LUÍS MONTENEGRO, Prime Minister of Portugal, said his country “is an uncompromising advocate of multilateralism as a method of cooperation and organization of the international system,” adding that his country is a candidate for a non-permanent seat of the Security Council for 2027-2028.  “We want to move forward with the reform of the global governance system to guarantee greater representativeness, transparency, justice and cooperation,” he said, calling for reforming the Security Council to make it more representative, agile and functional.  “Portugal supports the African Common Position and the aspirations of Brazil and India to become permanent members,” he continued, noting that small and medium-sized countries should also have their representation strengthened, alongside with the limitation and greater scrutiny of the use of the veto.

As chronic hunger is on the rise, affecting one in 10 people globally, while acute food insecurity has almost tripled since 2016, he welcomed the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.  Recalling the needs of people affected by conflict, he said that Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Myanmar, the Sahel and now Lebanon are examples of the suffering of millions of people forced to leave their homes and families, while rising temperatures, forest fires which tragically hit his country recently, droughts and other extreme weather events have forced millions to move.  “The context of human rights protection is severely weakened and threatened,” he stressed, urging to combat relentlessly all forms of discrimination and hatred that undermine the cohesion of our societies.

“The Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine constitutes a flagrant violation of international law,” he continued, underscoring that the negative effects of this war — the food, energy and inflation crises — are echoing around the world, with the greatest impact on the most fragile regions.  In Lebanon, he called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid escalation.  Condemning the horrific terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and demanding the release of all hostages, he stated:  “We will not stand by the humanitarian disaster and the growing number of civilian victims in Gaza.  It is imperative to unconditionally cease hostilities.”  Speaking about conflict prevention and mediation, particularly in Africa, he highlighted Portugal’s consistent presence in UN peacekeeping operations and European Union missions, with national forces deployed in Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Gulf of Guinea.

“Portugal is a maritime country:  97 per cent of our territory is ocean,” he emphasized, supporting the development of a “new sustainable blue economy” in line with the 2030 Agenda and calling for a joint effort to finalize an ambitious treaty to eliminate plastic pollution by the end of 2024.  “We want to incorporate 47 per cent renewables into final energy consumption by 2030,” he went on to say, adding that technological development needs to be conceived through a human-centred lens and based on international law.  Speaking in Portuguese, the fourth most spoken language in the world as a mother tongue which unites over 260 million people on all continents and which is an official and working language in 33 international organizations, he expressed hope to have Portuguese recognized as an official language of the United Nations, as this idea was recently supported in New York by the President of Brazil.