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Emerging Democracies Forum
Managing the Twin Transitions
Opening Ceremonies
(23 of 29 pages)
I would like to simply say that the wars that we have witnessed in Guatemala have
finally now taken the path of elections. Constitutional elections have taken place and they have become a precondition
that is inescapable. And we hope that both parties of Guatemala will continue to work together and that we'll have
equal voting, equal rights and obligations, and that they would be able to reach unified concepts and ideas. And
that's why we hope that the upcoming elections - whether they are won by the government or by the opposition -
will not necessarily mean that there will be a difference and that the government will not give the winning parties
their due and that there will be no peace between the two parties. Actually many countries will think of this as
an example of countries that suffer from strife and civil wars. Such a forum that we are attending here is important
and vital to those countries and we hope that our forum will enable us to exchange view and to reach concrete results
that would be able to undertake and practice in our respective countries. I hope that, as has been said by one
of the participants here, that we are not only dealing with political freedoms, but with cultural and economic
freedoms.
There are many topics actually that are very important to our concentration here. Democracy is not the result that
comes out of the blue and is stagnant. It is a growing mechanism that should defend itself and develop in order
to prove itself. It will continue to be under the risk of many challenges such as freedom of the press or the non-existence
of this freedom. It is indeed very important, this freedom, to uphold human rights and the rights of the native
people. It is an entitlement; it is a right. We cannot just simply say that we have achieved an acceptable level
of democracy. We should continue to work on democracy. We politicians should work on safeguarding democracy so
that it continues to develop over the years. We in Guatemala believe that our country cannot be an example in itself,
but can maybe be a reference in order to show how we have achieved peace and how we have put an end to civil strife
and for internal - civil wars, bloodshed, bloodbaths - and so that we can work together on setting up free elections.
And we believe that all those elements - actually we consider El Salvador as an example for us, and this, of course,
is the same for other countries.
I would like to add that in Guatemala we have acceded to the parliament of Latin American that brings together
all Central-Latin American Countries including the Dominican and it will be another forum for us where we will
be able to exchange views on democracy and for democracy in Central America. Consequently I think that I shall
not to tire you more. I shall come to the end of my statement by saying that there is no way for peace without
democracy and no justice without democracy. These are complementary elements and we should work on achieving all
of these elements. Democracy is the basis - indeed it is the foundation for all our efforts in order to achieve
what we aim at achieving. It is the basic principle that has driven all peoples to achieve prosperity and better
futures. Thank you.
Les Campbell: Thank you. The Republic of Ghana…
Adjei Kwabena: His Excellency, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen, co-chairman, your Excellency,
speakers, Ministers of State, and very distinguished participants, I just want to start by thanking the organizers
and sponsors of this conference, particularly the Republic of Yemen, and NDI, for making it possible for all of
us to be here. The Ghana delegation consists of six persons including myself, as the Majority Leader of Parliament.
And then we also have the presidential aspirant for the Minority side who is with us. We have the Minority leader
here, and the First Deputy Chief Whip of Parliament, the Minority side, the Vice-chairperson of the Women in Parliament,
and then of course a representative of the civil society, the Center for Democracy and Development.
Co-chairs, Ghana is a country in West Africa, the first south of Sahara to attain independence in March 1957. For
those who probably do not know that country, it's a country from which his Excellency, Kofi Annan, Secretary General
of the United Nations, hails. Ghana is known as a success story in implementing economic reforms, which started
in 1983 and is backed by the World Bank and the IMF. It is also known as an emerging democracy, a model in Parliamentary
democracy that having attained constitutional rule in January 1993. Ghana is in its second Parliament of its fourth
republic and hopes to experience a smooth transition to the third Parliament in the parliamentary and presidential
elections to be held in December 2000.
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