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Excellencies,
Let me start by thanking you for inviting me to your meeting. It is a great honour for me to have the opportunity to be here today with you, dear lusophone friends. Let me thank in particular our host, Oldemiro, for the very warm welcome in this beautiful city of Maputo.
The reason why I am here today is to celebrate the very close link between Luxembourg and the lusophone world.
This link is illustrated through the vibrant lusophone community living in Luxembourg. Some 16 % of the Luxembourg population is actually of lusophone origin. They contribute to a very large extent to the dynamism of the multicultural society of my country and I wish, through you, to thank them for this invaluable contribution!
The first lusophone country with which my country developed specific ties is Portugal. Both of us are members of the same family, the European Union, and I am really proud and happy to count Portugal as a friend of Luxembourg.
Luxembourg entertains a long standing relation with Cape Verde, notably – but not only – in the field of development cooperation. This cooperation will also take the form of a trilateral cooperation involving Sao Tome e Principe as well.
In recent years, we have also developed close ties with other Portuguese-speaking countries. On the political and diplomatic side, we support peace building in Guinea-Bissau, notably as a member of the Guinea-Bissau configuration of the Peacebuilding Commission of the United Nations. I visited myself Bissau last year in October, and I do really hope that the country will find its way out of the political and security stalemate. Moreover, I am particularly proud that my country recently accredited an Ambassador to Brazil and that we are working on the strengthening of our relationship with Timor Leste. Last but not least, let me mention the fact that - on the economic sidethe first trade mission of Luxembourg in Africa took place in 2010 in Angola. Following my visit to Maputo in December 2010, I am glad to see that our respective staff are exploring ways of further deepening the relationship with our host country!
Dear lusophone colleagues,
One message I would like to convey to you is that we share many priorities in common, be it the promotion of peace and stability, or the fight against climate change. The theme you have chosen for your summit "The challenges of food security and nutrition" is an issue we work on as well. Through his official development assistance and through is commitment at the international level, the development cooperation of Luxembourg strives to contribute to the improvement of food security, in line with Millenium Development Goals. In this context, I am proud that my country is among the few countries that meet the commitment made in 1970 at the UN General Assembly to allocate at least 0.70 % of the GNI to development assistance. In 2010, Luxembourg devoted 1.05% of its GNI to development assistance, bringing it to the forefront worldwide. Despite the present economic situation I am proud to confirm here that Luxembourg will maintain its commitment in this area at the same level.
Excellencies,
I do not want to take too much of your time, so let me conclude by saying that Luxembourg fells a very close link to the lusophone world and strives to be a reliable partner. I wish to take the opportunity to thank those of you who have already declared their support to our candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for the term 2013-2014. We are proud to count on your support!
Long live the luxembourgo/lusophone friendship!
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