🇲🇷Mohamed Salem MerzougMauritania · UNGA 81 speech

In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. Peace and prayers be upon his prophet. Your Excellency, Mr. President, Excellencies, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Honorable ministers, ambassadors, ladies and gentlemen, peace and blessings be upon you. At the outset, I would like to express my sincere congratulations to Dr. Khalid al-Rahman on assuming the presidency of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. I am convinced that his great experience and acumen will contribute in the successful conduct of the work of this session. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Her Excellency Annalena Baerbock for the excellent stewardship of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. I would like to thank His Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for his concerted effort to develop the United Nations and promote its role. Mr. President, it is my honor to convey to this distinguished gathering the greetings of His Excellency, the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, and he wishes all the success for this session. His Excellency honored me to address the General Assembly on his behalf. The theme of this session, Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation, a United Nations that Delivers for All, reflects the core of our responsibilities towards the common goal of this organization that was established after the horrors of the 20th century. They decided to rely on the strength of law and not that of the might. They decided to choose dialogue instead of confrontation. Our responsibility today is to maintain this cause. And we have to counter the selectivity in applying international law, especially when there is a systematic avoidance of collective commitments. Some countries do not want to uphold the same rules that they call on others to uphold. This leads to weakened collective cooperation mechanisms. We no longer can prevent conflicts or settle them. This danger extends to institutions that might falter and fail. Multilateralism is not limited to the interests and sovereignty of states. It is not an example of weakness. Instead, it is a necessity to ensure human dignity, bring peace and confront challenges. Defending the United Nations is a defense of the right of all peoples to determine their future and participate in decision making those decisions that define their destiny. We want a more just United Nations. A United Nations capable of confronting the current challenges. After more than eight decades since the establishment of the UN, The Security Council reform has become a necessity to ensure a fair representation of Africa, including permanent and non-permanent membership, while reviewing the financial architecture. This will ensure a cooperation on equal footing and open greater opportunities for development. The reform of this organization cannot be complete without promoting its ability to meet the promises of development. As 2030 approaches, we call for accelerating the implementation of the SDGs, and we support the UN80 initiative as well as the Pact of the Future. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen. the Islamic Republic of Mauritania renews its commitment to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and the norms of international law, as well as the resolutions of international legitimacy. Our foreign policy is based on good neighborliness, the respect of states' sovereignty, independence and the non-interference in their internal affairs as well as the peaceful settlement of disputes and ensuring the just causes. Proceeding from such principles, my country under the leadership of his excellency, the president of the state, Muhammad Wildraswani, continue to build a modern state that is coexistent in synergy with its neighbors and open to the entire world. On the national level, we have adopted a comprehensive strategy with its political, economic, social and security dimensions. We made dialogue and consultation the pattern for public offices. Thus, His Excellency the President launched a comprehensive national dialogue that is all inclusive. It does not exclude any strata of society to ensure consensus on the development of our institutions and entrench a state of law, a democratic state that protects rights and freedoms. Turning to the social context, we promote social cohesion, and community unification through fighting discrimination and vulnerability while addressing any weakness inherited. We try to promote the synergies and develop our economies to limit poverty and provide the basic services to the most needy. We have also expanded the medical services through establishing a Medicare fund for all those who are not currently covered with medical insurance. We provide certain basic medical services to the most in need, especially mothers the mothers, the elderly, and those with disabilities. Turning to education, reforming this sector is the basis of our effort to provide high quality education that provides equal opportunities and ensure equity. Turning to good governance, We focus on transparency, the independence of the judiciary and combating corruption while reforming public offices and promoting investment. Our approach addresses the hiking prices, confronting any threats to the security or terrorism, while tackling also vulnerability and poverty. The complementarity between all those dimensions ensured our country's security and stability in an environment full with disruptions. Mr. President, Mauritania adopts a balanced approach that covers all our inheritances, be it African, Islamic, Arab and others. We are guided by our foreign policy underpinned on cooperation, solidarity and the respect of sovereignty and good neighborliness. Proceeding from the above, we believe that confronting the common challenges necessitates promoting multilateralism. We need the concerted effort of the international community. In a practical translation of such effort, my country, through its participation in the different events and peacekeeping missions, contributes in the peaceful settlement of disputes and promoting cooperation and coordination, both regionally and internationally. This contribution is based in our belief in the need to have durable and just cooperation, because no one country, no matter how powerful it was, can stand alone to confront the challenges of such an interconnected world. COVID-19 and The subsequent disruptions in the supply chains of food and energy, as well as the conflicts and wars, demonstrated how the interests of states are interconnected along with their peace and security. Migration is at the core of such common challenges. People's mobility strives for a better future, better job opportunities, better development. However, the high influx of migration and their complexity reveals the reality that should be analyzed without any exaggerations. and it should also preserve the unity of societies. We need an effective response to this challenge through cooperation between the countries of origin, transit, and destination. We have to ensure a fair share of the responsibilities and burdens and address the root causes of irregular migration while combating human trafficking. and smuggling. To contain such influxes and ensure at the same time the dignity of migrants and their rights. The solution is in our common responsibility and solidarity. Mr. President, the expanded theatre of conflicts and the escalating humanitarian cost of such conflicts requires greater protection of civilians while ensuring the peaceful settlement of such disputes for the sake and benefit of communities. The systematic destruction witnessed in the Palestinian territory and the ensuing full of victims and displacement are of the responsibility of the international community, especially the United Nations. We have to protect the Palestinian people and end their suffering. In this vein, we renew our support for a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause based on the peace, the Arab peace initiative and the UN resolutions to establish the state of Palestine that is independent, viable along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. We appreciate the mediation effort undertaken by the United States of America, Egypt, Qatar, to Turkey, and we stress the need to implement the Security Council Resolution 2803 issued on the 17th of November, 2025 on the peace plan in Gaza. This will bring about peace and ensure reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. We would like to recall the historic step taken by a number of European countries over the past year when they recognized the State of Palestine. We do welcome and commend the recent measures undertaken by a number of European countries to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers who have been implicated in violent acts against the Palestinian people. However, even though they're important, but such initiatives should not be isolated. Instead, they should be a driver for more firm international action to put an end to the settlement activity while opening the horizon for the two-state solution. Paradoxically, that we have denied the Palestinian people from participating in this international forum at a time when the Palestinian question is at the forefront of our agenda. At a time when the Palestinian cause comes at the forefront of the international agenda, they were not able to attend this go contravenes the spirit of dialogue and pluralism that the United Nations is underpinned upon. In this domain, we stress that the state of Palestine has gained the recognition of most of the member states of the United Nations. This reflects a wide range support, international support of the Palestinian people and their establishment of an independent statehood. Therefore, we call for the participation of the Palestinians in the UN forums so that they can achieve their aspirations and defend their just cause before the international community. We renew our support to the people of Lebanon in the face of the violations that they have endured. We have to end their suffering and ensure their sovereignty. We are also standing in solidarity with Sudan. We are committed to Sudan's unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. We call for an immediate end to this war, giving priority to dialogue while protecting civilians and ending their suffering. Turning to Libya, we support the UN efforts and the African Union's effort to reach a permanent settlement that would maintain the country's unity and sovereignty while ensuring peace and stability to the people of Libya. We renew our support to the efforts made in the in Yemen and the initiatives taken by the Arab countries as well as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support that country. We stress our principled position on the conflict of the Western Sahara. and hope to reach a just and sustainable solution that will be accepted to all parties. We express our deep concern towards the military escalation in the Middle East and the resulting threat to the entire region and its stability, the repercussions of which would also reach the Strait of Hormuz and the regional and international navigation in this important waterway. We support the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the State of Qatar, and the Kingdom of Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in the face of the attacks against their stability and security. We have to preserve states' territories and call upon all countries to de-escalate and ensure self-restraint, ensure dialogue, and save the region and its peoples from more crises and sufferings. Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen, the world today faces an important moment that goes beyond political challenges. There are acute humanitarian, environmental, and economic challenges. My country, Mauritania, knows full well the importance and sensitivity of this moment. We would like to stress with humility from this common home that brings us together, from the United Nations, that we all shoulder this responsibility before history. We have to leave to the future generations a better world than the one we've inherited. We are capable of that once we redirect ourselves to the path of peace through renewing our common and joint effort. The United Nations must regain its effectiveness to serve peace and security, especially common security. We can do that if we rightfully address the deep transformations that are reshaping the entire international landscape. These are the provisions of the 2030 agenda its goals and objectives, and the expanded scope of knowledge, the accelerated technology, and their subsequent results and impacts. We can do that if we return with wisdom to what our founding fathers have been guided upon the common principles and purposes that gather us under the umbrella of the United Nations for more than eight decades by bringing hope that good governance, technological development, and the advancement will be an addition that will be in all our benefits, that will save the entire humanity from the current challenges. Thank you, and peace and blessings of God be upon you.