UN General Assembly
1980

236. Our lack of natural resources and the limitations on our agriculture—both in the area of arable land and in the availability of water for irrigation—restrict our ability to achieve by our own means the wealth necessary for the requirements of development. Our gross national product is inadequate to balance our economy and does not suffice by itself to reorient our growth rate. However, the development effort of the people and Government of Cape Verde, under the direction of their vanguard party, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, to lay the foundations for a viable economy serving the well-being of our people, is well known. 237. In this connection, Mr. Aristides Pereira, President of the Republic of Cape Verde, has affirmed that: "The fact that we have rid ourselves of colonial administration and have regained the fundamental right of independence after long years of glorious struggle, does not prevent us from recognizing that sovereignty has other dimensions, and that the battle for national reconstruction is also a battle for true sovereignty."