I bring warm
greetings to the Assembly from the happy isles and
convey my Government and people’s profound
congratulations to Mr. Treki on his assumption of the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth
session. We are confident that, under his leadership, we
will harvest the opportunities the global agenda has to
offer.
My delegation further takes this opportunity to
commend his predecessor, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto
Brockmann. He indeed provided exemplary leadership
and inspired us to realize our unique collective
strength. Throughout his tenure in office, he kept the
most vulnerable people at the front, centre and back of
all of our engagements. We wish him God’s blessing in
his future endeavours.
The global financial and economic crisis has
presented immense challenges to the international
community. Simply put, the effects of the crisis are
impacting all members of the United Nations family.
Consequently, Solomon Islands’ economy has been hit
by low commodity prices, declining revenues and
widening budgetary deficits. My country has responded
by freezing all Government recruitment and reducing
national recurrent and development expenditures by
35 per cent. Between 2008 and 2009, our economic
growth has taken a negative dive from 6 per cent to
1 per cent, which is affecting the delivery of services to
our people.
The world has taken measures to address the
systematic fragilities of the international financial
system. To this end, Solomon Islands welcomes the
outcome of the June 2009 Conference on the financial
crisis, calling for greater cooperation by all, including
the reform of the Bretton Woods institutions. We
remain hopeful that the stimulus packages dished out
reach the poorest of the poor, as many will be under
stress for a long time to come.
Frequent natural disasters are threatening
development across the world and climate change
continues to affect the lives of our people, creating new
pockets of poverty while continuing to increase as
threats. Unless an ambitious outcome emanates from
Copenhagen, we will find that we are fighting a losing
battle. I join the call for urgent action, particularly for
small island developing States and least developed
countries. For us, climate change poses the most
serious threat to our survival and viability, and
undermines our efforts to achieve sustainable
development.
Solomon Islands fully subscribes to the
declaration issued this week by the Alliance of Small
Islands Developing States. The benchmark for the
negotiations must be founded on the vulnerability of
the small island developing States and the least
developed countries. Science tells us that the future of
low-lying islands is uncertain unless deep and
ambitious cuts to harmful greenhouse gas emissions
are undertaken by Annex 1 countries at levels greater
than 45 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020 and more than
95 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050. We call for the
global average temperature to increase well below
1.5 degrees Celsius if we are to prevent the
acidification of our oceans from threatening our very
existence.
Deforestation and forest degradation contribute
nearly 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Solomon Islands agrees that this should be one of the
mitigating solutions for protecting the health of our
environment. We further urge that this be considered as
an outcome in Copenhagen. My country is currently
carrying out an inventory of its forests and intends to
participate in the carbon market. We also hope that
multilateral financial mechanisms will become
available to the most vulnerable States in ensuring that
appropriate technology transfer for renewable energy
receives the attention it deserves.
Solomon Islands is a peace-loving country and
believes that we need to seriously seek a stable
international system. This can be achieved by calling
for global restraint on all military spending and making
a firm commitment to begin holistic multilateral
disarmament negotiations. This is an issue that has
been stalled for years on end and continues to be
09-52470 50
weakly addressed through piecemeal multilateral arms
agreements.
Solomon Islands emerged from a conflict
situation 11 years ago. This year marks the sixth
anniversary of our partnership with the Regional
Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, commonly
referred to as RAMSI. Under the partnership, State
institutions have been strengthened and political
stability has allowed our Parliament to enact some
30 laws in less than 24 months. Public services are
reaching out to the scattered populations on our
hundreds of islands, indicating that change is
happening.
This year, our relationship with RAMSI has
progressed from one of assistance to one of
partnership, providing for a framework of cooperation
between the two parties, with clearly defined joint
strategic goals, distinct roles and commitments, with
the overall objective of creating a secure, stable and
self-sustaining socio-economic and political system for
all Solomon Islanders. The Foreign Relations
Committee of our national Parliament has completed
its review of the facilitation of the International
Assistance Act and will submit its report to the national
legislature in November. I take this moment to thank
my Pacific neighbours for their continued support and
contribution to the Regional Mission. It is our fervent
hope that this partnership can increase its international
visibility and interact more with the United Nations, as
provided for under the relevant chapter of the Charter.
As part of our nation-building and healing
process, Solomon Islands instituted its Truth and
Reconciliation Commission in April. Officiating at the
launch of the Commission was Nobel laureate and
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa.
The Commission allows Solomon Islands to revisit one
of the darkest chapters of its history, and we do so with
courage, perseverance and a desire to seek a just and
permanent peace within our growing nation. To this
end, we thank the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and all our partners for their
support.
The time frame for the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) is fast drawing to a close. The Solomon
Islands supports the proposal to convene a review
summit next year, and hopes that the forthcoming
gathering will reinvigorate our global partnership and
enable it to realize the Millennium Development Goals
within the given time frame. My country also
welcomes the decision of the General Assembly
(resolution 63/227) to convene the Fourth United
Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries
in 2011. Similarly, we welcome the review of the
Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of
the Programme of Action for the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States,
scheduled for next year. Both review processes should
strengthen the global partnerships and commitments
undertaken within agreed international cooperative
frameworks.
Eighty five per cent of the population of Solomon
Islands resides in rural areas. Therefore, we have
adopted a rural-focused development approach in our
efforts to meet the MDGs. Solomon Islands is poised to
make gains in achieving some of these goals through
various partnerships. In this regard, I am pleased to
acknowledge that, with the support of New Zealand
and the Republic of China, the Solomon Islands is now
offering free basic education for its children through
the third form. Work has also begun on eliminating
malaria, the number-one killer in the Solomon Islands,
with the launch of the programme in one of our nine
provinces. My Government thanks Australia for its
support and contribution to that end. I also wish to
thank the Republic of China, the European Union and
other development partners for their contribution to the
advancement of the Government’s rural development
policy.
Human development remains a key ingredient of
our fight against poverty. Solomon Islands opened a
school of tourism this year. We have shifted resources
towards developing our tourism industry in order to
offset the projected revenue loss resulting from the
reduced harvesting of our natural forests. The same
policy also applies to the agriculture, fisheries and
mining sectors.
South-South cooperation continues to invest in
our people; it has guaranteed the education of
50 students studying in Cuba, and my country thanks
Cuba for the gesture. Solomon Islands also thanks its
Melanesian neighbour Papua New Guinea for its
ongoing bilateral assistance by increasing our presence
in Port Moresby and offering scholarships to our
students studying in Papua New Guinea.
Global dynamics have changed since the United
Nations was established 64 years ago. The membership
51 09-52470
then numbered only 51. Reform of the Security
Council has eluded us for the past 15 years. We
therefore need to increase the legitimacy of our
Council and strengthen its role in preserving
international peace. In this regard, my delegation was
pleased to see the debate on Security Council reform
progress into informal intergovernmental negotiations
at the previous session of the General Assembly. We
are equally pleased to note that three rounds of
negotiations have occurred in the past eight months,
signifying that the multilateral seed of reform of our
institutions has been sowed. We need to ensure that it
takes root at this session.
The relations of the Secretariat with Member
States are important. The interaction of Solomon
Islands with our Organization has grown and matured
over time. Our Government is now finalizing the
allocation of land to give the United Nations a
permanent home in our capital. We hope that the
Secretariat will reciprocate this gesture and seriously
consider maintaining a fully fledged country presence
in Solomon Islands. Comparatively speaking, despite
the fact that my nation has one of the largest
subregional country programmes, relations continue to
be micromanaged from abroad. My delegation takes
this opportunity once again to renew our call to
upgrade the UNDP country presence in Solomon
Islands from Deputy Resident Representative level to
Resident Representative.
Here it would be remiss of me not to welcome
UNDP’s new Administrator, Ms. Helen Clark. We wish
her every success in her tenure in office and are
confident that she will look at all issues with fresh
eyes. Development is, after all, one of the highest
callings of our Organization. Solomon Islands also
encourages the Secretariat to ensure that its staff
represents the diversity of its membership, in particular
that of States that have yet to fulfil their quota.
Over the past couple of months, coastal States
with continental shelves have made submissions to
extend their respective territorial claims beyond their
200-mile exclusive economic zones. I am pleased to
inform this Assembly that Solomon Islands has
submitted a number of claims and looks forward to
working with the Commission on the Limits of the
Continental Shelf.
While extending an exclusive economic zone is a
sovereign decision, we are mindful of our global
environmental responsibilities. Solomon Islands is one
of the six countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative.
Three months ago, leaders from the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea
and Solomon Islands met in Indonesia and agreed to
work collaboratively across political boundaries to
conserve 75 per cent of the world’s coral species,
40 per cent of the world’s reef fish species and 51 per
cent of the world’s mangrove species. Our populations
rely on our marine resources for survival and income.
We hope to keep it that way for generations to come.
Good information and data are vital to allowing
national and international systems to make informed
decisions. In this connection, we would like to see
United Nations support for our national statistics office
for the collation of data in real time and its distribution
to all decision makers.
To foster a vibrant economy, investment in
infrastructure is needed. I am pleased to say that we
have finally enacted a law that will open up our
telecommunications industry to competition.
On the issue of human rights, Solomon Islands
recognizes that all human rights are universal,
indivisible, interrelated, interdependent and mutually
reinforcing. All human rights must be treated in a fair
and equal manner, on the same footing and with the
same emphasis. That is one of the principles of the
newly established Human Rights Council.
Solomon Islands continues to support the
Council’s internationally agreed principles.
Unfortunately, within the Third Committee issues of
human rights continue to be heavily politicized,
divisive and country-specific, in disregard of the
universal principles of cooperation and dialogue. My
delegation would like to see the universal periodic
review be the reference point for assessing countries’
human rights situations.
Before I say anything about Taiwan’s cross-Strait
relations, Solomon Islands conveys its sympathy and
embraces the pain and suffering of all those impacted
by typhoon Morakot. We also acknowledge the spirit
and strength of the Government and people of the
Republic of China in rising above that tragedy with
resilience to rebuild their lives and recover from the
natural catastrophe.
My country continues to follow cross-Strait
developments with deep interest. A new era of relations
09-52470 52
is emerging between the Republic of China and the
People’s Republic of China. Relations have been
marked by an increased series of engagements. Direct
flights, shipping, postal cooperation and exchanges on
food safety, inter alia, have been initiated. This people-
centred approach continues to build bridges of trust,
tolerance and confidence. We wish this positive
interaction every success.
Earlier this year, my delegation was encouraged
to witness Taiwan’s admission as an observer to the
World Health Assembly. We hope with all sincerity that
similar overtures will be accorded to Taiwan by other
specialized entities within the United Nations system.
On the question of the Middle East, my
delegation associates itself with the statement of
Finland’s former President, Nobel Peace Prize recipient
Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, when he said “All conflicts can be
settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to
become eternal”. To find a lasting and just peace in the
region, the determination of all Members is required.
For 62 years, the matter has been discussed within this
Assembly. Solomon Islands believes that, in the right
conditions, a politically negotiated two-State solution
can be reached. We support all international efforts in
finding a lasting and permanent solution.
In our effort to create a better world, dialogue and
cooperation between religions and cultures are needed.
Stereotypes created by a few must be overcome.
Extremists thrive on mistrust, fear and suspicion and
use them to their advantage. They must be isolated. My
delegation acknowledges the initiative of Saudi Arabia
to bring together leaders from the East and West in
promoting a global culture of peace. This initiative
presents a new beginning that we should all build
upon.
We must all work towards stabilizing the
international system, which means that those with
power must not victimize the weak by interfering with
the latter’s health and social needs, be it for
ideological, political or security reasons. Unilateral and
regional economic blockades and punitive action by
States and intergovernmental institutions must and
should be replaced with genuine cooperation and
sincere dialogue. In this regard, we call on the entire
international community to fully engage with Fiji. As
its Melanesian neighbour, Solomon Islands continues
to do so at all political levels.
In closing, in view of the many challenges we are
confronting today, the words of Abraham Lincoln in
1862 still holds true:
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to
the stormy present.