Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors and Heads of Diplomatic and Consular Missions,

Ladies and Gentlemen, Representatives of International Organizations accredited in Togo,

Dear Abdisaid Muse ALI, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somalia

Dear guests from the academic world,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The start of the diplomatic year is an annual opportunity for the government to recall the main outlines of Togo’s external public action which, as you know, plays its part and contributes, to the extent of its capacities, to the service of efforts aiming at improving the condition of our world or building it better, for the prosperity of each of our States and the whole of the international society, confronted with unprecedented mutations and challenges as worrying as pressing.

Faced with the urgent need, it is necessary to act and the Togolese diplomacy, following the vision and the orientation of the President of the Republic, H.E. Faure GNASSINGBE, is a diplomacy of action. More than managing relations between States, diplomacy is taking in hand and managing the major issues of our sub-regions, inter-regional spaces, continents and international society. The subjects of common concern are so numerous today that diplomacy cannot be satisfied with the minimum service.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the current international environment characterized by the importance of regional and transnational cooperation frameworks, States, which remain important actors despite the progress of multilateral diplomacy, must maintain and amplify their individual sense of initiative which, in case of stagnation or paralysis, allows regional and international organizations to get back to work and to renew their founding aims. 

That is why the Togolese diplomacy is a pragmatic diplomacy of neutrality and non-alignment to better serve the causes of peace, collective security, regional and African integration, and human development. The posture of diplomatic equidistance allows us to talk to everyone in the management of international and regional affairs in a world that no longer has a center of gravity, but where the relationships of common dependence and interdependence condemn us to work together.

During the diplomatic year that starts today, our country will continue, at the multilateral level, to work with other African States and the African Union to strengthen Africa’s capacity to assert itself and assume its positions on the international scene with full responsibility. Our continent needs to speak with one voice and for itself on the international scene.

In addition to this aspect, we will continue and strengthen during the year the work of diversification of our partnerships and subsequently the exploration of new horizons and new economic opportunities. The world itself has diversified before our eyes and we have no choice but to adapt to the reality of the world to explore all the possibilities and opportunities it offers.

The issue of the African Diaspora and Afro-descendants, precisely that of their involvement in the development process on a continental scale remains one of the main lines of our foreign policy. Togo will continue to work, with other States and the African Union, to implement the Agenda of the “Decade of African roots and the African Diaspora” launched in 2021.