries are now paying the price for supply chain disruptions they did not cause and cannot cure. The contrasts could not be more stark. We must better prioritize how our resources are spent by augmenting development assistance, addressing debt burdens, reforming the international financial architecture, fulfilling our Sevilla and Paris commitments. And implementing the programmes of action for LDCs, LLDCs, SIDs, as well as the AU’s Agenda 2063. Because where we have done so, the results are clear: Over the past decade, nearly one billion people have gained access to safely managed drinking water. Electricity now reaches 92 per cent of the world’s population. And internet access has risen from 40 per cent to 74 per cent. Behind these figures are healthier children, more resilient communities, greater opportunities for women and girls, and renewed hope. These gains show that accelerating the SDGs is possible when developing countries and development partners work in concert. This indeed is a shared responsibility. Developing countries must also intensify their own efforts through domestic resource mobilization and plug any leakage or corruption, including capital flight — A plague that, until recently, undermined development in my own country under a repressive, authoritarian regime.
We have done so through our official development assistance and have deepened our solidarity with the Global South. To date, Japan has provided ODA totaling over 670 billion USD to developing countries and regions, and has dispatched almost 60,000 Japan Overseas Cooperation volunteers to 99 countries. Additionally, Japan has been promoting initiatives towards achieving universal health coverage UHC across the globe. Since 1993, Japan has co-organized the TICAD together with the United Nations. TICAD has served as a platform for reflecting Africa's voice in the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs and for Japan to first put forward the concept of FOIP. Africa is endowed with a dynamic young population and possesses enormous economic potential. Japan will continue to promote its diplomacy towards Africa, so that Japan and Africa can become more resilient and prosperous together. For example, we will promote industrial development, job creation and enhanced connectivity in Africa.
We are strengthening our domestic revenue and enhancing the quality of public spending. But a country facing war, epidemics, poverty, and climate shock simultaneously cannot close this gap alone. At the same time, official development aid has fallen by more than 23% in real terms in 2025, which is the steepest annual contraction ever recorded. This contraction undermines development efforts and jeopardizes the prevention of crises whose consequences go far beyond national borders. ODA remains indispensable, but it will not be enough. The severe commitment must now translate into better access to concessional financing, better mobilization of federal development banks, and debt relief mechanisms that protect our state's ability to invest. Lastly, no financial architecture can be sustainable without tax justice. International cooperation must combat illicit financial flows, tax evasion, transfer pricing manipulation, and the laundering of revenue from natural resources. Stolen assets must be rapidly identified, frozen, and returned. Every penny recovered can fund a vaccine, a textbook, a well, or a road. Mr. President, the DRC knows that the trust it calls for restoring on the international stage is earned first through the commitments it keeps on its own soil. That is the goal of our efforts to consolidate peace, strengthen our institutions, and make our natural and human wealth the foundation of shared prosperity.
Sovereignty for all peoples across the board. My third conviction is that we must not yield to a divided world. Many describe this rift. Many talk about this rift between the North and the South. We won't be able to tackle any of the challenges our planet faces if we give in to this rift, and it is fueled by double standards, this rift. However, we need the North and the South to reconcile so that they can tackle climate health development challenges. And that's why over the last few years, we've launched many more initiatives. and the African Union. When it came to shoring up economies together with the International Monetary Fund to reform special drawing rights and make progress for African economies. And we held our word $100 billion in special drawing rights allocated to helping African countries. We must stay the course, ensuring that we remain united without pitting anyone against anyone else. That is why it's important that the global health infrastructure must remain intact. We will continue reforming that architecture, but we will never weaken the WHO. We must put the finishing touches on the Pandemics Treaty. Africa CDC should be in a position to combat Ebola ever more effectively. We must be clear sighted as we reform our official development assistance, ODA. We must ensure that our investments exhibit greater solidarity, that they're more effective. This is what we did with the Paris Pact for people and Planet in 2023. Also at the Africa Summit in Nairobi, we also agreed to build a new consensus around investment that stands in solidarity with other states. Countries are allocating funds, and yet the needs of the countries of the global South are growing as well. We need to go faster and go further to help the IMF and the World Bank To be more effective, we must bolster the effectiveness of the instruments at their disposal so that we can mobilize the private sector better, creating guarantee mechanisms to ensure that in emerging economies, middle income countries and developing countries, a more effective response can be mounted to the problems they face. This is the kind of new partnership we must forge in order to ensure that there is no gap, no division, between the North and the South. In a similar vein, this north south partnership requires and will require us to wield our capacity to reopen a dialogue about our common history, our cultural relationships and remembrance. This is what France has tried to do over the last few years, working on the basis of joint scientific works we've instituted a number of bills to ensure that we restitute cultural artifacts in a way, forging a partnership in the name of culture, history and remembrance. And this with a number of countries of the South, for instance, with Ghana and together with all interested parties, all interested partners, we will work on restorative justice reparations. This is a matter of respect, and it is on this respect that the partnership between the North and the South will be built. Moving on global trade, it needs to be more effective and more equitable. This is what we sought to achieve at the G7 meeting France convened, bringing together countries of the South, ensuring that there is common ground, a dialogue going beyond the G7 with China, India, Brazil, South Korea, Kenya the list goes on so that we can improve our collective organization, ensure that we work on rare earth minerals, rare earth metals, critical minerals. As well as other areas. At the end of the day, we must shoulder this responsibility, ensuring that there is no rift between these two blocks. And in a similar fashion, we must not yield on the climate and biodiversity. We've done a great deal over the last few years, ever since the Paris Agreement 11 years ago. The principles are still valid today and must be defended. We must stay the course. But I understand the doubts some harbour on this front. Let us not cede. If we are to defend our planet, defend the climate, defend biodiversity, we need proactive multilateralism and this is what we try to achieve at the One Planet Summit.
And no sphere is more urgent than that of sustainable development. The 2030 agenda is at risk. The financing gap is growing. The climate crisis is worsening. Geopolitical divisions are curbing progress. We need to continue to work to reform the global financial architecture. The European Union stands steadfastly committed to the Paris Agreement, the pact for the future and the Sustainable Development Goals, funded in line with the Sevilla Commitment, the EU and its member states together represent more than 40% of official development assistance at the global level and through our Global Gateway Initiative, we are investing in all fields in connectivity, health, education and eradication of poverty. But we mustn't lose any more time for this reason. The Sustainable Development Goals. By 2027 2027 should be a turning point to pick up the pace, to correct the mistakes and to commit to 2030 and beyond that. The European Union is clear about its choice cooperation over confrontation over power, partnership over isolation, action over paralysis. We are ready to work together with all those who share this conviction.
This is the paradox of our time. We have never had so many reasons to act together, and we have never found it so difficult to do so. This paradox comes with a price, and this price is primarily being paid by the most vulnerable. According to the UN itself, more than 147 million people in 19 countries and territories experienced acute food insecurity caused by conflict in 2025, and yet at a time when need is soaring, resources are shrinking. Humanitarian funding has fallen to its lowest levels since 2016. Official development aid is crumbling. Peacekeeping operations, including in my own country, have been forced to cut back their patrols, shut down bases, and suspend local dialogue initiatives. Each budget cut adopted in New York or in some faraway capital is an opportunity for armed groups on the ground.
If we smile together, it is not because we have no problems, but because we are stronger than our problems. Ladies and gentlemen, for half a century , the Comorian state still striving for full sovereignty within its internationally recognised borders, remains under what it considers an illegal French occupation. Despite the many relevant resolutions of this assembly. The Comorian side has always favored a peaceful settlement of this dispute, and has always believed that dialogue is the only alternative, and we have engaged in such a dialogue with France for two decades in an effort to reach a peaceful solution of this dispute, once described by former French President Francois Mitterrand as unpleasant. And we regret that this dialogue has not succeeded. On the contrary, France's unilateral actions, particularly in Africa, run counter to our expectations. We deeply regret attempts by some neighbouring brotherly and friendly countries, which have long defended the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Comoros, to establish relations with what we regard as an occupied part of our territory. We appeal to the solidarity that African countries have always demonstrated in defending sovereignty, and, in particular the territorial integrity of the Comoros. We strongly condemn initiatives of cooperation with the local authorities of Mayotte, as well as the recent statement by the French Prime Minister linking development assistance to the pursuit of migrants under General Assembly resolution 3385 of 12th November 1975 and 31, four of the 21st November 1976 and. Security Council Resolution 376 Comorians are at home in Mayotte for the Comorian nation Sovereignty of the entire archipelago is not for sale. We therefore urge the French authorities. To rethink their political narrative, to reconsider recently announced measures and productive cooperation and mutually beneficial partnership for both France and the Comoros.
Yet challenges persist. Economic diversification remains limited, youth unemployment stands at 38%, and climate related shocks and inequality continue to constrain inclusive transformation. With only three years remaining until 2030, we appeal to the international community to honour their official Development assistance commitments, which is an essential step in restoring trust. We further call for reform of the international financial architecture to make it more equitable, fit for purpose and responsive to the needs of developing countries, as agreed at the Fourth Summit for Financing for Development, FfD4, held in Seville, Spain last year. We also urge full implementation of the outcomes of the Third Summit of Landlocked Developing Countries held in Awasa, Turkmenistan, in August 2025. The implementation of these outcomes without further delay, together with the Pact for the Future, will undoubtedly help restore eroded trust.
Azerbaijan's commitment to international solidarity and cooperation is equally reflected in our development and humanitarian assistance. In recent years, Azerbaijan has significantly expanded the scope of its international aid with particular attention to small island developing states and African partner countries. Since 2020, we have provided humanitarian, economic and technical assistance worth approximately USD 400 million to more than 140 countries. As we mark the 40th anniversary of the declaration on the Right to Development, Azerbaijan reaffirms its commitment to partnership based approaches founded on solidarity, mutual respect and shared development priorities. Ladies and gentlemen, as we inch closer to 2030, it is becoming even more apparent that the world remains off track in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. Azerbaijan is firmly committed to the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. Having integrated the SDGs into its national development strategies institutional frameworks and voluntary national review processes, while placing particular emphasis on connectivity, green growth, digitalisation and sustainable urban development. In less than two decades, Azerbaijan's GDP has increased threefold, while the poverty rate has declined from 49 to around 5%.
The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell. That is the exact scope of our task, and that is why we do not have the right to give up. First in Ukraine for almost five years, a permanent member of the Security Council has been waging a war of aggression against a sovereign state in flagrant violation of the charter. From the very outset, Monaco condemned this aggression unambiguously and unreservedly. We voted in favour of all of the General Assembly's resolutions calling and demanding for Russian forces to withdraw. We took all restrictive measures aligned with EU measures, and we also provided our humanitarian support to the Ukrainian people and hosted people displaced by the war. Our support is unwavering and it will remain so. Monaco will never recognize any annexation of territory obtained through force. Allowing this for one state would be tantamount to allowing it for all. The principality welcomes the ongoing diplomatic efforts and hopes that they will lead to fair, comprehensive, lasting peace, respecting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Next to the Middle East, Monaco was greatly relieved by the cease fire, which entered into force in Gaza, and the fact that the hostages were freed. Nothing can ever justify the acts of terror of the 7th of October, but nor can anything justify the price paid by the civilians in Gaza. The principality calls on all parties to strengthen the fragile ceasefire and to respect every stage of it, ensuring full, safe, unhindered humanitarian access. We support efforts to rebuild Gaza, and we are concerned about the ongoing violence in the West Bank, in the occupied territories which ride roughshod over human rights and dishonor democratic values. Our our belief remains the same. The only viable option is the two state solution Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Within safe and recognized borders. Any policy that makes that scenario less likely through settlement, building, or sowing terror makes peace less likely to. In Lebanon, two. Monaco supports de-escalation efforts and calls on all parties to fulfil their commitments. First and foremost Security Council Resolution 1701. The people of Lebanon. Lebanon have the right to a fully sovereign state in peace throughout its territory in the Persian Gulf. Finally, tensions around Iran remain a source of deep concern. Monaco pays tribute to all the civilian victims of the conflict and reiterates its solidarity with the countries of the Gulf who have been affected by the attacks. Here again, only negotiations can lead to a global agreement on the Iranian nuclear program and will prevent further escalation above and beyond these crises, Monaco will continue to contribute to international cooperation focused on the least developed countries through its support to the International Committee for the Red cross. The High Commissioner for refugees and the World Food Programme, through development Aid geared towards the health, education and empowerment of women and girls. Restoring trust also means changing the organisation itself.
The global economic environment remains particularly difficult for developing countries. We decline official development assistance, high borrowing costs, disruptions to international trade, inflationary pressures and food and energy insecurity. Narrowing fiscal space and threatening development gains. With only a few years remaining to achieve the 2030 agenda. The time for implementation is now. Following the fourth International Conference on Financing for development, we must translate the severe commitments to tangible action. Developing countries need greater access to affordable long term finance. Meaningful reform of the multilateral development system. Sustainable solutions to debt. Stronger international tax cooperation and decisive action against illicit financial flows. We also need stronger and more resilient supply chains, greater investment in productive capacity, and a global economic system that gives developing countries a fair opportunity to transform their economies. Trade must remain an engine of development and developing countries must be enabled to participate more effectively in regional and global value chains.
