Palau, 2010

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.

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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

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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.