Palau

Last September, I had the privilege of addressing this Assembly for the first time as Palau’s Head of State (see A/64/PV.7). It is an honour for me to do so once again this year. Palau’s national story is one of achievement and success. Palau was the last country to emerge from United Nations trusteeship. The Constitution of our new country incorporated the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is a testament to the efficacy of the United Nations. The United Nations also helped us form a strong partnership with the United States of America, our former Administering Authority. This partnership was renewed on 3 September when the United States and Palau entered into a new agreement that will assist Palau in its efforts to achieve economic self- sufficiency, and for this we express our profound gratitude to the United States of America. Palau is also proud of our role in the international community, joining international conventions and meeting our international obligations. Our officers are helping to maintain peace in fragile States. We have deployed peacekeepers to Darfur, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands. For Palau, environmental sustainability is not a recent construct. Respect for the environment and its preservation is Palau’s most deeply ingrained tradition and is at the heart of our culture. Palauans have always known that caring for the long-term health of the environment is the foundation of our progress and survival. With our traditions as our bedrock, I am pleased to say that Palau has virtually achieved our Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets, according to the United Nations-sanctioned report. Palau has succeeded in achieving universal literacy, gender equality, maternal health and access to education. We have eliminated poverty and hunger and reduced child mortality to a degree comparable to even the most advanced developed countries. We thank, among others, our closest friends and allies: first the United States, then Japan and the Republic of China on Taiwan for helping us reach this point. We consider the MDGs to be a minimum, and we will continue to strive for higher goals, including the goal of combating the ever-increasing spread of non- communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and obesity, which the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association has declared a regional epidemic in the Pacific. We are a small country, but blessed in many ways. I reiterate that we have risen to achieve the MDGs by caring for our God-given resources. We have put in place a system domestically to conserve and preserve our terrestrial and marine biodiversity. We have also joined with our Pacific neighbours to address the health of our oceans together through the Pacific Oceanscape programme. 19 10-54959 Palau, and indeed the entire world, is connected by a web of life that is in peril. For too long, we have focused our attention primarily on commercial interests. We have abused nature and must change our thinking. We must reorient our priorities to put biodiversity and the welfare of our ecosystems first. In so doing, we can serve both our long-term commercial interests and protect the natural bounty that sustains us. One issue that symbolizes the threat to our biodiversity succinctly is the fight to conserve our oceans. Last year, I declared the world’s first shark sanctuary from this podium. It was a good first step. I also advocated for an end to unsustainable, cruel and wasteful shark finning on the high seas at the resumed Review Conference on the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement. We cannot accept the loss of 73 million sharks a year for a pot of soup. Palau is doing all it can, but this work cannot stop at the boundary of any one country. We are all connected. This is why I am proud that President Lobo Sosa of Honduras and I signed this week a joint declaration calling on all other nations to stop unsustainable shark fishing. Moreover, according to scientific studies, such as that entitled “Patterns and ecosystem consequences of shark declines in the ocean”, the health of sharks is linked directly to the health of tuna. Palau and other countries rely on tuna as their principal fisheries resource, and the world community relies on it as an important food source. We must work together to ensure the continued viability of this important stock. This past year, I hosted a summit of the parties to the Nauru Agreement to take steps to ensure that tuna remains plentiful. Along with other leaders of countries parties to the Naura Agreement, we limited purse seine fishing, agreed to close the doughnut holes between our jurisdictions, and implemented a vessel day scheme. These are steps which we believe are vital to ensuring the continued viability of our stocks. When Palau and other Pacific small island developing States (SIDs) joined together at the sixty- third session of the General Assembly to initiate resolution 63/281, “Climate change and its possible security implications”, we did so recognizing that not only is climate change a development issue, but has now risen to the level of a security issue. The successful adoption of resolution 63/281 by consensus was a landmark occasion for Pacific SIDs and a step forward for the international community. The accelerating conflict and dislocation caused by climate events warrant an urgent response from the Security Council. We repeat our call for Security Council action on this resolution. After personally visiting the Pacific islands earlier this year, His Highness Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates, convened an historic summit between the Arab League and the Pacific SIDs. The summit was a success. Our two regions, which had never before engaged bilaterally, found a new understanding of shared goals, culture and traditions. Palau is grateful to the League of Arab States for being the first regional group to recognize the potential of the Pacific SIDs as a strong, viable and cohesive unit. We are hopeful that this is the year when we will make substantive progress on Security Council reform. Our position on the issue has been stated clearly and continually in the negotiation room. If we as an organization are to maintain our relevance, we must reform the Council so that its membership reflects the ever-evolving membership of the General Assembly. Palau strongly supports expanding Security Council membership, particularly by adding Japan as a permanent member. On the issue of security, Palau is hopeful that the return of Israelis and Palestinians this month to the negotiating table will bear fruit. The crucible of the world’s Abrahamic faiths should not be the land of so much turmoil. The resolution of this intractable problem is of the utmost importance so that the region and its reality may reflect its historic message of peace on Earth. Palau can only add its voice to the chorus of support for a just, comprehensive and regional solution in accordance with the Road Map, the Arab Peace Initiative and the relevant Security Council resolutions. We welcome the opportunity to actively support the process in the General Assembly this fall. Indeed, world peace hinges on peace in the Middle East. Palau also supports the efforts of the international community on disarmament and the prevention of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Palau’s was the world’s first nuclear-free Constitution, and so the elimination of nuclear weapons is of special concern to us. Having experienced the horror and devastation of war, we and our neighbours long for the day when the entire world is free of nuclear weapons. We therefore 10-54959 20 welcome all efforts to add the Middle East to the list of nuclear-weapon-free zones. The SARS pandemic shone a bright light on the gaps in our collective ability to prevent the spread of diseases internationally. With the participation of Taiwan, we can now help to fill those gaps. We congratulate the world community on making itself healthier by granting Taiwan observer status at the World Health Assembly. Given the importance of a universal approach to global problems, Palau advocates for Taiwan’s inclusion in the activities of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The world needs its input to ensure civil aviation safety and security, and to effectively tackle climate change for the benefit of all. When I began my address, I related the success story that was Palau’s emergence from trusteeship. As I wind down my remarks, I will speak candidly about our challenges. Today, Palau still feels the pain from the wounds inflicted during our colonial days. Damage was done to our islands. One, for example, was stripped of much of its resources, making it difficult for those who live there to sustain the livelihood they once enjoyed. This happened to our once phosphate- rich island of Angaur. We call on the international community for appropriate relief for this historic and lasting injury — a relief that will heal the gaping wounds on our island, ease our pain and bring justice to our people. In addition, as a result of the fierce battles fought over our islands during the Second World War, explosives were rained down on our land. Some of those explosives still lie there, live, and pose an extreme danger to the lives and limbs of our people. We appeal to the conscience of the world, especially those responsible, to remove this danger from our midst. As a developing nation, Palau is thankful for the grants provided to us by our allies, friends and partners. They have been invaluable. But our developing economy faces a crisis that grants alone cannot address. Without a strong local economy based on private enterprise and the free market, our young people will continue to leave our shores to pursue better employment abroad. We need more than just humanitarian grants; we need private investment to spur and sustain our economic development. I therefore invite investors and entrepreneurs from all over the world to come to Palau to invest and establish partnerships with our talented people, so that we can create a vibrant economy for now and for our future.