Election of the Secretary General

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Ambassadors; interim representatives; Mr. Secretary General; Mr. Assistant Secretary General; alternate delegates and observers. At the outset, I wish to express, on behalf of the Government and people of the Dominican Republic, our solidarity with all those who have directly suffered the effects of the pandemic and our condolences to those who have lost a loved one.

Mr. Secretary General, today is a special day for this Organization and, in particular, for you. Please accept, on behalf of the Dominican Government, of our Delegation and on my own behalf, our sincere congratulations on taking up a new term as Secretary General.

We wish to reaffirm our Government's readiness to maintain the historic ties of friendship and cooperation it has had with the Organization of American States, ties that have deepened in a special way during your tenure. Your doors have always been open and your team has always been willing, and we value that, appreciate it and are grateful for it.

As our Foreign Minister recently conveyed to you, our continent faces new challenges and, more than ever, multilateralism needs strengthening. You, Mr. Secretary General, are the person whom the majority of the Member States have entrusted with meeting the challenges of this Organization, which are many. Priorities are changing, and the approaches to managing those priorities must be reassessed. We know that you will rise to this new global reality.

Your diligent leadership in the face of the challenges of contemporary democracy, your tireless effort on behalf of respect for human rights, your continuing concern for hemispheric security and your interest in cooperation and support for regional development augur a term full of possible successes at the head of the General Secretariat.

As you yourself pointed out a few minutes ago, the first immediate challenge is the pandemic that afflicts us today. So far we have managed to keep this Organization in operation for the benefit of the States and of every inhabitant of our countries. It is therefore incumbent upon us to take on the pandemic as a fundamental priority of the Organization, not as rhetoric but with actions that allow the Organization to adapt to this lethal challenge, because without human beings, or without healthy human beings, the functioning of society as a whole will be disrupted in unsuspected ways.

We are already beginning to see the effects of the pandemic on daily life, not only because of social distancing measures but because of a new impetus looming at dizzying speed over the unequal process of the distribution of wealth in our region. Thus, many of the advances achieved in human development are today under threat or, at the very least, will be significantly delayed. We must focus on mitigating the impact on health, protecting people and devoting ourselves to restarting our productive systems; let us not stray from that course.

Mr. Secretary General, finally, the Dominican Republic is fully prepared to continue working constructively for a strengthened OAS. You may count on the firm support of our Government and of our Delegation.