Solomon Islands, 2011

Solomon Islands,

with much pride, wishes to thank our Secretary-

General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for

honouring my country with a historic visit earlier this

month. He is the first Secretary-General to have set

foot on a Pacific small island developing State with

least developed country (LDC) status. His re-election

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to a second five-year term speaks to his strong

conviction in advancing multilateralism and his

attentiveness to the challenges facing all members,

including the vulnerable countries. We once again

pledge our support to the Secretary-General during his

second term in office.

Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the

leadership and tireless work of Mr. Joseph Deiss as

President of the General Assembly during the past

session, and to congratulate the President of the current

session on his election. I am confident that, under his

leadership, the responsibilities of the United Nations

will be strengthened, especially at a time when there is

nervousness in world markets, with the threat of a

possible double-dip recession becoming more real

every day; a time when the world is witnessing unrest

in Asia, riots in Europe and famine in the Horn of

Africa; a time when the narrow interests and ambitions

of some are being cycled through the United Nations

system, thereby harming the principles for which this

Organization stands.

In this respect, the theme for the sixty-sixth

session, “The role of mediation in the settlement of

disputes by peaceful means”, is fitting and timely. The

Organization was set up to preserve peace for all, not

conditional peace for some. It is about honest

international cooperation built on a spirit of optimism

and positivism. It is about interaction between States

with a sense of duty and an awakened conscience to

effect change. Multilateral diplomatic and political

initiatives need to take centre stage instead of military

solutions, which may lead to lengthy and protracted

conflicts.

The role of mediation in Solomon Islands is about

creating a common voice among the 87 different

languages spoken in the country. The Government

remains committed to building a cohesive multicultural

society with equal opportunities for all. The Solomon

Islands Ministry of National Unity, Reconciliation and

Peace, along with the Truth and Reconciliation

Commission, is in its third year of continuing to build

bridges between formerly conflicting parties by

conveying a message of tolerance, respect, dialogue

and understanding among Solomon Islanders.

I am pleased to say that my Government is

reforming and improving our democratic system by

setting the goal of continuing national consultations on

the Political Parties’ Integrity Bill, introduced in 2009

by the previous Government. We are developing a

comprehensive policy to identify legislation that needs

to be reviewed or enacted.

Solomon Islands has set itself progressively

ambitious goals within the various international

frameworks. We can achieve all of those goals only by

having focused a relationship with the United Nations.

We feel that the United Nations needs to engage in

special outreach to countries with special needs,

especially those lagging furthest behind, so as to assist

them in implementing the outcomes of global

agreements. To make a difference, the international

community must honour its commitments, and do so by

giving sufficiently to ensure that the required economic

transformation occurs in LDCs and small island

developing States (SIDS).

Multilateralism has provided the basis for our

foreign policy. We opened a second Permanent Mission

to the United Nations, in Geneva, in June this year, and

would like to see our action reciprocated with an

enhanced United Nations country presence in Solomon

Islands. We have an over-regionalized United Nations

system that has seen problems grow in the Pacific.

Small as we are, three of our Pacific countries have

experienced conflict over the past two decades, and

five of the 12 are listed as least developed countries.

Today, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) claim

six in every 10 lives in the Pacific. Non-communicable

diseases are pandemic in the region. In that regard,

Solomon Islands has put in place a non-communicable

diseases strategic plan for the period 2011-2015.

Prevention remains the cornerstone of our NCD policy,

as does the development of our primary health

coverage across the country. We will continue to need

sustained external support in the short to medium term

so that we can implement our NCD programmes.

Solomon Islands, as a least developed country,

applauds the adoption in May of the 10-year Istanbul

Programme of Action for the least developed countries.

The Programme provides an opportunity to lift

880 million people within the international community

out of poverty. The 48 LDCs have developed a

programme with the ambitious target of seeing half of

the LDCs graduate by 2020. The programme focuses

on investing in the productive sectors of LDCs in order

to tackle our development challenges by triggering

stable, sustained and inclusive economic growth.

Partnership is critical to support investment in income-

11-51372 14

generating activities, employment creation, infrastructure

development, rural agricultural development and

investment in smallholder farmers. Solomon Islands, in

reaching out to the 85 per cent of its population living

in rural areas, is currently implementing parallel

sectoral and constitutional reforms and land reform

programmes.

Solomon Islands supports the call for the

Secretary-General to conduct structured discussions on

a post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

agenda. As we all must realize and admit, we will fall

short of achieving the Millennium Development Goals

come 2015. The review must examine the means of

achieving the social and development goals. That

means looking at the MDGs from a sustainable

development perspective. Solomon Islands looks

forward to that discussion.

On climate change, we call on the Secretary-

General to garner the necessary political will from our

developed partners to adopt a second commitment

period in Durban under the Kyoto Protocol. This would

avoid a gap between the first and second commitment

periods and would be sufficient to ensure the survival

of all vulnerable people and prevent climate change

impacts from reaching irreversible levels.

Problems associated with climate change are

growing challenges for our country. We are taking

several practical measures. The Government is

planning the relocation of our national referral hospital

to higher ground. Efforts to build a resilience policy on

food and water security are progressing under the

adaptation programme. Our climate change challenges

are growing, and fast-track funds promised two years

ago must be made available to vulnerable countries as

a matter of real urgency. Solomon Islands is in the

process of establishing economic growth centres

throughout the country, and we are looking at powering

these centres with renewable energy, which we view as

a necessity and a condition for growth.

Solomon Islands is grateful for the growth of

South-South cooperation and its policy engagement

within the international community, especially support

from such countries as Cuba, India and Papua New

Guinea. We also welcome new non-traditional partners

with our region, including Luxembourg, Georgia and

Italy, who have rendered support and are instrumental

in complementing the support from our traditional

partners the European Union, Australia, New Zealand,

the Republic of China and Japan.

Solomon Islands, as a post-conflict country,

remains engaged with the Australia-led Regional

Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI),

with support from New Zealand and other Pacific

Islands Forum member countries. The Secretary-

General, during his recent trip to my country, had a

bird’s eye view of the achievements of RAMSI in the

restoration of law and order and the reform of our

economic and governance systems. My country

remains grateful to all our Pacific neighbours for their

support and reiterates that any winding down of

RAMSI activities should be done in a calculated and

responsible manner.

We continue to seek homegrown solutions within

the region. The Melanesian Spearhead Group has

agreed to establish a Melanesian regional police

academy, bringing together Fiji, Papua New Guinea,

Vanuatu and Solomon Islands discipline forces to

respond to emerging needs, from disasters to conflicts.

Solomon Islands hopes to join Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua

New Guinea in having its police force participate in

United Nations missions. Work is still in progress, and

we hope to conclude it soon.

Within my region, Solomon Islands continues to

support the inscription of the French territory of New

Caledonia on the United Nations decolonization list

and will extend similar support to French Polynesia,

working with all stakeholders, including the

Administrator. In particular, the Melanesian Spearhead

Group countries strongly support the inscription of

New Caledonia and French Polynesia for

decolonization.

The current international system has pushed us to

the edge of our finite natural resources. The United

Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in

Rio next year will be another global opportunity to

identify gaps within existing sustainable development

frameworks, from the Barbados Programme of Action

and the Mauritius Strategy, which recognize the special

situation of small island developing States, to the

Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs. We strongly

urge signatory countries to honour their commitments.

Solomon Islands looks forward to the

negotiations scheduled for late this year. Already, we

are in the midst of preserving the last global stock of

tuna by creating the world’s first sustainable industrial

15 11-51372

fishing industry through a subregional intergovernmental

mechanism. Fisheries remain our source of food and

income, and we will need to maximize returns from

these resources in a sustainable manner by bringing

together three pillars of sustainable development on

equal footing and in a balanced and sustainable

manner.

Solomon Islands is host to the regional Pacific

Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, and we continue to

register our interest in hosting the regional marine

scientific and technological centre of the United

Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea to advance

marine scientific research in the Pacific region and to

foster the transfer of marine technology for the

development of our ocean and marine resources.

Solomon Islands believes in dialogue and

engagement with all countries of the world, including

Fiji. We do so within the framework of the United

Nations Charter and the Melanesian Spearhead Group

principles, with mutual respect for each other’s

sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression,

non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,

equality, mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence with

each other. We would like to encourage all States to do

likewise.

I am equally pleased to say that, since my

Government came into office some 14 months ago, we

have established relations with more than 27 countries

and will continue to reach out to all countries to ensure

that Solomon Islands remains connected in our

interlinked world. On this note, I welcome a new

member to our family of nations, South Sudan. We

offer South Sudan our friendship and look forward to

working with it on all issues of common concern to our

countries.

The 51-year-old economic blockade of Cuba

remains an issue stuck in time. Solomon Islands, in a

spirit of friendship and in observation of the principle

of good neighbourliness, makes a humble call on our

partner and friend, the United States, for the

unconditional lifting of the economic blockade against

the people of Cuba. We request that the two States

renew, restore, revive, redeem and reclaim their

friendship and respect for each other’s sovereignty

within the letter and spirit of the United Nations

Charter.

Solomon Islands will host the eleventh Festival of

Pacific Arts next year to celebrate and promote the

unique and diverse indigenous cultures of the Pacific.

The Festival will give us an opportunity to express our

sense of pride, awareness and recognition of the

“Pacificness” of the isolated communities within the

Pacific and to develop and preserve a deep sense of

solidarity and unity through our ancient music, body

art, dances and languages. We look forward to

receiving our guests in 2012.

On the long-standing conflict in the holy land,

Solomon Islands supports the work of the Quartet. We

note that more than two-thirds of United Nations

Member States recognize Palestine as a State. Solomon

Islands, in the name of peace, believes that the

international community must have the strength and

stamina to act decisively, build on the two-State

solution and overcome the distrust that exists in the

region multilaterally.

On Security Council reform, Solomon Islands

continues to support the intergovernmental

negotiations on expansion in the number of permanent

and non-permanent seats of the Council. My delegation

is mindful of the fact that the most recent Security

Council reform occurred in 1965. The world has

changed since then. We need to streamline the current

negotiating text within our informal intergovernmental

negotiation process and join other small island

developing States in calling for a non-permanent seat

in the Security Council explicitly for small island

developing States.

On the issue of human rights, I am pleased to say

that Solomon Islands has submitted its national human

rights report to the Human Rights Council. For a

developing country, the right to development is the

core of the country’s policy. Putting people at the

centre of development, their meaningful participation

and the fair distribution of national wealth and benefits

will bring peace to an angry man, feed a hungry child

and empower our womenfolk.

My delegation would like to acknowledge the

change in nomenclature within the 53-member Group

of Asian States to the Asia and the Pacific Small

Islands Developing States Group. This is an important

development and truly represents the diversity of

membership that exists within the Asia Group. We

applaud our Asian colleagues for taking such a

decision.

On the issue of gender, Solomon Islands has huge

challenges, to the extent that it will seek a regional seat

11-51372 16

within the Executive Board of United Nations Entity

for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Solomon Islands is presenting its candidate as a Pacific

SIDs-endorsed candidate, and with the support of the

Assembly it hopes to give an LDC and SIDS flavour to

the Board.

On Taiwan cross-strait relations, my delegation

continues to commend the ongoing dialogue between

the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People’s

Republic of China. We note Taiwan’s continuous

contributions to the global health system in terms of a

wide range of international development programmes,

and welcome its participation as an observer to the

World Health Assembly. We continue to call for such

arrangements to be extended to other United Nations

treaty bodies, including the United Nations Convention

on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to ensure the

meaningful participation of Taiwan and its people in

the affairs of the international community. Solomon

Islands also acknowledges Taiwan’s climate change

mitigation and renewable energy programmes with

developing countries, and would like to see the

application of similar observer arrangements extended

to Taiwan within the UNFCCC.

Let me conclude by expressing once again my

delegation’s confidence in translating our global

agenda into action within the next 12 months. Many

lives depend on that. On behalf of the Government and

people of Solomon Islands, I assure the Assembly of

our support and cooperation.