JEAN-CLAUDE GAKOSSO, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Congolese Abroad of Congo, expressed his deep faith and trust in the United Nations, which managed to mobilize the international community in the face of a collective danger.  “It is only standing shoulder by shoulder we will be able to overcome the virus, which threatens the very existence of the humanity,” he said.  He further thanked all partners for facilitating direct access of Congo to vaccines.  Welcoming the return of the United States to the Paris Agreement, he outlined his country’s progress in climate adaptation and scientific studies.  He further reiterated his country’s appeal to the international community to invest in lasting funding and the smart management of the peat bogs in the basin of the Congo.

Stressing that “Africa is a continent where 60 per cent of the peacekeeping missions takes place”, he emphasized that it needs to take its place in the Security Council, making that organ more transparent, dynamic and representative of the world’s diversity, in line with the Ezulwini Consensus.  He went on to compare Africa’s claim for a seat at the Security Council with the embargo of Cuba ‑ an anachronism that needs to be addressed.

On the crisis in Libya, he said considerable advances were made thanks to the pooled efforts by the United Nations, African Union, European Union and the Arab League, as well as neighbouring States.  For the general elections ‑ a turning point in Libya’s history ‑ to take place in the upcoming months, he urged all stakeholders to look in the same direction and follow through with the implementation of the decision of the Berlin Conference on Libya.  These included consolidating the ceasefire and respecting the arms embargo, as well as carrying out a gradual withdrawal of foreign combatants.  Citing President Denis Sassou Nguesso who chairs the African Union High-Level Committee on Libya, he urged all the stakeholders of the conflict to deepen dialogue and learn to forgive each other.  More so, as Chair of the Committee, his President has pledged to stay with the Libyan brothers on their path to inclusive dialogue, national reconciliation and the reconstruction of their country, he said.