I bring warm
greetings from the Government and the people of
Solomon Islands. Allow me to begin by conveying my
most heartfelt and sincere congratulations to you,
Madam, on your election as President of the General
Assembly at its sixty-first session. Solomon Islands is
confident that, as a result of your leadership, guidance
and service to the world, our work to achieve global
peace, progress and prosperity will bear fruit. My
delegation assures you of our cooperation and support
during your term in office.
Solomon Islands would also like to take this
opportunity to applaud and pay tribute to your
predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Jan Eliasson, Foreign
Minister of Sweden, who, with truly admirable skill,
led us in achieving many reform initiatives following
last year's World Summit, in particular the
establishment of the Peacebuilding Commission and
the Human Rights Council, the launch of the Global
Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the adoption of the
development resolution, management reform,
Secretariat mandate review and the Declaration on
HIV/AIDS.
It would be remiss of me not to thank our
Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, for
his distinguished service to this premier institution. He
has been a constant catalyst for change and has
distinguished himself by combining leadership with
vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence and
faith in this institution. Solomon Islands continues to
render him and the Secretariat staff our support. We
wish the Secretary-General well in his future
endeavours and sincerely thank him for his service.
Solomon Islands would also like to join others in
warmly welcoming the newest Member, the Republic
of Montenegro, which was admitted into the United
Nations family in June this year. We wish the new
nation every success and look forward to working with
it for the common good of the globe.
Democracy remains the bedrock of the Solomon
Islands political system. My Government came to
power four months ago, following the country’s
seventh national election since its attainment of
political independence 28 years earlier. We were
fortunate in having the Electoral Assistance Division of
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the United Nations Department of Political Affairs
monitor and coordinate the international observers who
oversaw this election. Despite the positive verdict of
the international observers, a minor hiccup occurred
during the second part of the election and led to three
days of rioting. Solomon Islands looks at that incident
as a wake-up call, urging that more be done for the
development of its growing population. I am pleased to
say that the incident is now behind us, stability has
been restored and a Commission of Inquiry has been
set up to look into the matter.
Solomon Islands would like to thank all those
that participated in the election observer programme
including the Commonwealth, the Pacific Islands
Forum, Australia, New Zealand and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). My Government
has gone ahead and put in place some integrity
legislation that will strengthen the development of the
party system in Solomon Islands and bring about
needed political stability.
Like many young democracies, Solomon Islands
is being challenged and tested. Governance is
expensive and needs support in order to be nurtured
and to flourish. Political ideology should belong to all,
not only to those that can afford it.
The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon
Islands, led by Australia and supported by New
Zealand and all the Pacific Islands Forum countries,
has just completed its third year. My Government has
renewed the Regional Assistance Mission’s term for
another twelve months, given the Mission’s success in
transforming the country from a fragile to a stable
State. Solomon Islands is undertaking a comprehensive
review of the Mission in an effort to strengthen the
existing partnership, with the objective of broadening
the scope and role of the Mission so that it can take a
more development-oriented approach.
The theme of this session, “Implementing a
Global Partnership for Development”, demands a
renewed commitment to existing partnerships between
developed and developing countries and presents an
opportunity to reorder and close the North-South
divide through a strengthened multilateral system.
Just last week, more than one quarter of the most
vulnerable Members of the United Nations, the least
developed countries, met here in this Assembly to
review the Brussels Programme of Action. These
countries have special needs and require special
attention. While we welcome the declaration issued by
the High-level Meeting on the midterm comprehensive
global review of the implementation of the Brussels
Programme of Action, it is not the declaration that
implements the Brussels Programme of Action, rather
it is our action in honouring our international
obligations and commitments.
Solomon Islands is a country of small
communities, scattered across nine hundred islands.
Sustainable development for Solomon Islands can be
achieved only through a global partnership in which
development is directed at rural communities. The
approach must have a sense of urgency and the
common purpose of enabling the rural population to
exploit their resources thanks to the transfer of
appropriate technologies and thus to realize their
economic aspirations.
The shape and future of international relations
depends on how we manage change. According to
Charles Darwin, it is not the strongest of the species
that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the
one most responsive to change.
I am pleased to note that this year the United
Nations is looking at expanding its presence in the
Pacific region. Such an approach strengthens United
Nations relations with its Members. In that regard,
Solomon Islands looks forward to the proposed
upgrading of the UNDP sub-office in Honiara to the
country level.
Solomon Islands notes that the first part of the
2005 World Summit Outcome Document features rural
and agricultural development. My delegation is
heartened by a proposed joint UNDP/United Nations
Capital Development Fund project for the
strengthening of the Solomon Islands provincial
government system and for investing in provincial
infrastructure and communications. The project has the
merit of strengthening all democratic principles and
bringing the State closer to its people. My Government
stands ready to assist such a worthwhile project in any
way it can. Solomon Islands calls on all partners to
contribute to it and to better the lives of a people
whose needs have been neglected for so long.
Solomon Islands follows developments in the
Middle East with concern, in particular in Iraq,
Lebanon and Palestine. It is sad to see parents burying
sons in a conflict that claims the lives of more children
than soldiers. Solomon Islands associates itself with
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the observation of the Under-Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, that something is
truly wrong. Under such difficult circumstances, we
must find the strength to trust one another and work
tirelessly to find a permanent, sustainable and lasting
solution to the crisis. The world looks to this
Organization for a solution, and we must not fail it.
That can only be done if we are prepared to take a
holistic approach in seeking a permanent solution to
the Middle East question, by embracing all parties in
the region and working in the spirit of the United
Nations Charter and through dialogue and consultation.
On Security Council reform, in the words of our
Secretary-General, “no reform of the United Nations
will be complete without the reform of the Security
Council” (A/61/1, para. 161). The time is ripe to
balance ongoing reforms with Security Council reform.
The Council’s failure to act — for various political
reasons — to contain certain conflicts calls into
question its effectiveness, given its responsibility for
the maintenance of international peace and security.
The most vulnerable Members of the Organization do
not have the luxury of waiting, because conflicts and
potential conflicts may take root. More than 5 billion
dollars has already been spent on United Nations
peacekeeping missions — money that would be better
spent on development.
Only by enlarging the Council and arming it with
improved working methods can we make it truly
representative and accountable to the wider
membership of this Organization. Solomon Islands
would like to see countries such as Japan and Germany
as permanent members, together with emerging Powers
such as India and Brazil.
On the question of the representation of Taiwan,
the continuous refusal by this Organization over the
past 13 years to discuss the representation of the 23
million people of Taiwan at the United Nations is a
matter of serious concern. This creates an institutional
gap in an Organization where we are all supposed to
stand equal. My delegation wishes to register its
disappointment at the fact that its right even to discuss
the issue was denied last week. Solomon Islands feels
that the purposes and principles of the United Nations
Charter continue to be violated in this respect. The
time has come for this institution to act according to
the rules that guide the behaviour and conduct of
Members and to have an honest debate on the issue.
Solomon Islands renews its call on the United Nations
to recognize the right of the 23 million people of
Taiwan to be represented at the United Nations.
Solomon Islands is also concerned about security
threats on the Taiwan Strait. My delegation calls on all
Member States to distinguish our collective interests to
preserve peace from narrow interests that threaten
peace. Solomon Islands further calls on the United
Nations, the body responsible for the maintenance of
international peace and security, to mediate and engage
with the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan and other
stakeholders in finding a permanent solution to this
issue.
This year we will be electing a new Secretary-
General. Solomon Islands, a member of the Asian
Group, would like to see a Secretary-General who has
an interest in our subregion. For the last 28 years, since
Solomon Islands joined this noble institution, no
Secretary-General has ever visited my part of the
world. We would like to see our future Secretary-
General engage more closely with Member States on
the other side of the globe.
On the subject of terrorism, Solomon Islands
once again reiterates its condemnation of all forms of
terrorism, in whatever form and manifestation,
wherever and whenever it may occur. Recent attacks in
India and in various parts of the world underscore the
fact that terrorism remains a threat to all. Solomon
Islands looks forward to an early conclusion of the
comprehensive terrorism convention and is pleased that
talks between the United Nations Counter-Terrorism
Committee and Member States, including those in the
Pacific region, have begun. It is our hope that the
consultations will address the gaps in national
mechanisms and, where possible, have a regional
approach to the issues. I am pleased to report that, with
the assistance of New Zealand, Solomon Islands
expects to fulfil some of its counter- terrorism
reporting obligations during the course of 2007.
Mr. Chidyausiku (Zimbabwe), Vice-President,
took the Chair.
At last year’s World Summit, 170 of our Heads of
State and Government agreed to ensure the fuller
participation of developing countries, in particular the
least developed countries, in the global system. The
lack of agreement at the Doha Round continues to hurt
small island open-market economies, such as that of
Solomon Islands. We hope that enough political will
can be garnered to confront existing differences and
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ensure that a universal, rules-based, open,
non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading
system is established.
Solomon Islands continues to benefit from North-
South cooperation to sustain its growth. We must also
continue to work on enhancing South-South
cooperation. I am pleased to note that developing
countries, such as Papua New Guinea, have provided
needed assistance in education and security. My
Government is paying closer attention to renewable
sources of energy with the help of India, Taiwan and
Indonesia. It is our hope that, with the cooperation of
all our partners, appropriate technologies will be
transferred, so that communities can have access to
modern and affordable energy. In this connection, the
Global Environment Fund and the United Nations
Environment Programme could look at facilitating such
initiatives. Solomon Islands would like to thank India,
Taiwan, Indonesia, China and the United Nations
Department for Economic and Social Affairs for
enabling experts from the Pacific Islands to meet and
work on such programmes.
A number of developmental opportunities have
emerged since the 2005 World Summit meeting.
Among other things, a HIV/AIDS declaration has been
adopted. Solomon Islands would like to see the Global
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria provide a
complete package for the Pacific region, ranging from
awareness to treatment. It is cheaper to invest in a
problem that is small than to treat a full-blown
pandemic. Solomon Islands would like the Global
Fund to reconsider the Pacific regional project
submitted during the sixtieth session.
Solomon Islands notes with regret that the recent
five-year review conference of the 2001 Programme of
Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit
Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its
Aspects did not agree on a final document. Solomon
Islands continues to believe that the root cause of the
emerging gun culture is development-related. At some
stage, such conferences should focus more on
addressing poverty issues within vulnerable countries,
where gun culture is likely to emerge, in a global effort
to address the issue once and for all.
On the issue of international migration, which
was taken up at last week’s High-level Meeting,
Solomon Islands, together with its regional neighbours,
continues to seek opportunities to manage short-term
labour migration within its subregion and globally.
While nothing concrete has emerged, the regional
discussion has allowed us to better understand the
receiving States’ position and, hopefully, will allow us
to work towards striking an agreed balance. Solomon
Islands feels that the pull factor from the South to the
North is natural and serves as a win-win factor for the
South that provides needed labour for the North’s
growing economies, while at the same time benefiting
the South financially.
The United Nations offers opportunities for
Member States to become responsible global citizens.
Solomon Islands would like to see mission recruitment
procedures at country level. We are also seriously
looking at participating in selected United Nations
civilian police missions.
Finally, a reformed and strengthened United
Nations represents our best hope for a better future.
Solomon Islands reiterates its commitment to work
within the framework of international cooperation to
address today’s economic, social, cultural and
humanitarian challenges.