Tonga, 2003

I

congratulate you, Sir, upon your assumption of this

high office. I also wish to extend my sincere gratitude

to your worthy predecessor, Mr. Jan Kavan, for his

dedicated and committed tenure as president.

I commend the resolute leadership of our

Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, during these

challenging and uncertain times. It is a timely reminder

of the dedication and commitment to the Charter

required of us all as Member States.

Tonga wishes to extend its deepest sympathy and

condolences to the Secretary-General, the Organization

and all affected delegations for the tragic loss of life in

the attacks of 19 August and this past week on the

United Nations compound in Baghdad. We recall the

courage of Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello and too many

others before him, who have fallen in the line of duty

while embodying the United Nations commitment to,

and ultimate sacrifice for, a peaceful and better world.

For its part, my Government will carefully study and

examine the Convention on the Safety of United

Nations and Associated Personnel.

Attacks such as that of 11 September 2001 and

those that befell the United Nations compound in

Baghdad will continue to serve as stirring reminders to

us all of the need for ever present vigilance and

strength to combat terrorism.

Security Council resolution 1373 (2001)

continues to be the beacon that guides the activities of

my Government to develop and enhance appropriate

measures in order to strengthen our compliance. Tonga

continues to support the work of the Counter-Terrorism

Committee (CTC) and has, to date, submitted all the

necessary country reports requested of it. I am grateful

to the CTC and the Security Council for their patience.

After careful study of the United Nations

conventions on terrorism, Tonga is now a party to all

12 instruments, but merely becoming parties to these

instruments will not suffice. Concrete steps will

continue to be needed for small countries like mine to

fully and meaningfully implement those obligations.

We have strengthened our legislative framework and

taken other measures in order to give domestic effect to

such obligations. We continue to participate in national

and regional activities designed to assist countries such

as Tonga implement viable counter-terrorism measures.

The ongoing assistance of our traditional development

partners and other organizations such as the

Commonwealth and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)

Secretariat have been a boon in this regard.

Last year, I referred to the signposts that line the

developmental path: the Millennium Summit, Doha,

Monterrey and Johannesburg. Together with the

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outcomes of other United Nations summit and

conferences, they have inspired hope and vision for our

collective developmental aspirations. While recent

events in Cancun might not be encouraging, they have

served to emphasize that implementing those signposts

will be critical and decisive.

That is a timely reminder, as small island

developing States (SIDS) proceed towards implementing

chapter VII of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

That chapter refers specifically, among other things, to

the ten-year review of the Barbados Programme of

Action that is to take place in Mauritius in 2004.

Indeed, Sir, under your presidency in particular,

Tonga hopes that this is one signpost that will give further

impetus to the achievements in Johannesburg last year, as

well as to the national efforts and endeavours of SIDS in

achieving sustainable development. We will continue to

refine our priority and capacity needs to take greater

advantage of available financial and technological

support. An example of that is our attempt to improve

our air transport services and international aviation

links to combat what has been described as the

tyranny of distance' in our region, by becoming the

most recent party to the Multilateral Agreement on the

Liberalization of International Air Transport.

Regional activities which bear upon our

sustainable development efforts include the Japan-

Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting (PALM)

Summit 2003 between Pacific Islands Forum member

States, including Tonga, and Japan, where mutual

developmental issues are discussed and considered. I

commend Japan for its ongoing commitment to Tonga

and the region through that process, and I look forward

to the fruitful results of the Okinawa Initiative.

I also commend the initiative and recent visit to

the Pacific this year of President Chirac of France. It

was an encouraging sign and created a solid foundation

for further dialogue and future partnership on

developmental issues. I look forward to participating in

the next summit meeting in Paris.

As a developing ocean State, we remain interested

in ongoing developments in oceans affairs and the law of

the sea. As I have mentioned earlier, Tonga has become

party to all United Nations conventions on terrorism

including those that are maritime-related.

We continue to value the work and decisions this

year of the States Parties to the United Nations

Convention on the Law of the Sea, the International

Seabed Authority and the work and role of the United

Nations Informal Consultative Process at its fourth

meeting.

I am pleased that the second informal meeting of

States Parties to the United Nations Fish Stocks

Agreement recently resulted in a framework to enable

the concrete implementation of Part VII of the

Agreement with particular attention to small island

developing States and their aspirations for fisheries. In

that respect, we urge other Member States to become a

party to that important Agreement

As emphasized during the special high-level

meeting on Monday, 22 September, HIV/AIDS remains

a devastating developmental and public health

challenge for us all, particularly for small and remote

island communities. Tonga welcomes the work of the

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

and the funding it has recently approved to assist Tonga

and other countries in the region. That complements

our own national strategies and programmes to combat

those scourges.

Earlier this year, my Government took the

necessary legislative, administrative and preventive

measures to protect against the spread of Severe Acute

Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). I commend the untiring

work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its

committed efforts to address and combat that public

health threat. I also commend the recent adoption by

the WHO Assembly of the Framework Convention on

Tobacco Control which, as of yesterday, has Tonga as

one of its signatories.

I was pleased to have been requested by the

Government of the Solomon Islands and by other PIF

Foreign Ministers to contribute Tongan troops and

police personnel to the Regional Assistance Mission to

the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) to restore law and order.

RAMSI has enabled the Government to address urgent

and varied concerns such as formulating new measures

to deal with the enormous economic and developmental

challenges they now face.

That endeavour, endorsed by the 16 Pacific

Islands Forum member States, is testament to what can

be done by a region to bring about peace in its part of

the world. Each Pacific Islands Forum member State

has contributed to RAMSI in accordance with its own

capacity. Taken together with Australian and New

Zealand resources and command, it is producing

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pleasing results. It is not the first such regional effort in

the field of security. Small might too readily be

considered by some to be beautiful, but we, too, play

our role in many fields of cooperation.

Tonga continues to fully support the work of the

Security Council and the call for the full

implementation of its resolutions to ensure lasting

peace in arenas of conflict. In the Middle East, the

peaceful and lasting coexistence of two States living

side by side within secure and recognized borders will

continue to be elusive until the cycle of violence ends

and there is a return to constructive dialogue.

Iraq is a sharp backdrop for the United Nations.

One of the lessons of 11 September 2001 and Iraq is

not just that our Organization is in need of reform but

that reform is urgently and desperately required. As I

stated in my Millennium General Assembly address

three years ago, the Security Council needs reform.

Otherwise we shall be dealing with today's realities by

means of mechanisms of yesteryear. I continue to

support the call for reforming the Council by

expanding the number of permanent and non-

permanent members. In like terms, I support the call of

the Assembly President for a proactive and action-

oriented General Assembly. Let us hope that between

this session of the General Assembly and the next,

something concrete emerges.