afrol News, 29 September - Multilateralism, with a revitalised United Nations playing the pivotal role, is vital for combating a host of ills threatening West African countries, such as drugs, arms and human trafficking, organised crime and terrorism, Cape Verde said today.

“In this context in which states and democratic processes are threatened by factors from outside, multilateralism is an indispensable protection and essential resource,” Cape Verde Delegation Chairman Antonio Pedro Monteiro Lima told the General Assembly on the sixth day of its 64th annual General Debate.

“Within this framework the UN remains the central element as the collective conscience of the community of nations, devoted to coordinating our common action, favouring consensual and federative solutions.

“The revitalisation of the United Nations system thus seems a necessity of our time, allowing for the participation of all at the expense of unilateralism, consolidating its effectiveness in favour of common interests and obtaining solutions that respond to the aspirations of the most vulnerable and of present and future generations,” he urged.

He said Cape Verde and other West African States are confronting organised crime, “which in our regions is finding fertile ground for its criminal investments due to the fragility of our economies and the vulnerability of our emerging democracies and generally the weak response capacity of our States in the face of this wholesale threat.”

He cited support already being given by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to help the region coordinate its efforts to confront “this tremendous challenge.”

Mr Monteiro Lima said Cape Verde was already making its contribution to a strengthened UN by being one of the eight pilot countries for the “Delivering as One” project aiming at a single programme, single budget, single office and single leader for all the UN agencies, funds and programmes. This pilot project is “on the path to success,” he added.

By staff writer

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