Papua New Guinea
I
wish to convey Papua New Guinea’s congratulations to
you, Madam President, on your election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first
session. I assure you of my country’s full cooperation
during your presidency. We compliment your
predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, for his stewardship of
our work during his tenure. We also congratulate him
on his appointment as Sweden’s Foreign Minister and
wish him well.
On 10 October 1975, 24 days after Papua New
Guinea attained political independence, I stood at this
very rostrum and addressed the Assembly with a lot of
hope and expectations. Like many developing countries
coming out from the colonial yoke, Papua New Guinea
committed itself to the principles and purposes of the
United Nations. I said: “I state our fundamental
commitment to the maintenance of peace throughout
our world and our undertaking to uphold the principles
of the Charter of the United Nations Organization.”
We believed that the United Nations was the most
appropriate body to achieve our aspirations of
meaningful economic development, respect for our
sovereignty and the attainment of a peaceful and secure
world. The harsh reality today is that these aspirations
remain largely unfulfilled for many of us. Our record
will indicate lost opportunities to realize the promise of
a better world.
Our world today is marked by an inequitable
global trading order and a hostile security environment.
Wanton globalization and unfettered trade
liberalization are affecting many of us in ways that are
detrimental to the livelihood of our people. Unilateral
actions by the big and powerful to resolve disputes are
no longer incidental, but are the order of the day. We
note the increasing incidence of human atrocities,
genocides, wars, poverty, terrorism, the emergence of
HIV/AIDS, and an increase in malaria and
tuberculosis. Our streets and communities are littered
with small arms and light weapons. The smuggling of
drugs and humans and other illegal activities are on the
rise. Environmental degradation and climate change
continue unabated. We must confront these issues
urgently. To complement efforts in other forums, Papua
New Guinea, with other countries of the Pacific region,
has agreed to pool its limited resources under the
Pacific plan to address these issues.
Papua New Guinea continues to believe that the
United Nations offers the best hope for its Member
States to address these ongoing concerns and other
emerging challenges facing humanity today. In this
regard, my country supports the ongoing United
Nations reform initiatives that seek to make its
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operations more effective and responsive. We must
ensure that its collective security mandates and
functions, and its various organizations, are
strengthened and not weakened. We are pleased to note
the establishment of the Human Rights Council and
Peacebuilding Commission. Papua New Guinea
believes in a revitalized General Assembly whose role
and authority reflect its broad membership. We must
press on with the reform of the Security Council with
courage and boldness so that it reflects the political and
economic realities of today. An expanded Security
Council must be more democratic and transparent. Its
membership must include developing countries, while
maintaining geographic balance and representation.
Global trade today is characterized more by the
unfair practices of those already holding decided
advantages than by the opportunities it offers to
developing countries such as Papua New Guinea. Our
efforts to develop a more equitable trading order are
hampered by the reluctance of our developed partners
to open their economies and engage in genuine
development discussions. Adding insult to injury, many
of our developed partners have yet to meet the targets
they agreed with respect to Official Development
Assistance.
While we appreciate the efforts of some of our
developed partners to ease the burden of debt under the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, we are
disappointed that many of them have not shown the
same leadership on the Doha Development Round,
leading to its collapse. We are calling for developing
countries to join us in framing a new and true
development round. We must exercise leadership rather
than passively allowing others to chart our future.
Despite these difficulties, Papua New Guinea is
pursuing economic development programmes that are
based on an export-driven economic growth strategy.
At the heart of this policy objective is the focus on
rural development. We have developed a five-year
medium-term development strategy and aligned it with
the Millennium Development Goals. Achieving those
goals by 2015 is a tremendous challenge for Papua
New Guinea but we have taken the first step in
providing budget funding for its implementation. We
call for the support of the United Nations system and
other genuine development partners to meet these vital
commitments.
As a result of better policy coordination, stricter
implementation of structural reform and prudent
financial and economic management, Papua New
Guinea has attained macroeconomic and fiscal
stability. Our economy is growing, interest rates have
fallen, and the exchange rate has been stabilized. Our
foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high. We
are using these gains to reinvest in productive sectors
of our economy and in delivering services to our
people. Development partners must play a supportive
role to sustain these gains. This can be done through
fair trade opportunities, equitable markets, increased
foreign investment, transfer of technology, capacity-
building and providing quality overseas development
assistance.
I now turn to an issue about which my country
feels strongly, that of climate change and sea-level rise.
For us this is not academic, it is reality. Small islands
and low-lying atolls in Papua New Guinea and the
Pacific region are being submerged by rising sea
levels. As I speak, my own people are being resettled
to higher ground. Papua New Guinea’s strong position
on the environment is drawn from the preamble to our
national Constitution, which states:
“We declare our fourth goal to be for Papua New
Guinea’s natural resources and environment to be
conserved and used for the collective benefit of
us all, and be replenished for the benefit of future
generations.”
That constitutional imperative underpins my country’s
whole approach to sustainable development objectives,
including those contained in the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation and the Mauritius Strategy.
Environmental degradation is occurring at a
frightening pace. Scientific studies suggest that climate
change is causing increasing incidences of
environmental catastrophes such as hurricanes,
tsunamis, landslides and flash floods. Our planet is in
distress. As co-inhabitants of this world we must all
equally share responsibility to address the root causes
of this problem. We urge industrialized countries to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. We call upon
those that have not yet done so to accede to and ratify
the Kyoto Protocol.
Papua New Guinea is prepared to play its part to
protect and conserve the world’s tropical rainforest
with the aim of stabilizing the earth’s climate. The
findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
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Change suggest that an estimated 20 per cent to 25 per
cent of annual global emissions were generated
through land-use change, primarily from the
degradation of forest resources. In this context it is
crucial for us to protect the tropical rainforests through
sustainable and fair market-based incentives.
The dilemma is that for some of us the forestry
sector is a major revenue earner, a provider of much-
needed employment, a facilitator of important
infrastructure projects, and a catalyst for the provision
of basic services in rural areas. The present incentives
offered by international markets for agriculture,
forestry and emissions reductions are inadequate.
These are perverse incentives from the standpoint of
the environment. Papua New Guinea, along with Costa
Rica, has formed a new Coalition for Rainforest
Nations that includes many other countries in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. Together we are
pursuing an initiative to access global carbon markets
and to support efforts to reduce rates of deforestation.
Simply put, this approach seeks to recognize the
contribution of resource owners to conserving and
protecting rainforests for the benefit of mankind. We
invite more nations to join our efforts to create new
markets and reform outmoded market and regulatory
mechanisms. That is necessary if we are to contribute
more effectively towards environmental sustainability,
economic development, climate stability and poverty
reduction.
The initiative on deforestation is part of a broader
agenda being pursued by my Government to implement
the Millennium Development Goal to ensure
environmental sustainability. We are convinced that by
implementing the seventh goal we will harness our
ability to achieve environmentally and socially
sustainable economic growth. Many times developing
countries are drawn into false promises of international
investment. Often we find our natural resources
exploited, leaving us with neither the resource nor the
money. We will not allow this to continue. We want
wealth from our natural resources to remain within our
nations to fuel our economic growth.
The threat of HIV/AIDS is real in many of our
countries and has serious implications for social and
economic development. In Papua New Guinea my
Government has passed HIV/AIDS legislation,
underpinned by a comprehensive HIV/AIDS policy
framework. To ensure close scrutiny I have vested my
department with the responsibility of overseeing
implementation. In addition, I have appointed a special
minister to assist me in providing political leadership
on this particular issue. But our experience suggests
that national action alone is not enough. It requires a
concerted global response. This is a war that must be
waged on all fronts and by all countries. We thank the
United Nations and its related agencies for their efforts
to address this issue. We also applaud the bold
leadership of former United States President Mr. Bill
Clinton and of Mr. Bill Gates in this regard.
Of equal importance are the battles against
malaria, tuberculosis and other preventable diseases.
While we, as a global community, have focused on
HIV/AIDS and bird flu, this has diluted our attention to
malaria, which remains the biggest killer disease in my
country. I call upon our development partners to
support Papua New Guinea and other countries in
maintaining perspective on these challenges.
Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a
serious threat to international peace and security. It
must be condemned irrespective of who perpetrates it.
All countries and peoples of the world have a serious
responsibility to stand united and fight this evil.
However, Papua New Guinea is concerned about the
erosion of the international community’s moral
authority to address this issue. It is unhelpful to our
credibility if certain of our members choose to address
this issue in flagrant violation of international norms
and universally agreed conventions. As with other
cross-border challenges, Member States will require
the support of the United Nations and development
partners with capacity-building and other necessary
resources to effectively fight global terrorism.
The conflict in the Middle East, despite various
United Nations resolutions, remains unresolved. Papua
New Guinea appeals to all parties to the conflict,
including those Powers with the capacity to influence a
positive outcome, to make the hard concessions
necessary for a peaceful resolution of this long-
standing issue. The recent confrontation in Lebanon
resulted in the loss of innocent lives and massive
destruction to infrastructure. Papua New Guinea
appeals for restraint by all parties and urges that full
use be made of the dispute settlement procedures of the
United Nations. Comprehensive and lasting solutions
must be found to the issues that led to the conflict.
Neighbouring countries and the international
community as a whole can make positive contributions
by shepherding a process that allows for genuine
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dialogue to take place. We commend the United
Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and
European countries such as France, Italy and Germany
and others that are contributing troops to maintain the
ceasefire.
Papua New Guinea is extremely concerned about
the proliferation among States of nuclear, chemical,
biological and other weapons of mass destruction. We
continue to maintain that there is no real justification
for the retention and further development of these
instruments of war. We call upon all countries to ratify
the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and other
related treaties to reduce the threat to international
peace and security by weapons of mass destruction.
Sadly, we were reminded by the Secretary-General
yesterday of the apathy that surrounds actions on non-
proliferation and disarmament.
The work of the United Nations Special
Committee on Decolonization remains unfinished. We
still have 16 non-self-governing territories, some in the
Pacific, that are yet to exercise their right to self-
determination. The referendum in Tokelau
demonstrated a true spirit of cooperation between
Tokelau and New Zealand. We congratulate both
Governments and assure the people of Tokelau of our
respect for their decision to remain in free association
with New Zealand.
I conclude by saying that the world has changed
in ways that not only provide opportunities, but also
offer more complex challenges for Members of the
United Nations. The emergence of a trend over the
years to try to resolve these challenges outside the
principles and framework prescribed by the United
Nations has resulted in a world worse than the founders
of the Organization envisaged. We must renew our
commitment and faith in the United Nations and seek
to reform it in ways that reflect the realities of today.
At this juncture I take the opportunity to pay a
special tribute to the outgoing Secretary-General,
Mr. Kofi Annan, for his outstanding contribution to the
United Nations and the world. We wish him well. As
this is likely to be the last General Assembly session in
which I take part, I take this opportunity to thank all
those who have contributed in one way or another in
support of Papua New Guinea since independence.
When I brought my nation to take its seat in this
Assembly 31 years ago I said, and I reaffirm today, that
within the limits of our resources Papua New Guinea
will play an active and positive role in the United
Nations.