Address by His Excellency Dr. Eduardo Bacião Koloma, Deputy Minister , Republic of Mozambique

 for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation At the 33rd

Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers

Baku, 19-21 June 2006

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, THE MOST MERCIFUL

Your Excellency, Minister Elmar Maharram Oglu Mammadyarov,

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Honourable Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu

Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference

Honourable Ministers and Heads of delegations

Your Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

Your Excellency,

First of all, allow me to express the gratitude of the Government of the Republic of Mozambique to the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the invitation extended to us to participate in this thirty-third Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers.

On behalf of the delegation of the Republic of Mozambique and on my own, I should like to thank the People and the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the warm hospitality afforded to us since our arrival in this beautiful City of Baku.

Please accept, Mr. Chairman, our warmest congratulations to you, upon your election to preside over our Organization. We are confident that under your skillful and able leadership our deliberations will be successful. I seize this opportunity to assure you our readiness to fully co-operate with Your Excellency in the fulfillment of your mandate.

Our sincere appreciation goes to your predecessor, His Excellency Dr. Abu Bakr Al Qerbi, for the extraordinary manner in which he fulfilled his mandate.

Allow me, Your Excellency, on behalf of the People and the Government of the Republic of Mozambique and on my own, to reiterate to the Governments and brotherly Peoples of Indonesia, Pakistan and Philippines our sincere condolences and solidarity for the loss of thousands of human lives, for the victims and economic damages caused by the recent natural disasters that hit their countries.

Your Excellencies,

Since our last meeting in Sana, Yemen, the World has experienced important developments both at political and economical levels.

It is with regret that, dispite all international intiatives on conflict prevention and resolution, most of our regions are facing permanent violance. Without peace and stability we can hardly achieve a sustainable development in our countries.

My Government  continues to follow with keen interest the situation in the Middle East. We need to find a just and lasting solution that should be directly linked to the strict respect for the International Law, particularly the Resolutions of the United Nations, including the safeguard of the right of self-determination  of the People of Palestine.

The process of regional integration and social development in Africa has also been negatively affected by the prevailing situation of political instability as a result of armed conflicts in some regions of the continent, especially those in Somalia and Sudan. We are of the view that the solutions should come from within and not from outside.

Therefore, my Government encourages all Member States to continue to make progress on peaceful conflict resolution and dispute settlement. It is our hope that peace become a reality in the world, so that we can pay more attention to the social and economic development agenda.

Your Excellencies,

Over the last months, we have been affected by an escalated  increase of oil prices with dramatic consequences to the world economy, especially that of the least developed countries, including my own. This is the major cause for the worsening of the situation in poor countries and the living conditions of the majority of their populations.

In most of these countries, Governments are forced to divert the scarce resources from development and poverty fighting programmes in order to minimize the impact of oil crisis, resulting in the weakening of their capacity to implement national projects aimed at promoting sustainable development and integration in the context of the process of globalization.

This situation compel  us to strengthen solidarity in order to achieve a more efficient and harmonized development and reduce inequality amongst our countries.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to share with you some of positive development we are experiencing in my country and the efforts done by the new Government of the Republic of Mozambique after one year of its mandate.

The Government has put more emphasis on programmes aimed at enabling the country to achieve a rapid economic growth, with special attention to the rural areas, where the majority of the Mozambican citizens live. In this context, most of the investments have been directed to the creation of infrastructures, such as roads, bridges, water supply, schools, health centres, hospitals and power-supply.

The successful implementation of some industrial mega-projects is having a huge impact on business confidence in Mozambique, both internally and externally. Nevertheless, the benefits of these mega projects to the local economy are not noticeable. Therefore, there is a need to concentrate more effort on small and medium enterprises, which contribute for job creation and for the promotion of national business initiatives.

Mozambique does recognize the vital role played by the international co-operative partners in financing some of the Government programmes. At this juncture, I would like to express our thanks and gratitude for the support granted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its Member States. We are confident that Mozambique will continue to deserve that support of our Organization.

Your Excellencies,

There is a growing recognition and acknowledgement that the Organization of the Islamic Conference is facing new challenges in a rapidly changing world. I have no doubt that OIC is dealing with these challenges in consistent and determined manner within Member States or elsewhere in the world.

The current process of reforms within the OIC will reinforce its principle of providing better services to Member States, particularly those most in need. Out of these reforms will emerge a stronger Organization with a clear focus on development issues that have direct impact on our peoples.

A stronger OIC should be based on the pillar of effectiveness. My Government  continue supporting a more comprehensive process of restructuring of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, because we recognize that a failure to cater for the interests and aspirations of the majority of its Member States will only result in the marginalization of the OIC.

Mr. Chairman

Your Excellencies

Given the prevailing international environment, the OIC is called to show its presence and valuable action. More than ever, we are called upon to show our unity and strength to influence developments in world politics in a positive manner. We must show the necessary pragmatism and innovation to embark on a new pattern of dialogue and cooperation for mutual benefit. We must be truly committed to south-south cooperation. Our determination and desire to reform and reshape our Organization will be crucial to the success of our international action.

In concluding, I would like to stress the willingness of my Government in continuing working with all Member States, the General Secretary and others stakeholders within the spirit of the Charter of our Organization towards the achievement of our noble task of reaching the Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015.

I thank you very much