President of São Tomé and Príncipe on Sustainable Development

In this interview, the President of São Tomé and Príncipe, HE Carlos Vila Nova, discusses the country’s priorities for building resilience, accelerating the energy transition and advancing sustainable development.

What does strengthening resilience mean for your country in practice?

In Sao Tomé, the spirit of resilience defines our people. It is through this spirit that we confront challenges, overcome difficulties, chart new paths and find ways to develop and meet the needs of our population. This is also what enables us to pursue the energy transition — which is critically important because energy consumption absorbs the majority of our country’s financial resources. Three months ago, our fuel imports cost US$6 million. This month they cost more than US$16 million. That kind of increase places all social initiatives at risk, preventing the benefits from reaching the people. That is why the energy transition is an urgent priority for us.

On average, we need to import fuel every three months. This fuel is used to generate electricity, as our energy systems have historically relied entirely on diesel generators. In effect, we need to spend heavily just to keep our country running. These expenditures divert financial resources away from essential social priorities such as health and education, preventing us from adequately addressing the needs of our people. In health, we have a hospital that remains unfinished due to a lack of resources. In education, we make sure that every child in our country receives at least one meal a day. But how can we sustain this cost?

Through South-South cooperation, we are seeking solutions that are not based on charity but on equity, allowing us to leverage development systems that improve socioeconomic and financial conditions, as well as social infrastructure, for the well-being of our population.

What role can institutions like the OPEC Fund play in this endeavor?

Institutions such as the OPEC Fund have the capacity to support social development, particularly in health. For example, we are developing a hospital project with a full range of specialties — but there are critical gaps such as hemodialysis. At present, a patient with kidney disease requiring dialysis must be evacuated abroad for treatment at extremely high cost. Such patients are sent to Portugal, which effectively becomes forced migration, as the patient often cannot return due to the lack of treatment capacity at home. However, with partners such as the OPEC Fund, even a modest investment could establish a dialysis center in our country. This would allow patients to remain with their families, avoid displacement and contribute to national development.

What else should we prioritize in the future?

Our challenges are many, but we have a clear strategy. As a priority, we must find ways to develop Sao Tomé and Principe as a small island developing state that is highly vulnerable to climate change. Although we contribute almost nothing to global emissions (about 0.01 percent), we suffer heavily from the consequences — including sea-level rise, coastal erosion and increasingly unpredictable rainfall and landslides. For us, this is no longer theoretical. It is an everyday reality.

At the same time, we have learned that relying solely on raw material exports does not lead to sustainable development. We are therefore creating conditions to process our raw materials domestically. Our economy has long depended on cocoa production for export, but now nearly 40 percent of that production is processed within the country, creating added value. The remainder is exported.

We are also developing other sectors, including coffee, palm products and both white and black pepper. In addition, tourism has become the second-largest contributor to our economy. This set of initiatives forms part of our development strategy. This is the path we have set for our future.