Papua New Guinea, 2000

On

behalf of the people and Government of Papua New

Guinea, I join previous speakers in congratulating you,

Sir, on your election to your prestigious post. Your

unanimous election as President of the General

Assembly at the dawn of the new millennium shows

the high esteem in which the international community

holds both you personally and your country, Finland.

We are confident that you will guide the historic fifty-

fifth session to a successful conclusion.

The skill with which your predecessor, Mr. Theo-

Ben Gurirab of Namibia, cooperated to develop the

theme of the recent Millennium Summit, and presided

over the drafting of the outcome document and ensured

the smooth management of the Summit earned our

sincere appreciation for a job very well done. We also

congratulate him on his very positive contribution to

our collective deliberations during the previous year.

May I also take this opportunity, through you, Sir,

to heartily congratulate the heads of State of both

Finland and Namibia on their magnanimous

stewardship and successful conclusion of the recent

unprecedented large assembly of approximately 150

heads of State and Government in New York, which

paved the way for the pursuit of our common vision

and security into the twenty-first century.

Beyond the millennium celebrations, this is a

time for reflection and looking ahead. The Millennium

Summit took place on the eve of the twenty-fifth

anniversary of Papua New Guinea's independence. The

same anniversary also marks the first quarter century of

my country's membership of the United Nations. It is

therefore an apt occasion both for reflecting on

experience and for looking ahead.

My particular focus is on the changing character

of, need for and potential for international cooperation.

The conjunction of the millennium with Papua New

Guinea's silver anniversary invites us to take a number

of different time perspectives: the short, medium and

long terms. For those of us who have been privileged to

play an active part in public life during this period, it

also provides the opportunity to compare the ambitions

we had 25 years ago with the challenges we face now.

As the Secretary-General recently reminded us in

the very title of the document (A/54/2000) he prepared

to guide and stimulate the Millennium Summit, the

United Nations was formed in the name and with the

objective of furthering the common purposes of “We

the peoples of the United Nations”. In similar fashion,

the Constitution that came into effect when my country

became independent was made and adopted in the

name of “We the people of Papua New Guinea”.

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As someone who had the honour of participating

in making the Papua New Guinea Constitution, I am

very mindful of the national goals and directive

principles we set for ourselves at independence. While

some have a distinctively national character — such as

preserving, developing and building on Papua New

Guinean ways — others resemble challenges that the

United Nations faces today. They include such

universal challenges as promoting integral human

development, equity and participation, and sustainable

use of natural resources and the environment. They

also include the challenge of maintaining,

strengthening and making mutually beneficial use of

national sovereignty and self-reliance.

But look at us now. What have we achieved?

What remains to be done? The most striking feature of

contemporary Papua New Guinea is the way in which

we have had to trim our objectives. Our situation is,

obviously, not unique, but it certainly warrants the

most careful consideration.

When the present Government, led by the Prime

Minister, The Honourable Sir Mekere Morauta, came to

office in the middle of last year, we set ourselves five

very carefully defined objectives: to restore integrity to

State institutions; to stabilize our national currency —

the kina — and the national budget; to remove

obstacles to investment and growth; and to continue the

process of working for lasting peace in Bougainville by

peaceful means.

The national goals and directive principles

continue to guide our long-term ambitions and plans.

But experience and the realities of governance in the

age of globalization have required us to focus on much

more specific, short- and medium-term objectives. We

cannot blame others — or even such largely impersonal

processes as economic and technological

globalization — for every aspect of our current

situation. Much of the responsibility lies with leaders

and institutions at home. Both fortunately and

unfortunately, it is part of the human condition at the

start of the twenty-first century that we are not on our

own. Despite important differences in origins,

processes and outcomes, our situation is not unique.

Many other developing countries face similar

challenges in the short and medium terms.

International cooperation is an important key to

collective self-help, both between countries with

similar weaknesses and strengths, and between

countries that are different and complementary —

especially rich and poor.

As regards global cooperation, as a member of

the global community Papua New Guinea is able to

draw on support from the World Bank, the International

Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, our

development cooperation partners in Europe, and the

Asia-Pacific countries that have formed themselves

into the Friends of Papua New Guinea.

While my delegation has come to New York to

discuss global issues and explore the potential for

global cooperation, Papua New Guinea also

participates in various forms of regional, interregional

and bilateral cooperation. Papua New Guinea

recognizes the value of, and is firmly committed to

further strengthening, global cooperation through

bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO).

My Government is disappointed that the next

round of World Trade Organization (WTO)

negotiations has been delayed, and calls for them to be

held at the earliest possible opportunity.

As one of the countries where increasing areas of

land are already becoming unusable or actually

disappearing as a result of rising sea-levels caused by

climate change, we believe in the urgent need for full

implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.

On an issue where the very survival of certain

members of the global community is clearly at stake —

and where global security depends on coordinated

global action — there must be no backsliding, no

compromises, and no special cases allowed because of

inability or unwillingness to honour global agreements

for whatever reason.

Papua New Guinea is pleased to welcome our

close island neighbours and very good friends from

Tuvalu to membership of the United Nations.

What a terrible tragedy it would be if the

international community were to fail them at the very

time when they, together with other small island

States — including countries which joined the United

Nations last year — are assuming the responsibilities

which go with becoming full participants in the

Organization's affairs.

Certain security issues, such as climate change,

require a global approach. So do efforts to limit the

3

proliferation that would bring about the complete

elimination of nuclear weapons.

Global cooperation is the only means by which

the international community can realistically hope to

achieve the objective which the Secretary-General set

for the Millennium Summit of ensuring that

globalization becomes a positive force for people,

instead of leaving them behind in squalor, especially in

developing countries.

However, as the Secretary-General also suggested

in his report (A/54/1) to the fifty-fourth session of the

General Assembly, different regions have different

problems. Even similar problems in different settings

may require different approaches. Security policies that

work in one region may not work in others. The road to

success can require complementary national, regional

and global efforts.

Thus, Papua New Guinea is addressing the

unwelcome spread of small arms and light weapons by

imposing a complete ban on the issuance of new gun

licenses. We support efforts to deal with the spread of

illegally obtained or held arms through the Pacific

Islands Forum.

We look to the forthcoming United Nations

Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and

Light Weapons in All Its Aspects to provide a global

framework and global support for the efforts that

individual States and regional organizations are taking

to deal with the problem within their respective

jurisdictions.

When it comes to the management of ocean

resources, Papua New Guinea sees regional and

interregional cooperation as complementary to

measures designed to ensure the sustainable harvesting

of fish in national waters.

We therefore welcome the agreement recently

concluded under the auspices of the Multilateral High-

level Conference on fisheries with the purpose of

ensuring sustainable fishing for tuna and highly

migratory species throughout their ranges in the

Western and Central Pacific.

Papua New Guinea would also like to see both

broader and deeper cooperation between coastal States

in other aspects of oceans and ocean-bed management,

including deep-sea mining.

In terms of regional cooperation, such

cooperation is indispensable to dealing successfully

with many important global and national issues. But

regional cooperation can itself have a variety of

different dimensions and employ different means.

In the South Pacific, for example, two of our

closest neighbours, Fiji and Solomon Islands, are

experiencing internal difficulties that have given rise to

serious concern on the part of their friends.

We do not condone the illegal overthrow of

democratic and constitutional Governments or other

threats to the security of the Governments and citizens

of other States, but, regrettably, and despite repeated

efforts by previous Papua New Guinea Governments

and other States, the main intra-regional body engaged

in promoting regional cooperation in the South Pacific,

the Pacific Islands Forum, does not have a mechanism

for dealing promptly and effectively with challenges to

the security of States in the region.

It has, therefore, been unable to arrange

consultations, let alone facilitate a coordinated

approach to the situations which have arisen following

armed challenges to the Governments of Fiji and

Solomon Islands. Some of our neighbours have

responded by looking for support outside the region.

With the recent addition of six additional Pacific

members to the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)

group of States party to the Lome Convention, 14

Pacific island States now have access to a very

practical mechanism for dealing with such situations.

The upshot is that, when Ministers and

Ambassadors from Pacific ACP member States met in

Cotonou, Benin, in June for the signing of the new

framework agreement between the ACP and the

European Union, we decided to set up a ministerial

mission to report on the situations in Fiji and Solomon

Islands.

In doing so, we were mindful of the need for, and

grateful for the support of, the European Union.

The offer made by the French Minister for

Economic Cooperation at the regional forum of the

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to

ensure that the European Commission would defer

making a final decision on sanctions until the Pacific

ACP Ministerial Mission had reported was especially

welcome because of the meaning and support it gave to

our effort at regional cooperation.

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The imposition of sanctions against a country can

be a very blunt instrument indeed, causing innocent

and powerless people to suffer at the same time as the

powerful and influential, and sometimes

disadvantaging them even more. Even so-called smart

sanctions can have wide, unintended effects while

leaving their objects largely unaffected.

When a small group of armed men try to take

over a Government, imposing sanctions that affect

innocent men, women and children can be not only

ineffective but even counter-productive.

Sanctions might leave armed youths unaffected

and in a position where they are even unable to

appreciate, or are indifferent to, the wider

consequences of their actions.

The underlying causes of inter-group tensions in

Solomon Islands and the events which followed the

attempted civilian armed coup in Fiji could be difficult

to identify, and are beyond influence by sanctions.

It is, therefore, vital that serious difficulties such

as those currently affecting Fiji and Solomon Islands

be properly studied and carefully addressed.

Sometimes, the people best equipped to

understand such situations and identify underlying

causes are neighbours with similar cultures or other

shared values.

In terms of the ACP Ministerial Mission, at the

request of other Pacific ACP States, I have recently had

the honour of leading the Pacific ACP Ministerial

Mission to Fiji and Solomon Islands.

My colleagues included the Ministers for Foreign

Affairs from Cook Islands, Mr. Robert Woonton, and

Vanuatu, the Honourable Serge Vohor, as well as the

Minister for Education from Samoa, the Honourable

Fiame Naomi Mata'afa.

With the active support of the Governments of

both countries, we followed a crowded itinerary of

meetings with the Prime Ministers, ministers and

officials in Fiji and Solomon Islands, members of the

previous Governments of both countries and business

and trade union leaders, as well as a wide cross-section

of other elements of civil society, including women's

organizations. We were also able to interview victims

in towns and rural areas, and to examine instances of

destruction at first hand.

My colleagues and I are currently working on our

report. We expect to present it to the European

Commission, the ACP-EU Joint Assembly and other

ACP, EU and joint bodies in October.

The commitment made by the French Minister for

Economic Cooperation, whose country currently holds

the presidency of the EU, means that the region — or,

at least, our report — has been given the opportunity to

influence events. The process on which we have

embarked is, therefore, more meaningful than any

existing alternative. We, the Pacific ACP members,

offered to share our report with the Pacific Islands

Forum, and the support our initiative has received from

the region reflects our commitment to wider

cooperation, not to mention our unwillingness to

become involved in even the appearance of

competition between rival regional bodies or groups.

The initiative has been welcomed and praised,

both in the region and further afield. It sets an example

which is worthy of close study both for the precedents

it sets for cooperation among Pacific ACP States and as

a possible model for similar efforts in other regions.

With regard to the Bougainville situation, Fiji and

Solomon Islands are not the first States in our region to

experience serious internal difficulties, though we pray

not only that there will be real improvement very soon

but that they will be the last States to experience such

difficulties.

After more than eight years of armed conflict —

from 1989 to 1997 — the part of Papua New Guinea

known as Bougainville is now at peace. The

progressive political settlement is moving ahead. The

Lincoln Agreement on Peace, Security and

Development on Bougainville commits the parties to

peace-building on several levels, from weapons

disposal and the re-establishment of civil authority,

through reconciliation among former combatants to

reconstruction of infrastructure, restoration of services,

economic and social recovery and early resumption of

the kinds of development which are part of the return

of normalcy.

The national Government is committed to such a

multidimensional approach. It is the way by which we

hope to cooperate in building for a lasting peace by

peaceful means. The priority which the Prime Minister

gave the Bougainville peace process more than 12

months ago remains in place. Evidence of its

continuing significance can be seen in the initiative he

5

has recently taken to meet key Bougainvillean demands

within the framework of the Papua New Guinea

Constitution.

The Government, which took the initiative in

inviting our neighbours, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand

and Vanuatu, to set up the neutral, regional Peace

Monitoring Group (PMG), values the contribution its

unarmed personnel make to promoting mutual

confidence on the ground. The PMG's success can be

judged from the peaceful way in which it is now

beginning to disengage by substantially reducing its

size. The process needs greater support from the

Bougainvillean parties so as to avoid the vacuum which

has followed the departure of similar peacekeeping

operations elsewhere, by cooperating in the re-

establishment of policing, courts and correctional

institutional services, as well as by strengthening the

institutions at community level that help to maintain

public order, dispense justice and uphold the rule of

law.

As the initiator of the request for the United

Nations observer mission in Bougainville, and as its

host, Papua New Guinea appreciates the support which

the Security Council and other organs of the United

Nations provide for the Bougainville peace process. We

are determined to keep on working for lasting peace by

peaceful means within a flexible framework which will

allow Bougainville a high degree of autonomy

consistent with the integrity, security and sovereignty

of the nation.

With regard to social and economic issues, as a

developing country with 25 years of independence,

Papua New Guinea is experiencing very great difficulty

in improving national performance as measured by

human development indicators. In some areas, our

record is actually becoming worse. The current

Government's five main objectives are intended to

focus attention and effort where they are most needed.

Our determination to pursue them is already making a

very real difference, especially as far as economic

management and the delivery of Government services

are concerned.

Structural adjustment, including quite

fundamental public sector reform, is one of the key

means of bringing about often long-overdue change.

We need the continuing support of our economic

partners to succeed, including access to markets;

increased investment in priority areas, such as

downstream processing, which provides increased

opportunities for productive employment; and aid on

concessional terms. The recently concluded partnership

agreement between the ACP countries and the EU is an

example worthy of much wider emulation.

As a developing country that achieved

independence only a quarter of a century ago, Papua

New Guinea is firmly committed to the proper

preparation for orderly decolonization. Impressed with

the progress being made to implement the Noumea

Accord, we continue to believe very strongly that the

rights of the indigenous Kanaks of New Caledonia

must be respected. Conscious of the consequences of

other forms of decolonization, we welcome the re-

emergence of East Timor as an independent entity. We

look forward to receiving a delegation later this year to

discuss how we might develop technical and other

forms of mutually beneficial South-South cooperation.

Meanwhile, even as we continue to deepen and

broaden cooperation with other Pacific island

countries, we respect the integrity of our other

neighbours and continue to benefit from the exchanges

which flow from our status as a special observer at

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)

meetings. In the broader arena of Asia-Pacific

cooperation, we value our membership of the Asia-

Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and

continue to work towards honouring the reciprocal

commitments APEC members have made to liberalize

markets. APEC includes some of our closest bilateral

partners and friends. Common membership, and the

process of developing economic ties with other APEC

economies, do not detract from other aspects of Papua

New Guinea's foreign relations. They do not affect the

commitments we have made to such good friends as the

People's Republic of China. We will not allow them to

do so.

In conclusion, I should like to say that, 25 years

after independence, Papua New Guinea has one of the

longest unbroken records of constitutional and

democratic government among countries that have

become independent in the last 50 or so years. We have

experienced difficulties, and had some near misses.

The stresses and strains which have affected our system

of Government have tested our strengths. In doing so,

they have increased our understanding of countries

experiencing serious internal difficulties — although

not our sympathy for those who deliberately violate

democratic principles or established constitutional

6

practices — while reinforcing our commitment to good

governance, both at home and abroad.

Apart from the obvious consequences that this

commitment has for Papua New Guinea's response to

countries experiencing serious internal difficulties,

including our preference for a positive, forward-

looking approach and not negative sanctions, it also

underlies our support for United Nations reform.

The reform must extend from improving

administrative performance to making the Security

Council more representative of United Nations

Members as a whole. It must, in fact, extend to the

performance of United Nations Members themselves,

especially when it comes to paying their dues in a

timely way and in full.

The millennium marks an important turning point

in the calendar, and, because of my country's silver

anniversary, in Papua New Guinea's history too. The

United Nations is also at a critical turning point, with

the Secretary-General drawing members' attention

back to the original basis and focus among the people

the Organization should serve.

The recent review of United Nations peace and

security activities has produced an excellent report

which challenges us to turn another corner and ensure

that the increased responsibilities which the

Organization has assumed since the end of the cold war

help to keep and build peace in very different

conditions.

I conclude by paying tribute to the vision which

participants in the Millennium Summit have expressed

on our behalf. In doing so, let me add that the real

challenge we face is, emphatically, not to make more

speeches, but to turn their wise words into practical

forms of cooperation which help us achieve common

purposes without sacrificing the diversity which is the

basis of our need and ability to engage in global self-

help.