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The pursuit of development, in all its dimensions, must guide our collective action. Brazil’s commitment to sustainable development is unflinching. It permeates our public policies and our international action. In our presidency of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, for example, we have elected the 2030 Agenda as the axis of our activities. On all fronts, Brazil seeks to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.Such contributions necessarily include the fight against climate change. We remain committed to the defence of the Paris Agreement. Last year, right here in New York, I deposited Brazil’s instrument of ratification of the Agreement.This is a matter that does not allow for delays. We must act now.My country – and I am pleased to say this – is at the forefront of the movement towards a low-carbon economy. Clean and renewable energy in Brazil represents more than 40 per cent of the energy grid: three times the world average. We are leaders in hydropower and bioenergy.Brazil is proud to have the world’s largest tropical forest coverage. Deforestation is an issue that deeply concerns us, especially in the Amazon. We have dedicated our attention and resources to it. On this matter, I bring the good news that the first data available for last year already indicates a decrease of more than 20 per cent in deforestation in that region. We have returned to the good path, and we shall persist on it.Another important vector of development is trade. Our pursuit is of an open, rules-based international trading system. A system centred on the World Trade Organization and its dispute settlement mechanism.At the Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in December, we will once again have to face old pending items. These are issues that are especially detrimental to developing countries. We will have to make progress in accessing agricultural goods markets and eliminating trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. We are confident that, together, we will be able to produce results.All of these efforts contribute to what is our highest purpose: securing opportunities for everyone, everywhere.Brazil is going through a moment of decisive transformations.With structural reforms, we are overcoming an unprecedented economic crisis. We are recovering fiscal balance, and with it, the credibility of the economy. We are creating jobs again. We have recovered the State’s ability to carry out social policies that are indispensable in a country like ours.We have learned this elementary rule and are applying it in practice: without fiscal responsibility, social responsibility is nothing more than empty speech.The new Brazil that is emerging from the reforms is a country more open to the world.It is this attitude of openness that we bring to the UN and that we take to Mercosur, to the G20, to BRICS, to IBSA and to all the multilateral MICHEL TEMER, PRESIDENT, THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZILA TIME OF DECISIVE TRANSFORMATIONS“THE NEW BRAZIL THAT IS EMERGING FROM THE REFORMS IS A COUNTRY MORE OPEN TO THE WORLD”026 THE G20 MEMBER COUNTRIES