Federated States of Micronesia, 2007

I am honoured to take part in

the general debate of the General Assembly for the first

time since taking office as President of the Federated

States of Micronesia in May this year. On this

occasion, I am honoured to express to Mr. Srgjan

Kerim my respect and congratulations on his election

to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

second session. I have every confidence that he will

live up to the high standards of his esteemed

predecessors. I wish to also convey my congratulations

to the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban

Ki-moon, as he takes the helm of the Organization. I

pledge to the Secretary-General my Government’s

strong support. I wish to reaffirm our commitments and

the importance that my country attaches to

multilateralism and the purposes and principles of the

United Nations.

A few days ago, on 24 September, we met in this

very Hall to take stock of a global threat which

probably is the single most important challenge facing

our planet today: climate change. Long before it

became fashionable for climate change to be

mainstreamed into the global agenda, Micronesia was

in the forefront of those speaking out for action against

what is now recognized as a global emergency. For

years, we have argued that, as a small island

developing State, we are among the most vulnerable,

and that climate change threatens our very existence.

We have come a long way in a short time.

Consider where we were just 15 years ago when the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC) was signed: climate change was

then considered by most as hypothetical and as a threat

that was more imagined than real. Now, climate change

is accepted as a reality and its adverse impact seen as

inevitable and life-threatening, most especially to small

island developing States like Micronesia. The current

sense of urgency paid to climate change by the world

community, as evidenced by high-level meetings

around the world, is truly encouraging, but we are still

far from reaching the objectives of the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change and its

Kyoto Protocol.

We need to take collective action now and act

responsibly to save our planet, while taking into

consideration the principle of common but

differentiated responsibility. If our actions are to be

effective, it is imperative that we pursue the climate

change agenda both with a sense of urgency and within

the framework of the United Nations. It is important

that acknowledgment of the threats of climate change

be accompanied by provision of adequate and

additional financing by the developed countries to the

most vulnerable to assist us in coping with our

adaptation and mitigation requirements. We therefore

support an appropriate institutional arrangement for the

Adaptation Fund that is responsive to the needs of

small island developing States.

Adaptation and mitigation have many faces, one

of which is the pressing need for small island

developing States to have increased access to

renewable sources of energy, so that we can move

away from our long dependence on fossil fuels. In that

regard, I must acknowledge with gratitude the kind

assistance extended by the Governments of Italy, India

and others to small island developing States of the

Pacific.

In March, Micronesia presented its proposal for

adjusting the Montreal Protocol in order to enhance its

effectiveness. Although our proposed adjustment was

aimed at improving the effectiveness of the Protocol’s

ozone mandate, Micronesia has a special interest in the

significant climate benefits associated with the

Montreal Protocol. We welcome the positive outcome

of the historic nineteenth Meeting of the Parties. We

hope that other relevant multilateral environmental

agreements will also make similar efforts to produce

climate benefits.

Two years ago, at the eighth Conference of the

States Parties to the Convention on Biological

Diversity, which was held in Curitiba, Brazil, the

Federated States of Micronesia and Palau showcased

the Micronesia Challenge. A collaborative effort among

the island States and territories of the North Pacific,

the Micronesia Challenge exemplifies the best of the

Micronesian spirit of working together towards a

common objective and with shared concerns. In effect,

the Micronesia Challenge sets aside for conservation at

least 30 per cent of our marine and 20 per cent of

terrestrial biodiversity across the Micronesian region

by 2020.

We are grateful to the regional and international

organizations and non-governmental organizations that

have provided support to realize the objectives of our

initiative. We are seeking international partnership and

assistance to overcome the many obstacles that inhibit

the implementation of the Micronesia Challenge. My

Government urges the Global Environment Facility to

join with others such as the Government of

Turkey in providing assistance to that end.

I cannot overemphasize the critical role that

information and communication technologies play in

the socio-economic development of developing

countries, particularly that of small island developing

States. Given that the islands of the Federated States of

Micronesia are widely dispersed in the north-west

Pacific Ocean, and owing to our limited resources and

high transportation costs, we face many monumental

challenges. To confront those challenges, Micronesia

believes that access to affordable and reliable

information and communication technologies offers us

a solution that not only addresses our infrastructure

deficiencies but also enables us to meet the aims of the

Millennium Declaration, the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs) and the objectives relating to

information and communication technologies

emanating from the World Summit on the Information

Society.

It is a high priority of my country to bring

broadband connectivity to the islands. The Economic

and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and

the United Nations Office of the High Representative

for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked

Developing Countries and Small Island Developing

States are collaborating on the development of a

Pacific Ocean connectivity project that will address the

need for developing information and communication

technologies infrastructure in the Pacific. We hope that

the project will allow our region to establish an

effective partnership with the international community

and help produce the kind of benefits that will help

support our sustainable development goals. We will

not, however, be able to implement the project without

the financial support of the international community.

I commend the progress on the United Nations

Pacific Presence Initiative, which in the case of my

country is being represented by the United Nations

Population Fund (UNFPA). For the past several years,

we have voiced our concern over the lack of an

adequate United Nations presence in Micronesia to

assist us in addressing our development challenges.

This much-anticipated initiative will be translated into

reality for Micronesia later this year. It is an initiative

that we will not fail to utilize to the fullest. It is

therefore essential that, in keeping with the objective

of the joint office to be situated in my country, the

original intent with regard to staffing must be adhered

to if the Initiative is going to make a difference, both in

terms of the effective implementation of United

Nations programmes on the ground and in enhancing

my country’s capacity to access its fair share of other

sources of assistance and services provided by the

United Nations system.

As one of the countries identified by UNDP as

being among those more challenged in meeting the

Millennium Development Goals, my country places

high value on an appropriate level of United Nations

presence in the joint office located in my country to

assist us in implementation and effectively utilizing

external assistance towards achieving the MDGs. My

Government commends UNDP and UNFPA for

developing a plan for the next five-year programme

cycle that will provide financial assistance to help my

country address issues of poverty and institutional

capacity. The joint United Nations office will be an

important vehicle and will certainly play a pivotal role

in the implementation and achievement of the specific

objectives of the programme. We look forward to the

implementation of the programme.

As custodian of a vast ocean area whose bounty

we share with the international community, I would be

remiss if I did not make a few comments on the issue

of oceans and seas. First, I would like to express our

gratitude to the Government of Norway and others that

have contributed to the trust fund created to assist

small island developing States in claiming their

extended continental shelves in compliance with the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We

are, however, concerned about the obstacles that

continue to inhibit access to the fund. There are far too

many institutional barriers that need to be immediately

rectified to enable use of the fund to allow island

developing States to fulfil their obligations under the

Convention on the Law of the Sea.

As a people, Micronesians are highly dependent

on their marine resources for their livelihood. We take

great interest in the conservation and sustainable use of

our marine and fisheries resources. We cannot help but

raise concerns with regard to the issue of collateral

catches or discards in commercial fisheries. While they

may be considered discards to others, they are a critical

resource that our people depend upon for their

subsistence living. The international community should

vigorously seek ways to address this issue to minimize

and eliminate the incidence of catching untargeted fish.

Another significant and troubling issue continues to be

that of bottom-trawl fishing. It would be tragic to our

marine ecosystem and biodiversity if that destructive

fishing practice were to continue unabated. We renew

our call, made from this rostrum years ago, for a

moratorium on bottom trawling.

I wish to refer favourably to the long-standing

effort by Italy and many others to encourage this body

to take a consensus position against the imposition of

the death penalty. Last year, my country signed the

statement delivered by Finland on this important

subject (see A/61/PV.81). We steadfastly maintain our

support for this cause.

Turning to the drawn-out discussion over United

Nations reform, I should like to reiterate our concern

that the reform of the United Nations will not be

complete without the reform of the Security Council.

We also reaffirm our support for Japan and India, from

the Asia-Pacific region, as permanent members of the

Council. At the same time, greater representation needs

to be given to developing countries, including island

States and small States.

While we continue to stand by our position on

Security Council reform, we will support any

innovative ideas that can lead to further progress on the

issue, such as the proposal for an intergovernmental

negotiation process. At the sixty-second session of the

General Assembly, we must continue the process

already begun and make every effort to achieve results.

I should like to close by expressing a sense of

optimism about what the nations gathered here can

achieve in advancing the admittedly ambitious agenda

of the United Nations. Given the challenges that we

face, it is only through optimism and determination

over time that we can overcome them. We in the

Federated States of Micronesia will be here to do our

part.