I bring warm greetings
from my Government and the people of the Republic of
Kiribati, on whose behalf I am honoured and privileged
to address this important gathering this afternoon.
Allow me to join preceding speakers in offering
my sincere congratulations to Mr. Kerim on his
election as President of the General Assembly at its
sixty-second session. I am confident that with his
wisdom, experience and diplomatic skill, he will steer
the course of this Assembly to a successful conclusion.
Let me assure him that Kiribati pledges its full support
to him in the performance of his challenging task.
I take this opportunity to also extend my
appreciation to his predecessor for the exemplary way
in which she guided the proceedings of the sixty-first
session of the General Assembly.
I wish to commend as well the Secretary-General
and members of his team in the Secretariat for their
perseverance and relentless efforts in pursuit of the
goals of the United Nations. In particular, I
congratulate the Secretary-General on his sterling
leadership of this Organization since taking over his
top and challenging job at the beginning of this year.
Our world is confronted more than ever with a
number of serious threats and major challenges. Every
year, we all come together from different parts of the
world to this beautiful city of New York with our hopes
of finding practical and workable solutions to those
challenges. Indeed, situations in some regions of the
world show no sign of improvement and are further
confronted by crises that have proven difficult to settle.
Those challenges affect us each as individual countries,
small and big, rich and poor, developing and
developed. In a world characterized by globalization
and interdependence, the need for the human family to
undertake constructive and sustained cooperation has
become more urgent.
With the growing complexity and uncertainty of
events in this world of ours, especially in the context of
globalization and with the emergence of new
challenges to peace and security, the fulfilment of the
role of the United Nations remains critical. Kiribati
remains committed to supporting the reform of the
United Nations.
We continue to believe that the reform of this
Organization is in the best interests of humanity, and
we would like to see the reform processes move
forward and be concluded as early as practicable in
order for the Organization to be able to respond
effectively to today’s challenges to global peace,
security and economic and social progress.
Seeking peace and economic development
represents the common wish of all nations. Without
global peace there can be little positive development in
our countries. Kiribati is committed, within its resource
and capacity constraints, to working closely with other
like-minded countries in pursuit of world peace and
stability, economic development and progress of
mankind. As the only universal multilateral
international organization, the United Nations remains
the best forum for allowing all States to come together
to resolve problems of a global character, regardless of
their size or wealth.
States Members of the United Nations are all too
aware that globalization has brought us all to a point at
which everything is interconnected and the well-being
of almost every citizen is affected by global
developments. Events that happen in one part of the
world have a direct bearing on the rest of the world.
Sometimes however, we are all affected and
involved in a much more substantial way. Like other
least developed countries and small island developing
States, Kiribati has so many constraints. Our very
remoteness from world market centres, narrow
economic base and high population growth rates are
factors that we must contend with. The continuing
sharp increase in world oil prices and our total reliance
on imported oil and fossil fuel has already put a lot of
pressure on our economy. Our options for containing
the adverse impact of increasing world oil prices are
very limited. We must also contend with the HIV/AIDS
pandemic and tuberculosis, among others, which
require the diversion of the already meagre resources
we have at our disposal to finance our development.
Those complex economic situations of ours will
continue to undermine our efforts and determination to
realize the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals and other internationally agreed
development goals. In order to be able to realize our
aspirations to attaining sustainable economic
development and to sharing the benefits of
globalization, Kiribati would like to call on the
international community to look at a new global
strategy that would create an enabling economic
environment for the most disadvantaged States
Members of this noble institution, such as my own.
Even with those complex economic development
challenges, we are forced to operate in an environment
of uncertainty. I say “uncertainty” as our very survival
as a nation and as a people with a distinct culture and
way of life is at great risk, as we are being threatened
by global warming and sea-level rise.
Our islands are widely dispersed and small; most
rise barely over 0.2 metres above mean sea level. For
countries such as Kiribati, global warming and sea-
level rise are critical security concerns. Those concerns
are ones that we, as individual countries and as
members of this collective body, need to continue to
work together to address.
We will continue to call on the international
community to agree on a unified global response to
those environment issues. We will also continue to
work with like-minded countries in pushing the case
for a unified global response to those issues. As a small
country, Kiribati places great confidence on the
international community for its survival, and we hope
that our repeated appeals to this body to address that
critical issue will receive stronger political support and
commitment this time. There is no more time to debate
the issue, as climate change is now a fact of life. It is
now time to put words into action so that this living
planet is protected from complete destruction and
preserved for use by our many generations to come.
We wish to commend the Secretary-General for
his initiative in calling the high-level event on climate
change on 24 September this year. That in itself means
a lot to those who are now living under the cloud of
desperation, fear and uncertainty. We remain confident
that further meaningful actions will follow and that
consensus will soon be achieved on finding a global
solution to climate change before it is too late.
Terrorism is an ongoing concern that affects all
countries large and small. Kiribati condemns terrorism
in all its various forms and manifestations and will
continue to support the global fight against terrorism.
This time last year, Kiribati joined other States
Members of the United Nations in expressing our
disappointment over the continued neglect and
rejection of the desire of the 23 million people of
Taiwan to join this Organization. It is further saddening
to note that Taiwan’s request for admission this year
was again not given a fair opportunity to be heard by
the General Assembly.
With a population of 23 million, giving it the
forty-seventh largest population in the world, Taiwan
has continued to respect and abide by the United
Nations Charter based on the principles of democracy,
mutual respect and understanding. We feel that Taiwan
and its 23 million people deserve justice from this
noble institution. It is Kiribati’s fervent hope that
Taiwan will one day be given the nod to assume its
rightful place in this highly respected Organization.
Let us all work together to make this world a
better place a place where citizens of all of our
nations can live together in harmony, peace, security
and prosperity for many years to come.