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Articles / News / World / Rio+20: The Heads of State Speak
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Rio+20: The Heads of State Speak
 Havana, Cuba, Jun 20.- The Rio+20 UN Sustainable Development opened its high level session with an inaugural speech by UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon, followed by some of the over 120 heads of state and government taking part in the forum. Cuba is being represented by its President Raul Castro.
In his opening speech of the Forum, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon admitted that slowed progress has been made since the 1992 Earth Summit, and that the world is taking note if words translate into actions.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, elected president by consensus of the Conference, expressed her confidence that participants will address the challenges posed by the world situation and she added that their presence in the forum indicates the commitment of the states to the complex and urgent sustainable development agenda.
Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad called on the Forum to reach an accord aimed at changing the current world and social economic order. He accused rich countries of being unquenchably thirsty of wealth, while poor nations have not yet solved historic problems like poverty.
Costa Rica´s Laura Chinchilla proposed the setting up of strategic alliances among the countries of the world to achieve sustainable development. She questioned the absence at the forum of some nations with many challenges to face as to their obligations with the preservation of the planet. Absent at the summit are US President Barack Obama, the chief of the German government, Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
China´s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao stressed the need to protect Mother Earth and developing countries. These nations must implement strategies to eradicate poverty, he said. Jiabao urged industrialized nations to put down consumerism and assist developing countries. The poorest nations must be assisted in the areas of education, science, technology transfer and the progress of their women, said the Chinese government official.
Paraguay´s foreign minister Jorge Lara, who is heading his country delegation to the Conference, called for a reassessment of development models, since the market-oriented formulas have collapsed in a structural crisis that affects all fields of society. He called for a new world economic model that favors fairer, equitable and inclusive development. We Hope that our new objectives for sustainable development are aimed at clear and ambitious goals that find necessary support to be reached, he said.
The UN Conference on Sustainable Development seeks to shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection. (RHC).
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