Papua New Guinea, 2012

Papua New Guinea

congratulates Mr. Jeremić on his recent election as

President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh

session. Our country pledges its support to him in that

role. I also commend his predecessor, His Excellency

Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, for the valuable work

that he has done in the past year.

Papua New Guinea recently celebrated its 37

years of independence, on 16 September. Prior to that,

despite various challenges, our country successfully

completed its general elections in a fair and peaceful

manner. Those elections culminated in the convening

of our ninth National Parliament and the formation

of a new Government. We thank our close friends

and development partners that have assisted us in the

election process, including Australia, New Zealand,

Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, Great

Britain, the European Union, the United Nations and

the Commonwealth.

As a young developing nation, we are proud of our

Constitution-based and evolving democracy. While our

people have subsisted on the island nation of Papua New

Guinea for many centuries, our short modern history

continues to be a testament to the will of our people to

maintain and consolidate our burgeoning democracy in

line with the rule of law. In today’s world, that is the

basis on which a just and fair society is built and on

which societies have been built.

Papua New Guinea’s key development priorities in

the next five years are contained in our Medium-Term

Development Plan 2011-2015. That seeks to achieve a long-term national road map under our Vision 2050.

We need to strengthen our economy for it to be more

resilient to global market shocks by diversifying

trade and investment and by reviewing development

cooperation, ensuring that our people’s basic needs are

met.

Papua New Guinea is also increasing investment

in our children’s future, security and success by the

provision of free and quality education from the

elementary to the secondary level and by further

subsidizing education from Grade 12 to the tertiary

level. We believe that that will help us to achieve

Millennium Development Goal 2 on universal primary

education, which will enhance our nation-building

process.

We are also rehabilitating and developing our major

infrastructure, such as roads, airports, ports, schools

and hospitals, as key drivers of sustainable development

in our country. We are increasing support for funding

to ensure the delivery of basic health-care and social

services countrywide. That includes the revitalization

of our institutional and human resources capacity to

take the country to a higher development level, which

is our national development priority.

Our Government has prioritized combating

corruption at all levels of society. In doing so, we have

adopted the principle of zero tolerance. In that respect,

our country is setting up the Independent Commission

against Corruption to enhance implementation of the

United Nations Convention against Corruption. We

believe that such legislation and policy efforts will

improve good governance, resulting in the effective

delivery of basic services and the provision of access to

opportunities for participation in national development

by all relevant stakeholders.

The economy of Papua New Guinea is growing at

an annual rate of 8 per cent. Our improved economic

performance is underscored by political stability, sound

macroeconomic management and the development of

the first large liquefied natural gas project. The revenue

from that project is likely to increase the growth of our

economy, doubling the revenue base by 2014. We intend

to share that wealth with our Pacific neighbours in the

appropriate manner. In that context, a sovereign wealth

fund has been set up to professionally manage the

revenue from the liquefied natural gas project and other

extractive industries. We plan to reinvest that revenue

for the future of our country.

We believe that a strengthened economy will

improve our social indicators, particularly by

addressing our literacy levels, high maternal and infant

mortality rates, law and order enforcement, the ageing

public sector workforce and the declining state of our

country’s infrastructure.

Papua New Guinea supports the Secretary-

General’s five-year action agenda on sustainable

development, enhanced human security, enhancing the

core values of the international community, supporting

nations in transition, and working with and for women

and young people, which was launched on 25 January.

Papua New Guinea continues to benefit from a strong

United Nations presence, through which various

development programmes have been implemented. We

highly value the contribution of the United Nations in

that regard.

We have also been implementing the One United

Nations initiative since 2006 as a self-starter country.

So far, that is working exceptionally well for our

country. We are also grateful that the United Nations

has heeded our call and has synergized its development

assistance framework 2012-2015 with our Medium-

Term Development Plan. However, we can do more. We

urge donor partners to abide by the principles of the

Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra

Agenda for Action. Through the Pacific Islands Forum,

we have adapted the Cairns Compact in order to better

coordinate development assistance and to ensure the

effective delivery of aid.

We welcome the proactive engagement of the United

Nations with the Pacific region and thank the Secretary-

General for his visit and ongoing commitment. We

are encouraged by that and by the fact that contacts

with the United Nations system and personnel will be

strengthened in the Pacific Islands region.

The challenge for Papua New Guinea is to ensure that

the development of our natural resources is sustainable

and that the benefits are effectively translated into the

improved livelihoods of our people. That, in turn, will

assist us in meeting our Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs), especially the 22 indicators and 90 national

targets that we have set ourselves. We acknowledge

that it will be a challenge to attain all the MDGs by

2015, but note there has been measured progress in

the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, which

is MDG 1, and the reduction of child mortality, which is MDG 4. So for our part, our country is taking full

ownership of the MDGs.

With the support of our development partners such

as the European Union and the United Nations, Papua

New Guinea is conducting a trial of the Millennium

Village concept this month. We recommit ourselves

to working with our international partners, including

the United Nations, and we reiterate that the MDGs

need to be the priority while we discuss sustainable

development goals for the long term.

Papua New Guinea continues to scale up its

efforts to further strengthen human rights protection

and advancement in the country. We are working

closely with United Nations agencies and our other

development partners in the furtherance of these

objectives. To date, we have reported to the Human

Rights Council on work done relating to the Convention

on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women in July 2010. We have also reported to

the Human Rights Council under the universal periodic

review process. Additionally, the 2012 report of the

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its

causes and consequences (A/HRC/20/16) and the 2010

report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other

cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

are being considered by our Government this year.

Papua New Guinea is committed to gender

empowerment and equality. We recognize women and

girls as not only key national development partners

but also persons whose inherent human dignity must

be respected and safeguarded. This is a central pillar

of our Constitution and a core value of our national

development road map. A testament to the success of

this measure is that more girls are enrolling in primary

and upper levels of education with an increasingly high

retention rate. Women are also increasingly employed,

recognized and given greater responsibilities in

our public and private sectors. In fact, we achieved

a historical milestone this year, and one which is

unprecedented in our political history, in that, for the

first time, three women were elected to the national

parliament. This positive trend is increasing in our

country at all levels.

We also recognize the critical importance of

protecting our women and girls from violence and

discrimination. Papua New Guinea is taking a

proactive approach through education, advocacy

and legislation to prevent gender-based violence. We have made violence against women and girls a crime

punishable by law. Partnership with all stakeholders,

including our development partners and civil society,

forms an important part of the gender empowerment

and equality issues in our country. In this context, we

commend the funding, substantially from the Australian

Government, that was announced at the margins of the

Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga in August 2012, as

well as that from other development partners, including

New Zealand, the United Nations and the United States

of America.

Having acceded to the Convention on the Rights of

Persons with Disabilities, Papua New Guinea is now in

the process of ratifying the Convention. Our country is

working with our Pacific Islands Forum member States

to host the Pacific Islands Forum Disability Ministers

Meeting on 3 and 4 October 2012 in Port Moresby.

We are also working towards setting up an

independent national human rights commission and, at

the same time, we are in the process of withdrawing

the seven reservations on the 1951 Convention relating

to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In this

context, we are partnering with Australia to address

human trafficking and human smuggling issues in our

region.

The theme that was chosen for the High-level

Meeting during this session, the rule of law at the

national and international levels, is timely and

commendable. Papua New Guinea fully subscribes, as I

have said, to the principles of the rule of law.

Papua New Guinea also fully subscribes to

disarmament and non-proliferation to secure a peaceful

world. We urge nuclear nations to denuclearize and

those thinking of going nuclear to refrain from doing

so. The Pacific region remains a nuclear-free zone, and

we urge other Member States that have yet to sign and ratify the Rarotonga Treaty, which prohibits nuclear

weapons in the region, to do so.

We remain concerned about the continued

proliferation of small arms and light weapons. In

this context, we call for the recent impasse on the

negotiations on a global arms trade treaty to be ended

as soon as possible.

Papua New Guinea supports the Group of Seven

Plus forum for its efforts to strengthen peacebuilding

and State-building in fragile and post-conflict countries

and commend Timor-Leste for their leadership. As part

of our national commitment to fostering global peace

and security, Papua New Guinea has commenced its

contribution to the United Nations peacekeeping force

and is looking to expand that contribution.

We remain committed to the United Nations

sustainable development agenda, especially on climate

change, with respect to mitigation and adaptation.

We are committed to working closely with the global

community under the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change and subscribe to the

Rio+20 outcome declaration, “The future we want”

(resolution 66/288, annex).

Papua New Guinea recognizes the pivotal role

of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) for

sustainable development. As a founding member of

GGGI, Papua New Guinea pledges to work together

with other stakeholders to ensure the desired outcomes

through the Institute. In this context, we pay tribute to

the work that has been done by the Republic of Korea.

In conclusion, we support the call made by the

Secretary-General for the reform of the United Nations

system. We also again call for the reform of the Security

Council in both the permanent and the non-permanent

categories of members, in order for it to reflect the

geopolitical realities of today.