Mr. president, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. The deadline for agenda 2030 is fast approaching and we are able to observe that despite remarkable efforts, there is still a ways to go in order to reach the SDGs that we all chose for ourselves and the resources to reach the Sustainable Development Goals are nevertheless available throughout the world, and therefore we must improve the conditions to access them and use these resources. This is why financing for development should not be considered as some kind of alms or kindness. It is an investment in stability, shared prosperity and collective security. For this reason, Cameroon calls for the diligent and comprehensive implementation of the commitments made in Seville in July of 2025 on the issue of financing for development, and this specifically implies engaging in the necessary reforms of the international financial architecture and the multilateral financial architecture in order to give countries of the Global South a more fair shot. We should also give new impetus to international trade, industrialization, and transforming raw materials locally, as well as strengthening regional integration. And it is this energy that guided the work of the 14th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, WTO, which Cameroon had the privilege of hosting from the 26th to the 29th of March 2026.

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Supply chains built up over decades of interdependence are being reorganized or fragmented as a result of geopolitical tensions. The multilateral trading system has been weakened, and the WTO can no longer fully carry out some of its essential functions. Yet what is at stake here is not merely a technical issue of trade policy. The question is whether relations between states will continue to be governed by common rules, or if they will increasingly depend on the weight and power of each individual state. For Switzerland, this is a fundamental issue. That is because my country is an open economy with few natural resources. A large part of its prosperity, therefore depends on trade, but also on the stability and predictability of the rules that make such trade possible. Economic resilience requires us to diversify relationships, forge new partnerships, and keep trade between different regions of the world as open as possible. This is particularly important for economies with fewer resources or limited market access. Access to markets knowledge and technology can create opportunities that would not otherwise exist. These abstract concepts encompass quite concrete realities a business that can take on an apprentice, a family that can secure a more stable income, a producer who can trade beyond their local market. Young people for whom the range of possibilities suddenly widens. That is also what we mean when we talk about a global economy. Trust is built when the rules offer everyone a genuine opportunity to participate.

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Lower trade costs in these decades have boosted global real GDP by an estimated 6.8%, and in the case of low income countries, by around 33%. Under the GATT and subsequently the WTO, disputes even between unequal powers could be settled by adjudication rather than the exercise of unilateral coercion. But we all know the multilateral trading system has frayed. This year's WTO conference in Yaoundé could not even reach consensus on several key issues, including the moratorium on the customs duties for electronic transmissions, which lapsed. Tariffs and supply chain restrictions have also returned as instruments of coercion. The consequences of all this cannot be overstated for Singapore. Trade is three times our GDP. For many in this hall, access to markets and technology are absolutely essential for our development. When the rules governing trade are eroded, all of us will pay the price. I know that consensus amongst 193 states is difficult, but it remains the gold standard.

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Protectionism produces no winners. Building walls, erecting barriers, decoupling and cutting off supply chains disrupt global industrial and supply chains, and harm the interests of all parties. We must firmly safeguard the WTO centered, rules based multilateral trading system, build an open world economy, jointly foster and strengthen new growth drivers, and see that economic globalization is inclusive and delivers benefits to all.

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But if the West wants to take its rightful place in the emerging multi-polar world, it must change. It must understand that the future of our planet lies in cooperation and not confrontation. Yes, it will have to make room on the global bench of international relations and do so in a meaningful way. It will require abandoning the policies of neocolonialism and putting aside the self-imposed isolation to which the EU is condemning itself by creating a new Iron Curtain along its borders with Belarus and Russia. Now on the UN. Is our organisation keeping pace with the times? No, it does not correspond to today's realities. It cannot keep up with change and it is not reforming significantly. Criticism of our organisation is growing every year and it is fairly justified. The very fact that new international global initiatives are emerging outside the system, for example Trump's Board of Peace or the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, China's project. This confirms that the UN is failing to recognise new trends. That is why new formats of cooperation are emerging. The BRICS, the SCO and regional economic and political alliances and they are gaining momentum. But we in Belarus do not see them as competitors to the UN, but rather as catalysts for necessary reform. We have a recipe for restoring the UN to its intended purpose. And it's very simple. Individual countries must stop using the organisation, our shared organisation, for their own selfish ends, and they must begin to think about the fate of our planet, our shared planet as a whole. Only then will the theme of this session cease to be a romantic wish, and instead become a real programme of action. Concrete structural steps are also necessary. First, reform of the UN Security Council. This body cannot remain in a form that was appropriate for the mid-20th century. The council must be strengthened by expanding the category of permanent members to include the countries of the South, which today play an ever increasing role in world affairs. The voice of the global majority must be heard loud and clear in the Security Council. Second, restoring respect for international law and the UN Charter and specifically respect for the law, not the rules based order. The UN Charter has been and remains the only universal document that recognises the sovereign equality of all states. Third, reform of specialized UN agencies. First and foremost, the international financial institutions, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Finance Corporation, the World Trade Organization.

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Ladies and gentlemen, the pillars of multilateralism are being eroded. The World Trade Organization is being kept on life support. When governments capitulate vis a vis those who use tariffs as weapons of coercion and blackmail, consequences are harmful. In the age of misinformation, obscurantists resist the evidence of science.

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We must also empower Africa to play a more active role. Africa, with its 55 states and more than 1.4 billion inhabitants, cannot remain on the margins of the bodies that shape the rules of global trade. On behalf of the African Union, I reiterate our continent's call for full and equitable representation within the World Trade Organization. This is not a favor we are seeking. It is a demand for justice. It is also a guarantee of progress for the entire multilateral trading system. With the African Continental Free Trade Area, our continent has already demonstrated its capacity to develop rules and to integrate markets. It is now up to global trade governance to draw on this.

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These include the National Climate Fund, through which Somalia is mobilizing and coordinating urgently needed climate finance, the Independent National Human Rights Commission, established to strengthen the protection and promotion of human rights, and the Somali Disaster Management Agency established, which is on the front line of responding to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. Somalia's membership of the East African Community, our leadership in the Horn of Africa Initiative, our ratification of the agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area and our continuing efforts towards accession to the World Trade Organization demonstrate Somalia's commitment to the regional integration and rules based international order.

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