Federated States of Micronesia

It is my high honour to address the Assembly today, both as the Chairman of the South Pacific Forum and as the President of the Federated States of Micronesia. First of all, Mr. President, for the South Pacific Forum and for my country, I wish to express sincere congratulations on your election to the highest position one can hold in this body. We are confident that your strong experience and leadership will provide the rudder that is needed here to steer us safely through the many challenges that lie ahead. I also thank the President of the General Assembly at its fifty-second session, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of Ukraine, for his skilful guidance throughout the past year during most difficult and troubling times. Recognition also must be given to the Secretary- General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose tireless and effective work in both leadership and coordinating roles is well known to all of us. The Federated States of Micronesia was honoured to host the twenty-ninth summit of leaders of the South Pacific Forum in Pohnpei on 24 and 25 August. As a result, I have the privilege and heavy responsibility of reporting to this organ the consensus achieved by all 16 member countries of the Forum at that summit. The South Pacific Forum is a unique institution involving independent and self-governing States which share a very special part of the world. Forum member countries differ greatly in land area, ocean area, population, resource endowment, economic development and industrialization, social structures, cultures and living standards. However, we all share a common bond as Forum members and have established agreed positions on a wide range of issues which transcend our diversity. We have also agreed to work together to pursue cohesion, stability and well-being in our countries. At the recent summit, the heads of Government and representatives of the 16 member countries reviewed progress and took decisions on a number of issues considered important to the region, which were generally of a political, economic or environmental nature. I will mention briefly some of the subjects that were discussed and refer for further details to the Forum communiqué, which is to be issued as a document of this General Assembly. The overall theme of the Forum?s summit this year was “From Reform to Growth: The Private Sector and Investment as Keys to Prosperity”. In this regard, the Forum agreed that efforts should be made to ensure macroeconomic stability by improving fiscal discipline, further promoting public sector reforms and broadening the tax base. It also emphasized the need to introduce a wide range of policy, legal, regulatory and institutional reforms which provide the private sector with a more favourable and competitive business environment. Leaders noted that good overall progress has been made in the implementation of the Forum Economic Action Plan, which aims at strengthening the economies of the island countries. This progress was made despite such difficulties as capacity constraints facing some members, the backdrop of region-specific difficulties, notably drought and other disasters, and the problems faced by member countries on account of the Asian economic crisis. Specific recommendations were endorsed concerning the region?s response to undesirable economic activities, the promotion of competitive telecommunications markets, the development of information infrastructure and work related to the Forum Free Trade Area. On a related matter, the Forum revisited the objective of having the United Nations adopt a vulnerability index, with the aim of having such an index included among the criteria for determining least developed country status and deciding eligibility for concessional aid and trade treatment. It was noted with pleasure that the United Nations Economic and Social Council had agreed to defer consideration of Vanuatu?s graduation from least developed country status for one year, pending further consideration of the vulnerability index issue, and that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have created a task force on the subject. While these steps have been important, much work remains ahead to gain full international recognition of vulnerability in its various manifestations as obstacles to the sustainable development of small island developing States. The Forum solidly reaffirmed its previous endorsement of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States as a comprehensive framework with great potential for the region, and noted the efforts under way for its implementation, but that much remains unaddressed. It is believed that the special session of the General Assembly in 1999 to review the Plan of Action will represent an important opportunity for the region. Support was expressed for national, regional and transregional activities in the run-up to the special session, both to better position ourselves for effective participation and to raise pre-sessional awareness of the situation of small island developing States. One issue that received a great deal of attention at this year?s Forum summit was that of global climate change, and in particular the risk of sea level rise brought on or hastened by human activities affecting the atmosphere. The Forum?s membership includes two annex I parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. All the rest, including several which are not United Nations Members, are small island developing countries and committed members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). We are driven in that regard by deep concerns about our very survival. It was encouraging and perhaps indicative to others that despite a wide diversity of interests on this issue the Forum succeeded in reaching a comprehensive position. The Forum recognized the legally binding commitments agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol as a significant first step forward on the path of ensuring effective global action to combat climate change. The Forum encouraged all countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to work towards its earliest possible ratification. In particular, noting that the Framework Convention obliges developed country parties to take the lead in combating climate change and the adverse effects thereof, the Forum stressed the importance of implementing measures to ensure early progress towards meeting the commitments in the Kyoto Protocol. This applies particularly to the United States, 2 the European Union, the Russian Federation, Japan, Canada and other annex I emitters. The Forum called for substantial progress at the upcoming fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention in Buenos Aires in establishing the rules for international implementation mechanisms — particularly emissions trading, the clean development mechanism and joint implementation — to ensure that these mechanisms assist the effectiveness of greenhouse-gas reduction efforts. It was also noted that an effective global response to the problem of climate change will require ongoing active cooperation and strengthened action by all parties, taking account of their common but differentiated responsibilities and their respective capabilities. The Forum stressed the urgent need to initiate a process to develop procedures and future time-frames for wider global participation in emissions limitation and reduction in which significant developing country emitters would enter into commitments which reflect their individual national circumstances and development needs. But remember, developed countries must take the lead. The Forum noted with relief and gratitude the recognition in the Kyoto Protocol of the importance of the adaption needs of small island States. The leaders called for adequate resources to be generated through the implementation mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and the Global Environment Facility for the full range of adaption measures. The Forum countries anticipate maximizing the benefits to them from such implementation measures and mechanisms through the work of another regional organization, the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme. Respectful of the wide range of reactions and emotions surrounding the outcome of Kyoto, and recognizing also the difficult challenges that will face the delegates at Buenos Aires, it is suggested that the Forum consensus should be taken as a harbinger of the possibilities for finding common ground on a larger playing field — one on which the ultimate fate of all of us may be decided. Before I leave the subject of climate change, I would like to express gratitude to the donor nations that responded recently to the suffering visited upon Pacific island peoples by the climatic phenomenon of El Niño. Whether or not scientists can decide conclusively that the recent intensity of the El Niño effect is a symptom of global climate change, it is a fact that entire island populations found themselves in a situation where their very survival depended on the willingness of other countries to provide emergency assistance. We will always be thankful that such assistance was forthcoming. While we express our appreciation, we are also mindful of the situation of the devastation that has been created by Hurricane Georges in the southern United States, and we are hoping and praying that this phenomenon will pass, giving relief to the people. Another issue of immediate and continuing environmental concern to our Forum region is the ongoing practice by industrialized Powers of shipping radioactive wastes back and forth through our economic zones in the advancement of their own national interests and priorities, irrespective of our strenuous and continuing protests. The Forum noted that some strides have been made in exchanging information on these shipments, but the risks remain. At the very minimum, we continue to seek a strong regime of prior notification to and consultation with coastal States on planned shipments of hazardous wastes, and the development of a regime to compensate the region for actual economic losses caused to tourism, fisheries and other affected industries in the area. The Forum leaders could not help but note with alarm the recent tests of nuclear devices by India and Pakistan. They expressed grave concern that the recent nuclear tests constitute a threat to the international process of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. It will be recalled that the region encompassed by the Forum members has perhaps greater standing than any other region in the world to express alarm over the continued testing of nuclear devices. The Forum members have endured and continue to endure the human suffering that has resulted from the curse of nuclear proliferation and testing. The Pacific island countries are taking action within the region to counter the presence of nuclear weapons and the testing of nuclear devices through the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. We call upon the United States to ratify that Treaty. Finally, as regards the South Pacific Forum — and I stress that I do not mention here every issue that was discussed or covered in the communiqué — I want to relate the Forum?s pleasure in drawing attention to the signing of the Noumea Accord between the Government of France and the concerned parties in New Caledonia. This Accord represents a tremendous accomplishment by 3 all involved in moving forward the process of self- determination for New Caledonia, whatever the ultimate outcome of that process might be. I have already consumed much of my time in commenting on issues that concern the South Pacific Forum as a group. Briefly now, I ask that you focus your attention on the situation of my small island developing country. The Federated States of Micronesia is approaching the end of the millennium with a sense of unsettlement. We will be among the first to celebrate the beginning of the new epoch, but, in an immediate sense, what does this celebration promise for us? Our developmental process began only a few years ago, and the barriers we face in terms of need for technology and manpower development, scarcity of resources, our remote location and small population — to name only a few — are beyond our capability to overcome alone. We are indeed fortunate to be receiving substantial assistance from the United States and other bilateral partners, but our long-term future cannot and should not depend upon bilateral assistance. Perhaps it is not realistic for us to plan for complete self-sufficiency, but we do want to become, and we must become, more self-reliant. We in the Federated States of Micronesia have some concerns that the emphasis of effort in the United Nations is being somewhat drawn away from the balance between addressing the overall interests of all countries and at the same time particularly assisting developing countries to move towards their rightful condition. In other words, we fear that the traditional role of the Organization in assisting less advanced countries with their development could be marginalized. I use the phrase “drawn away” because the shift to which I refer would not be something that leaders sat down and purposefully decided on. In large part, given the breadth of the Charter, the United Nations is simply in danger of becoming overwhelmed by its responsibilities. As regional and national conflicts proliferate, drug trafficking flourishes, terrorism looms as an ever more dangerous part of our daily lives, and as the global environment becomes increasingly threatened, the demands on the time and resources of this body and its Members to confront immediate problems are compelling. But while the need to move towards a closer parity between the living standards of the North and the South necessitates long-term solutions, it cannot be forgotten that in the long term the accomplishment of that goal will do much to address the problems to which I have just referred, which seem beyond the reach of immediate solutions. Meanwhile, as developing countries, we too must do our part. We must create the flexible, though outward- oriented, economies that can maximize the benefits of the global economy in which we also exist. At the same time, we must not forget that our national identities and unique national and subnational social, political and economic situations demand a proactive approach that avoids blindly jumping on the bandwagon of the latest development initiatives in order to reap the perceived benefits of donor assistance. In realizing that mistakes inevitably are made and opportunities lost, we must not lose our sense of self-confidence or permit ourselves to become overly prone to accepting the dictates of well- meaning donor partners whose understanding of our situation may not be complete. But we must also remain very alert to the need for course correction and we must endure periods of structural, institutional and even behavioural change. The process is now ongoing in my country. With the assistance of the Asian Development Bank and donor partners, we are well along in implementing a two- pronged programme that involves Government and public enterprise reforms, on the one hand, and private sector reforms, on the other. On the Government side, we are reorganizing and downsizing our institutions and improving our tax structure in order to move along the adjustment path to sustainable finances and rational service levels. On the private sector side, our reforms are designed to improve the economic environment for private sector growth, especially in those productive activities that earn dollars from abroad. This means, among other things, reducing the role of Government in productive activities and restructuring our legal and regulatory environment to encourage private sector activity and investment, especially foreign investment. Despite our determination to carry through this effort, we know that it alone will not produce development. It will facilitate development and make our application of development assistance far more effective. But now, perhaps more than ever, we will require the patience, understanding and continued support of donor partners and international institutions, which have been so instrumental in helping us to reach this point. This is to be a session during which two very important anniversaries are celebrated: 50 years of United Nations peacekeeping and 50 years of the Universal 4 Declaration of Human Rights. As to the first, I wish to honour those who served in the peacekeeping operations of the past 50 years, especially those who lost their lives in the service of the United Nations. As to the second, the vital role played by the Declaration hardly needs my endorsement; but I would refer to my statement at the 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, when, in speaking with respect to those who have given their lives in the cause of human rights, I said: “Those very heroes would be among the first to say, 'Let?s look into the past only for what we can learn from it. The job is not yet done, and our enemy grows stronger.'” It only remains for me to refer to the activities of the international community and this body having to do with my country?s predominant resource — the ocean. This is the International Year of the Ocean. The world can little afford to miss the opportunities presented by this occasion to focus on our planet?s most prevalent yet least understood physical mechanism. The single best example of that dangerously incomplete understanding surely is the ocean- generated, worldwide disaster of El Niño, which occurred, ironically, this year. For obvious reasons, the peoples of Micronesia secured involvement in the long negotiations that led to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea even before we emerged from Trusteeship status. We have continued that involvement as a party to the Convention and now call on all States to ratify the Convention and participate fully in the process. We support the Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, as well as resolutions aimed at eradicating the practice of driftnet fishing and unauthorized fishing in areas of national jurisdiction. We urge action to reduce by-catches, fish discards and post-harvest losses. Looking towards the Assembly?s special session on the Barbados Programme of Action, and also towards next year?s consideration of oceans by the Commission on Sustainable Development, we encourage the recognition of linkages between the various related issues and the need for more integrated treatment. By necessity, I speak of linkages and integration, which are familiar terms of usage within the United Nations system but there is nothing routine about the devastations of El Niño that were visited upon my country?s people earlier this year and upon other peoples around the world. I can think of no better example of the need for the recognition of linkages in terms of ocean and climatic issues and the necessity for the application of integrated response measures. In closing, I should like to refer to the fact that, in recent years, as the problems of our increasingly complex and globalized society appear to have escalated, it has become fashionable in some quarters to question whether the United Nations Organization is worth maintaining. It is as though the world?s peoples expect that the worth of this Organization is to be tested by its efficiency in “fixing” a set of global problems, after which, presumably, we would all live happily ever after. That mistaken notion is grounded in the assumption that international cooperation exists only for immediate problem-solving. Speaking for a relatively new Member country of the United Nations, allow me to suggest humbly that the repetition of mistakes of whatever scale and the creation of new crises along with every step forward is elemental to the human condition. The Charter of this Organization, monumental as it may be, is still a document designed by and for human beings on this planet and must be judged and applied in light of the human experience. The United Nations should not be expected to work itself out of a job. The people and the Government of the Federated States of Micronesia deeply respect the past accomplishments of the United Nations and look forward to continuing to meet our commitments to it, even though our contributions may appear small.