Papua New Guinea, 2010

First

of all, let me join other delegations in offering

congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Joseph Deiss on

his election to the post of President of the General

Assembly at its sixty-fifth session. With your guidance,

Sir, my delegation is confident that we can discuss, in

the spirit of cooperation, the different global challenges

confronting us in order to further the common good of

humankind.

We are meeting at a time when the world is going

through some mixed developments. While, on some

parts of the globe, countries are experiencing relative

peace, in other parts they are embroiled in armed

conflict. While some countries are enjoying economic

growth and budget surpluses, others are experiencing

economic stagnation or contraction.

The focus at this session of the General Assembly

on reviewing the progress on the implementation of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is most

appropriate. The achievement of the eight cross-cutting

Goals we set for ourselves would improve the quality

of life of all of our peoples. Just last week, we

concluded a stocktaking of the progress in the

implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

While the results on the scorecard are mixed, the

commitment of Member States to continuing to

implement measures to achieve the Millennium

Development Goals by 2015 is unequivocal.

Papua New Guinea, like many developing

countries, has had measured success. As many noted

last week, the global economic crisis has had an

adverse bearing on the implementation of the MDGs. I

would add, however, that had the resources promised in

2000 for implementing the MDGs been made available,

the assessment sheet for many developing countries

would have looked more positive. Papua New Guinea

applauds the commitment of $40 billion for poverty

alleviation, especially to improve the health of children

and women. It is our hope that this will be a new

resource envelope and not repackaged old

commitments.

We have noted the calls for countries to take

greater ownership of the implementation of the eight

Millennium Development Goals. Papua New Guinea

has accepted these challenges. We will continue to do

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all we can to meet the obligations we assumed when

we joined others in 2000 to adopt the Millennium

Declaration (resolution 55/2).

The Permanent Representative of Papua New

Guinea to the United Nations outlined in detail last

week our country’s efforts to achieve the MDGs by

2015. Allow me to reiterate some of the main actions

we are taking. Papua New Guinea has adapted and

localized the MDGs by establishing 15 targets and 67

indicators within our medium-term development

strategy for the period 2005 to 2010. We have

calibrated our 2011-2015 medium-term development

plan and designed our development strategic plan to

achieve the MDGs. In addition, we have drafted our

2050 Vision Statement to be consistent with the

Millennium Development Goals.

Our official development assistance programmes

with our donor partners are being gradually realigned

to enable Papua New Guinea to eventually meet its

MDG targets. On a wider scale, we urge donor partners

to abide by the principles of the Paris Declaration on

Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action. In

the Pacific, we have adopted the Cairns Compact to

better coordinate development assistance and to ensure

effective delivery. Developed countries also need to

raise their official development assistance to 0.7 per

cent of their gross national income, in line with their

commitments.

In line with our commitment towards MDG 3, my

Government has submitted proposed legislation to the

Papua New Guinea legislature to reserve 22 seats for

women in the national Parliament. With respect to

MDG 2, we have introduced a universal primary

education policy and aim to achieve free primary-level

education for all of our children by 2015.

Papua New Guinea is under no illusion that the

achievement of the MDGs is a unilateral undertaking.

This is a joint undertaking between developed and

developing countries, just as it is a cooperative effort

between the Government and civil society

organizations. It is for this reason that my country is

disappointed that MDG 8 on a global partnership for

development appears to attract little serious interest

from the developed countries. We note that the real

value of aid has remained constant and that the Doha

Development Round remains an unfinished affair.

Also of concern to us is the inability of many

developing countries to enjoy equitable treatment from

the Bretton Woods institutions. Our efforts to reduce

deforestation in tropical rain forest countries, which I

will touch on later, have met with the same apathetic

response. Despite the best of efforts within the World

Trade Organization and Asia Pacific Economic

Cooperation forum processes, the international trading

environment continues to be characterized by

inequalities. Often less visibly but still harmfully,

global trade continues to be encumbered by trade

protectionist measures.

In the area of international peace and security, the

world, unfortunately, is no safer today than it was when

the United Nations was established. War continues to

be waged in Afghanistan. Iraq continues to suffer from

regular suicide bombings. The Korean peninsula

continues to be a flashpoint in the Asia region, and the

Middle East continues to be a hotbed of tension.

Likewise, regional conflicts and ethnic tensions

continue to erupt in many parts of Africa, Latin

America and Eastern Europe. The international

community needs to do more to address these conflicts,

especially the Afghanistan and Iraq issues. The fragile

peace and global security environment is further

exemplified by the continued presence of Blue Helmets

in many parts of world.

Papua New Guinea commends the efforts of

United Nations peacekeeping forces, many of which

have to operate in very trying circumstances. We wish

to thank the troop-contributing countries for bearing

this onerous responsibility on all our behalves. For our

part, I am pleased to announce that my Government

has enacted the International Obligations Bill to

provide the legal framework for Papua New Guinea’s

participation in United Nations peacekeeping

operations.

Acts of terrorism continue and the threat of

another terror attack on a scale similar to that of 9/11

remains real. The international community must

continue to strengthen its cooperation to address this

scourge.

Nuclear weapons continue to cause anxiety in our

security considerations. While some may argue that

nuclear weapons are the reason why the world has not

fought another world war, my Government believes

that these weapons of mass destruction are unnecessary

and need to be eliminated. As part of that process, we

support efforts to strengthen the mechanisms aimed at

the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

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As for other countries of the Pacific region,

climate change is of great concern to Papua New

Guinea. We need no scientist to tell us of the negative

impact of climate change. We live it and we suffer

from it. Many of our islands, such as the Carterets, and

coastal habitats like my own home area of the Murik

Lakes are being gradually submerged by rising sea

levels. The result is that people living in these areas are

becoming environmental refugees. Lowland diseases

such as malaria are now occurring in the highlands of

Papua New Guinea. Unusual weather patterns, such as

increased incidences of cyclones, frequent heavy

flooding and mudslides, are causing havoc in our

economies and exacting untold suffering on our people.

All these attendant climate change challenges are

taxing the budgetary resources of our countries and

undermining our development plans. The international

community has rightly recognized the insidious effects

of climate change and agreed to take concerted action

under the ambit of the Kyoto Protocol, the Bali Road

Map and the Copenhagen Accord to address the issue.

Papua New Guinea urges our developed partners

to shoulder greater responsibility for reducing

greenhouse gas emissions and for assisting developing

countries, particularly small island States, to adapt to

climate change and its effects.

Resources for adaptation and mitigation

measures, particularly those committed in Copenhagen,

must be made more readily available to developing

countries. We note the initiative announced by Japan

last week during the MDG review and look forward to

further details of what it constitutes. We also applaud

the financial commitments and policy initiatives that

China announced to assist developing countries to

implement the Millennium Development Goals. As for Papua New Guinea, with our colleagues

from the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, we have

committed ourselves to a programme of reducing

emissions from deforestation and forest degradation,

more commonly known as REDD-plus. As this is the

International Year of Biodiversity, let me say that the

REDD-plus initiative will assure the protection of

important biodiversity.

In addition, at the national level Papua New

Guinea has adopted an action plan for climate-

compatible development and established the Office of

Climate Change and Development explicitly to oversee

our actions on climate change issues. As part of our

strategy to reduce our carbon footprint, we are now

aggressively seeking to develop more hydropower and

geothermal sources for our energy requirements. We

have also embarked on a major commercialization

exercise of our gas reserves to deliver a cleaner energy

alternative to the world.

Many of us here have recognized the need to

reform the United Nations in order to take account of

the changed circumstances under which it operates, as

well as the new and emerging challenges that it must

address. We note and commend the Secretary-General

for the ongoing administrative and institutional reforms

he is undertaking to improve the efficiency of the

United Nations in better serving Member States. We

urge all stakeholders in the Security Council reform

agenda to demonstrate courage and leadership so that

the composition and workings of the Council can be

reformed in ways that are equitable and reflect the

current geopolitical and economic realities.

Papua New Guinea has previously stated at this

Assembly that we believe that the expansion of the

membership of the Security Council is logical to allow

for representation from certain developed and

developing countries. In that regard, I wish to reaffirm

Papua New Guinea’s support for Germany and Japan to

be included as permanent members in an expanded

Security Council.

Finally, the inequities that exist in the global

trading system today are daunting, but they can be

resolved. With genuine partnership, we can and shall

overcome them. The world may not be any safer today

than it was when the United Nations was established

some 65 years ago, but having been able to avert

another world war is ample testimony that the

international community has the political will to

address tensions and discord in a measured way. The

United Nations and the international legal architecture

that it has achieved, developed and promoted have

played a significant role in that regard, thus

underscoring the continuing relevance of this body.