Kiribati, 2007

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.