Kiribati

It is with great pleasure that I bring warm greetings from the Government and people of Kiribati on whose behalf I have the honour to address the Assembly today. Before I begin, I would like to extend our congratulations to Mr. Jean Ping on his election to the presidency of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly. We have every confidence in his able leadership to guide the work of the Assembly and to deliver conclusive outcomes. He has our full support and cooperation in carrying out his work. I wish also to thank the President’s predecessor for the excellent work he has done in steering the work of the Assembly during the past year. My congratulations also go to the Secretary-General for his sterling leadership of our Organization during these trying times and for rising commendably to the challenge. We gather again this year amidst the reality of daunting challenges that continue to confront us as individual nations and as a global community. The ongoing conflicts in Iraq and other parts of the world, the scourge of terrorism and the existence of nuclear arsenals, accelerated environmental degradation and the threat of global warming and sea-level rise, hunger and poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other non- communicable diseases, the marginalization of the least developed countries within the global economy and underdevelopment, all continue to pose major challenges that our Organization must address today. Those challenges cast a dark shadow over the commitments made by world leaders at the Millennium Summit held here in New York four years ago, pledging to work collectively to maintain peace and security, to eliminate poverty and to promote development for the benefit of all mankind in the new millennium. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons continue to threaten international security. We must be unified in our approach and address those challenges effectively by strengthening multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation treaties and agreements and through closer regional and international cooperation. Kiribati supports all non-proliferation efforts and in that respect is party to, among others, the Treaty on the 2 Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and the Chemical Weapons Convention. We commend and support the work of the international community and efforts taken at the national, regional and international levels to respond to the challenges of terrorism, recognizing the need for international solidarity in addressing that increasing global threat. Kiribati is committed to the global fight against terrorism. Terrorism knows no boundaries and we cannot claim immunity from it. Indeed, as a small island developing State we have very little capacity to develop any effective countermeasures and are therefore especially vulnerable to terrorism. We acknowledge the importance of complying with United Nations resolutions and international security arrangements that have been adopted in the fight against terrorism. While we cannot afford to be complacent in our efforts in that regard, it must be recognized that the requirements for compliance with those resolutions and arrangements do pose enormous challenges for countries such as Kiribati. Our limited resources and technical capacity are already committed to providing for the basic and essential social and economic needs of our rapidly growing population, thus placing severe constraints on our ability to make progress in compliance. I would like to note, however, that, with technical assistance from our development partners, we have made progress in enacting important legislation relating to terrorism and transnational crime. We expect to make further progress on compliance with the counter-terrorism requirements shortly. The progress made so far has revolved primarily around the introduction of legislation. We recognize that this is just the beginning of the process. The implementation and enforcement of the legislation enacted will pose an immense challenge. In this respect, we will continue to count on the assistance and support of the international community. We note with deep regret and concern the loss of life and devastation to property caused by the recent series of hurricanes affecting the Caribbean and the Atlantic coast of the United States. We offer our deep sympathy to those affected by those natural disasters. The adverse impact of climate change and sea- level rise is, indeed, a critical security issue for the global community in this new millennium, especially for low-lying island States like Kiribati. That issue must take centre stage with other international security issues. We urge the international community to agree on a unified global response in order to better protect the environment, in the same way that the international community is being encouraged to respond to terrorism and other threats to global security. Our inability as a global community to agree on a unified stand on climate change and sea-level rise is very disappointing indeed, and we deplore the notion that economic growth must take precedence over environmental issues at any cost. Our very existence as a State — indeed, the existence all States similar to Kiribati — is at stake if such thinking continues to prevail. I would like at this juncture to express our gratitude to the many countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol and to appeal to those that have not to do so as a matter of urgency. We have demonstrated remarkable solidarity in the fight against global terrorism. Can we not demonstrate the same solidarity in the fight against climate change and sea-level rise? Regional cooperation has been a very effective mechanism in addressing the many challenges faced by countries in our region. Regional cooperation has enabled many Pacific countries to meet some of the counter-terrorism requirements. Regional cooperation has also enabled us to effectively address emerging issues confronting our region; the outstanding success of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands is a clear demonstration of that. We in the Pacific are confident of our ability to steer a course for the future. We have approved work to commence on a Pacific plan that will promote collective action in the areas of security, good governance, economic growth and sustainable development. We envisage that the Pacific plan will result in the delivery of tangible benefits to our respective peoples and communities. We recognize the need for, and welcome, strengthened cooperation and the development of closer linkages and partnerships between the United Nations and its specialized agencies and other organizations, including the Pacific Islands Forum. Such linkages and partnerships can only result in the more effective, coordinated and harmonized delivery of assistance to member countries. Making progress with regard to the development aspirations of our peoples is a high — if not the highest — priority for many of us who are here today. Our national policy objective is to achieve the 3 equitable distribution of development benefits to all our peoples, based on the principles of good governance. We are committed to the Millennium Declaration and are on track in our national efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals have been integrated and mainstreamed into our national development strategy. We are committed to pursuing those goals as the basis of sustainable development. In this connection, I would like to express our appreciation to all our development partners, who, over the years, have contributed meaningfully to the realization of our development aspirations. While we are grateful for the assistance extended by our development partners, there is scope for us to achieve more for our peoples — and to do so without development assistance. Kiribati has a large exclusive economic zone that has an abundant fisheries resource. Those resources are presently being harvested by vessels from distant-water fishing nations under license arrangements. However, the return from these licensing arrangements is negligible, at only around 5 per cent of the landed value of the catch. Naturally, we would like to see greater returns from that resource. Our ability to achieve sustainable economic development depends on it. Accordingly, we urge the flag States of those fishing interests to encourage their industries to explore the mutual benefits to be gained from collaboration with resource owners in establishing on-shore facilities that will add value to the commodity. We believe that such a model will also result in easing the pressure on fish stocks and ensure conservation of the resource for the sustainable benefit of mankind. The entry into force in June this year of the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Convention represents a major development in the management of the western and central Pacific tuna fishery. In this age of rapid globalization, advances in information technology and trade liberalization, it is regrettable that, while some are reaping the full benefits of those advances and developments, significantly more remain on the fringes. The reality is that a large proportion of the world’s population, most of whom live in developing countries, continue to live in poverty and are marginalized in trading arrangements and market access opportunities. The promise of globalization and open trading as a positive force for economic growth, and social progress continues to elude the many. Much work needs to be done to ensure that the many also enjoy the benefits of globalization. Kiribati supports the findings of the report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization. We urge that the findings of the report be taken into consideration and incorporated into the work of the Assembly, especially for the 2005 high- level review of the outcome of the Millennium Summit. We welcome the United Nations support for the convening, early next year in Mauritius, of the International Meeting for the 10-Year Review of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. Like other small island developing States, we attach great importance to that review. With the continued support and commitment of our development partners to the process, we can be assured of important outcomes that will go a long way in making a real difference to the quality of life for our peoples. We share the concerns of the international community about the spread of HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact as both a health crisis and a development concern. We welcome the recent developments in the search for affordable drugs for HIV/AIDS victims in developing countries. We encourage greater collaboration on HIV/AIDS research and the mobilization of resources for prevention activities and for better medical care for affected patients. We believe in the continuing relevance and importance of the role of the United Nations and its ability to respond to the challenges of our contemporary world. In this regard, Kiribati welcomes and fully supports the efforts to reform this Organization to enable it to better respond to the challenges of this era. Given the crucial role of the Security Council in the promotion of international peace and security and the importance we attach to that issue, we see the necessity for Security Council reform, including the expansion of both the permanent and non-permanent membership of the Council. Expansion is required to better reflect the realities of our world today. We note that some countries, including Japan, have consistently committed substantial resources towards the maintenance of global peace and security, and we believe that they should be accorded permanent membership on the Security Council. 4 We attach great importance to our membership in this noble Organization, and we reaffirm our commitment to upholding the noble values and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The Charter epitomizes our hope for achieving justice and equality and the safeguarding and promotion of fundamental human rights of all peoples. Within that context, we believe that the exclusionary principles applied to Taiwan in its bid for United Nations membership go against the very values and objectives of the Charter that we all strive to uphold. In this era of tension and conflict we should discard the present exclusionary practices and adopt a more embracing environment where all countries willing and able to contribute to the international community’s efforts to promote world peace and stability are welcomed as equal partners. Taiwan has made and continues to make notable contributions to the development of many developing countries and has the capacity to contribute constructively to the good work of the United Nations. It is therefore regrettable that the desire of the 23 million people of Taiwan to again become a part of that global community of nations continues to be rejected. The challenges that confront us at this point in time are indeed daunting, but they are not insurmountable. With renewed commitments and with a common resolve to work in close cooperation and in support of each other, we can succeed in creating a more secure, a more prosperous and a more just world for all in this millennium.