THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA
PERMANENT MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR J O R G E VALERO, VICE-MINISTERO R N O R T H AMERICA F AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE T H E BOLIVARIAN OF REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA T H E UNITED NATIONS, TO

High-Level Plenary Meeting On the Millennium Development Goals

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N E W YORK, S E P T E M B E R 2 1,2010

Ten years after the Summit where the Millennium Development Goals were approved, the results are disappointing. The fulfillment of these goals is seriously threatened. Most developed countries have not fulfilled the commitment of allocating 0.7% of their Gross National Product to Official Development Assistance. The global economic and financial crisis of capitalism of recent years has created more poverty, more inequality, and injustice. The financial economy exercises hegemony in the world and increases the accumulation of billions of dollars without creating any good. It is the casino economy. It has subjected States, and intends to destroy the public sphere, privatizing everything. From the public services to the war. The market totalitarianism prevents the exercise of human rights and the right to development. In this context, there is no right to work or healthcare, only labor market adjustments, or private companies that provide health insurance. There is also no right to food, which depends on the international market that has turned food into objects of speculation through future transactions. The reduction in social spending has affected the ability of States to ensure economic, social and cultural rights of the peoples. Not even the most vulnerable sectors of developed countries can escape from the perverse effects of the capitalist crisis. A crisis caused by financial speculators, with the complicity of the world's most powerful governments and the Bretton Woods institutions. The Bolivarian Revolution under the leadership of President Hugo Chivez Frias, promotes an alternative model of development, that is humanist and performs deep structural changes in favor of the excluded. Although our country has not escaped the negative effects of the crisis of capitalism, social investment has increased and, today, more Venezuelans have better living conditions. Social investment has become a national strategy to achieve sovereign and integral development and, therefore, to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 60% of total tax revenue, between 1999 and 2009 - has been earmarked for social investment. We are moving towards a universal social security system.

The Social Missions in favor of the most excluded sectors of society have helped to achieve, in a massive and rapid manner social inclusion. The poverty rate fell from 49% in 1998 to 24.2% in late 2009. And extreme poverty fell dramatically from 29.8% in 2003 to 7.2% in 2009. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has recognized that Venezuela is the country that has reduced inequality the most in the region. The unemployment rate in Venezuela fell from 15% in 1998 (before the start of the Bolivarian Government), to 6.6% in December of 2009. The promotion of gender equality and greater involvement of women in economic and social matters in Venezuela has already been achieved. State policies entrench training and equal participation of women in public life. Four (4) of the five Public Powers that exist in Venezuela are chaired by women: Legislative, Electoral, Judicial and Moral. Venezuela reached in 2001 the goal of drinking water coverage. And in 2005 the target in the service of wastewater collection was met. In our country, we are advancing in the universalization of rights related to identity, food, health, education and employment. Venezuela was declared territory Free of illiteracy by UNESCO in 2005. Futhermore, Venezuela will achieve before 2015, among others, the universalisation of primary education, a reduction in the mortality of children, a reduction of maternal mortality, a reduction in the spread of HIV/AIDS and reverse the incidence of malaria and dengue. In Venezuela, we are moving toward a democracy of quality, focused on the interests, needs and hopes of our people. It is a participatory and protagonist democracy where the political freedoms are exercised and the benefits of development are enjoyed. The Bolivarian government promotes Latin American and Caribbean integration, based on the principles of cooperation, solidarity and complementarity. The Bolivarinn Alternative for the Peoples of our America (ALBA) and Petrocaribe contribute to the eradication of poverty and to overcoming inequalities and unemployment in our region. Venezuela contributes with sister countries in the continent in order for them to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Venezuela has regained full control of its natural resources. All basic services are

considered basic human rights. The resources of our country, managed in a sovereign manner, have allowed for the creation of a Bank of the South and the Bnizk of A L B A . State policies have become instruments for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and for the promotion of independent and autonomous development, without the tyranny of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Against neoliberal globalization we propose the globalization of justice and equity. Against the looting and the abuse of countries we propose fair trade, in a world in which we all win, through solidarity and partnership. Under the leadership of President Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has met most of the Millennium Development Goals. Within the framework of the Full exercise of sovereignty and self-determination, we have opted for Venezuelan Socialism, in order to create a society where justice, equality and solidarity reign, with Full respect for human rights and democratic freedoms.

Mr. President,
Our Bolivarian Revolution is geared towards the full realization of social, economic, and cultural guarantees, fully consistent with the view expressed by the Liberator Simon Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura in 1819: "The most perfect system of government is that which results in the greatest possible measure of happiness and the maximum social security and political stability".