I bring to you all warm
greetings from the President, Government and people
of the Republic of Kiribati, on whose behalf I am
honoured and privileged to address this Assembly this
evening.
Allow me, Sir, to offer my heartiest
congratulations to Ms. Al-Khalifa on her election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session. I am confident that under her able stewardship
this session will successfully deliver constructive and
productive outcomes that will benefit the membership.
I wish also to offer my congratulations to her
predecessor for his successful guidance of the work of
the Assembly during the past year.
May I also express to the Secretary-General,
Mr. Kofi Annan, my warmest congratulations on his
sterling leadership of the Organization during his
tenure in office. We are grateful for the excellent work
he has done in navigating the Organization through the
challenges of the past decade. We wish him well in his
future endeavours.
We continue to be confronted with major
challenges. Those challenges affect each of us as
individual countries and as members of the
international community. Peace and security remain
elusive in this world of ours, given the ongoing
conflicts and the threat of new conflicts around the
world. Terrorism continues to plague us, despite the
best concerted and collective efforts. Still more needs
to be done to remove the threat posed by the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And
while some progress has been made towards addressing
the threat posed by the continuing illicit trade in small
arms and light weapons, further work is needed to
eliminate that threat.
For the least developed countries and the small
island developing States, the challenges of economic
development remain at the forefront of our agendas.
Marginalization in the global economy is a feature
common to many least developed countries and small
island developing States. The record high price of oil
has done little to ease the burden on our small
economies.
In Kiribati, our remoteness and insularity, narrow
economic base, small population size and high
population growth rates are factors with which we must
contend. We must also deal with the HIV/AIDS
pandemic and tuberculosis, among other diseases,
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which require the diversion of the already meagre
resources at our disposal to finance development.
With those daunting challenges looming, we are
forced to operate in an environment of uncertainty. I
say “uncertainty”, because our very survival as a nation
and as a people with a distinct culture and way of life
is being threatened by global warming and sea-level
rise.
These are challenges that we, as individual
countries and as Members of this collective body, need
to continue to work together to address. In this
increasingly interdependent world of ours, ripples
emanating from one part will ultimately reach out to
touch the shores of others.
Kiribati consists of low-lying coral atolls and is
particularly vulnerable to the impact of global warming
and sea-level rise. For countries such as ours, global
warming and sea-level rise are critical security issues.
While we welcome the support that has been
forthcoming in developing adaptation strategies to
these phenomena, there is a limit to the extent to which
we can adapt. Rising sea levels will affect our
groundwater supply and gradually erode whatever land
is available on our 33 islands. Yes, we could always
move inland to avoid the rising sea levels. But, given
the narrowness of our islands, if we move inland too
far, we risk falling into either the lagoon or the ocean.
We will continue to call on the international
community to agree on a unified global response to
these phenomena. We will continue to work with like-
minded countries in pushing the case for such a
response. We have been disappointed at the lack of
consensus on these critical environmental issues.
Indeed, we deplore the notion that economic growth
should take precedence over environmental issues
when the quest for such growth threatens the very
survival of some Members of the Organization.
Kiribati is a strong supporter of environmental
conservation efforts. In that regard, we have announced
the establishment of the Phoenix Islands Protected
Area, which is recognized as the third largest marine
protected area in the world. We are pleased to have
been able to contribute to global environmental
conservation efforts through the Protected Area. We are
prepared to work with those willing and able to ensure
its sustainability.
We note the progress that has been made with
regard to reforming the United Nations.
Understandably, we would have liked to see greater
progress made by now, but we fully recognize the need
for more discussions on the various relevant issues.
Indeed, that is multilateralism in practice. The
debate on unilateralism versus multilateralism in world
affairs continues unabated. We see multilateralism in
full play in the debate on United Nations reform. We
consider that to be a reflection of the healthy interest
that each Member country has in the Organization.
Indeed, in this day and age, multilateralism would
seem to be a more appropriate approach than
unilateralism.
Consensus has yet to be reached on reform of the
Security Council. We note with interest the report of
the Working Group. While acknowledging the very
strong interest in the issues raised and the need to forge
a consensus, we believe that perhaps there is also a
need to consider how much more time will be required
to move this forward.
Our position on the issue remains unchanged:
those Member States that are major contributors to
United Nations programmes — especially with regard
to the maintenance of global peace and security —
should be accorded permanent membership of the
Security Council. In our view, Japan, as such a
Member State, qualifies for permanent membership.
Regional cooperation in the Pacific has been
effective. In the recent past, we have had a number of
examples of success in regional cooperative efforts.
The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon
Islands has made substantial contributions to securing
peace and law and order in that country. Kiribati is
pleased to have been able to contribute civilian police
personnel to the Mission. We will continue to support
its work as long as the people and the Government of
the Solomon Islands wish it to continue.
The Pacific Regional Assistance to Nauru
programme has made positive contributions to Nauru.
In view of the historical ties between our two
countries, we have worked closely with Nauru on a
bilateral basis and remain committed to considering
other options through which we can extend our
collaboration.
51 06-52737
Our leaders will be meeting next month to
discuss, among other things, progress on the Pacific
Plan. We are satisfied with the initial progress. The
success or lack thereof of the Pacific Plan will depend
on a number of factors, including the political
commitment of each member country to the Plan and
the Plan’s ability to deliver tangible benefits over and
above what is available, on a bilateral basis, to its
membership.
We extend a warm welcome to the Republic of
Montenegro, which joined the Organization as a
Member this year. Montenegro’s membership brings to
192 the total United Nations membership. The
continuing desire on the part of many to join the
Organization attests to the value and continued
relevance of the United Nations.
Therefore, I note with much disappointment and
regret that the desire of the 23 million people of
Taiwan to join this Organization of ours continues to
be rejected, despite Taiwan’s demonstrated ability,
willingness and commitment to contribute to
international collaborative efforts in the pursuit of
global peace and security. In recent years, there has
been much talk of good governance, of democratizing
nations. Should we not also talk about adopting a
policy of good governance in our multilateral
organizations? Should we also not talk about
democratizing our multilateral organizations? We
deplore the sad state of affairs in which a nation of 23
million people is deliberately exempt from
participation as an equal member of the international
community.
The President of the General Assembly has our
full support as she carries out the duties of her office.
We commit ourselves to working closely with her as
we collectively seek to address the challenges facing
us.
Allow me to close by conveying to all members
of the General Assembly our traditional blessing: to
mauri, to raoi ao to tabomoa — health, peace and
prosperity.