Federated States of Micronesia, 1998

It is my high honour to address the

Assembly today, both as the Chairman of the South

Pacific Forum and as the President of the Federated

States of Micronesia.

First of all, Mr. President, for the South Pacific

Forum and for my country, I wish to express sincere

congratulations on your election to the highest position

one can hold in this body. We are confident that your

strong experience and leadership will provide the rudder

that is needed here to steer us safely through the many

challenges that lie ahead.

I also thank the President of the General Assembly

at its fifty-second session, Mr. Hennadiy Udovenko of

Ukraine, for his skilful guidance throughout the past year

during most difficult and troubling times.

Recognition also must be given to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, whose tireless and effective

work in both leadership and coordinating roles is well

known to all of us.

The Federated States of Micronesia was honoured to

host the twenty-ninth summit of leaders of the South

Pacific Forum in Pohnpei on 24 and 25 August. As a

result, I have the privilege and heavy responsibility of

reporting to this organ the consensus achieved by all 16

member countries of the Forum at that summit.

The South Pacific Forum is a unique institution

involving independent and self-governing States which

share a very special part of the world. Forum member

countries differ greatly in land area, ocean area, population,

resource endowment, economic development and

industrialization, social structures, cultures and living

standards. However, we all share a common bond as Forum

members and have established agreed positions on a wide

range of issues which transcend our diversity. We have also

agreed to work together to pursue cohesion, stability and

well-being in our countries.

At the recent summit, the heads of Government and

representatives of the 16 member countries reviewed

progress and took decisions on a number of issues

considered important to the region, which were generally of

a political, economic or environmental nature. I will

mention briefly some of the subjects that were discussed

and refer for further details to the Forum communiqué,

which is to be issued as a document of this General

Assembly.

The overall theme of the Forum?s summit this year

was “From Reform to Growth: The Private Sector and

Investment as Keys to Prosperity”. In this regard, the

Forum agreed that efforts should be made to ensure

macroeconomic stability by improving fiscal discipline,

further promoting public sector reforms and broadening the

tax base. It also emphasized the need to introduce a wide

range of policy, legal, regulatory and institutional reforms

which provide the private sector with a more favourable

and competitive business environment.

Leaders noted that good overall progress has been

made in the implementation of the Forum Economic Action

Plan, which aims at strengthening the economies of the

island countries. This progress was made despite such

difficulties as capacity constraints facing some members,

the backdrop of region-specific difficulties, notably drought

and other disasters, and the problems faced by member

countries on account of the Asian economic crisis. Specific

recommendations were endorsed concerning the region?s

response to undesirable economic activities, the promotion

of competitive telecommunications markets, the

development of information infrastructure and work related

to the Forum Free Trade Area.

On a related matter, the Forum revisited the objective

of having the United Nations adopt a vulnerability index,

with the aim of having such an index included among the

criteria for determining least developed country status and

deciding eligibility for concessional aid and trade treatment.

It was noted with pleasure that the United Nations

Economic and Social Council had agreed to defer

consideration of Vanuatu?s graduation from least

developed country status for one year, pending further

consideration of the vulnerability index issue, and that the

World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

have created a task force on the subject. While these steps

have been important, much work remains ahead to gain

full international recognition of vulnerability in its various

manifestations as obstacles to the sustainable development

of small island developing States.

The Forum solidly reaffirmed its previous

endorsement of the Barbados Programme of Action for

the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing

States as a comprehensive framework with great potential

for the region, and noted the efforts under way for its

implementation, but that much remains unaddressed. It is

believed that the special session of the General Assembly

in 1999 to review the Plan of Action will represent an

important opportunity for the region. Support was

expressed for national, regional and transregional

activities in the run-up to the special session, both to

better position ourselves for effective participation and to

raise pre-sessional awareness of the situation of small

island developing States.

One issue that received a great deal of attention at

this year?s Forum summit was that of global climate

change, and in particular the risk of sea level rise brought

on or hastened by human activities affecting the

atmosphere. The Forum?s membership includes two annex

I parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change. All the rest, including several which are

not United Nations Members, are small island developing

countries and committed members of the Alliance of

Small Island States (AOSIS). We are driven in that regard

by deep concerns about our very survival.

It was encouraging and perhaps indicative to others

that despite a wide diversity of interests on this issue the

Forum succeeded in reaching a comprehensive position.

The Forum recognized the legally binding commitments

agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol as a significant first step

forward on the path of ensuring effective global action to

combat climate change. The Forum encouraged all

countries to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to work towards

its earliest possible ratification. In particular, noting that

the Framework Convention obliges developed country

parties to take the lead in combating climate change and

the adverse effects thereof, the Forum stressed the

importance of implementing measures to ensure early

progress towards meeting the commitments in the Kyoto

Protocol. This applies particularly to the United States,

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the European Union, the Russian Federation, Japan, Canada

and other annex I emitters.

The Forum called for substantial progress at the

upcoming fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to

the Framework Convention in Buenos Aires in establishing

the rules for international implementation mechanisms —

particularly emissions trading, the clean development

mechanism and joint implementation — to ensure that these

mechanisms assist the effectiveness of greenhouse-gas

reduction efforts.

It was also noted that an effective global response to

the problem of climate change will require ongoing active

cooperation and strengthened action by all parties, taking

account of their common but differentiated responsibilities

and their respective capabilities. The Forum stressed the

urgent need to initiate a process to develop procedures and

future time-frames for wider global participation in

emissions limitation and reduction in which significant

developing country emitters would enter into commitments

which reflect their individual national circumstances and

development needs. But remember, developed countries

must take the lead.

The Forum noted with relief and gratitude the

recognition in the Kyoto Protocol of the importance of the

adaption needs of small island States. The leaders called for

adequate resources to be generated through the

implementation mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol and the

Global Environment Facility for the full range of adaption

measures. The Forum countries anticipate maximizing the

benefits to them from such implementation measures and

mechanisms through the work of another regional

organization, the South Pacific Regional Environment

Programme.

Respectful of the wide range of reactions and emotions

surrounding the outcome of Kyoto, and recognizing also the

difficult challenges that will face the delegates at Buenos

Aires, it is suggested that the Forum consensus should be

taken as a harbinger of the possibilities for finding common

ground on a larger playing field — one on which the

ultimate fate of all of us may be decided.

Before I leave the subject of climate change, I would

like to express gratitude to the donor nations that responded

recently to the suffering visited upon Pacific island peoples

by the climatic phenomenon of El Niño. Whether or not

scientists can decide conclusively that the recent intensity

of the El Niño effect is a symptom of global climate

change, it is a fact that entire island populations found

themselves in a situation where their very survival

depended on the willingness of other countries to provide

emergency assistance. We will always be thankful that

such assistance was forthcoming.

While we express our appreciation, we are also

mindful of the situation of the devastation that has been

created by Hurricane Georges in the southern United

States, and we are hoping and praying that this

phenomenon will pass, giving relief to the people.

Another issue of immediate and continuing

environmental concern to our Forum region is the

ongoing practice by industrialized Powers of shipping

radioactive wastes back and forth through our economic

zones in the advancement of their own national interests

and priorities, irrespective of our strenuous and continuing

protests. The Forum noted that some strides have been

made in exchanging information on these shipments, but

the risks remain. At the very minimum, we continue to

seek a strong regime of prior notification to and

consultation with coastal States on planned shipments of

hazardous wastes, and the development of a regime to

compensate the region for actual economic losses caused

to tourism, fisheries and other affected industries in the

area.

The Forum leaders could not help but note with

alarm the recent tests of nuclear devices by India and

Pakistan. They expressed grave concern that the recent

nuclear tests constitute a threat to the international process

of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban

Treaty. It will be recalled that the region encompassed by

the Forum members has perhaps greater standing than any

other region in the world to express alarm over the

continued testing of nuclear devices. The Forum members

have endured and continue to endure the human suffering

that has resulted from the curse of nuclear proliferation

and testing. The Pacific island countries are taking action

within the region to counter the presence of nuclear

weapons and the testing of nuclear devices through the

South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. We call upon the

United States to ratify that Treaty.

Finally, as regards the South Pacific Forum — and

I stress that I do not mention here every issue that was

discussed or covered in the communiqué — I want to

relate the Forum?s pleasure in drawing attention to the

signing of the Noumea Accord between the Government

of France and the concerned parties in New Caledonia.

This Accord represents a tremendous accomplishment by

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all involved in moving forward the process of self-

determination for New Caledonia, whatever the ultimate

outcome of that process might be.

I have already consumed much of my time in

commenting on issues that concern the South Pacific Forum

as a group. Briefly now, I ask that you focus your attention

on the situation of my small island developing country.

The Federated States of Micronesia is approaching the

end of the millennium with a sense of unsettlement. We

will be among the first to celebrate the beginning of the

new epoch, but, in an immediate sense, what does this

celebration promise for us? Our developmental process

began only a few years ago, and the barriers we face in

terms of need for technology and manpower development,

scarcity of resources, our remote location and small

population — to name only a few — are beyond our

capability to overcome alone.

We are indeed fortunate to be receiving substantial

assistance from the United States and other bilateral

partners, but our long-term future cannot and should not

depend upon bilateral assistance. Perhaps it is not realistic

for us to plan for complete self-sufficiency, but we do want

to become, and we must become, more self-reliant.

We in the Federated States of Micronesia have some

concerns that the emphasis of effort in the United Nations

is being somewhat drawn away from the balance between

addressing the overall interests of all countries and at the

same time particularly assisting developing countries to

move towards their rightful condition. In other words, we

fear that the traditional role of the Organization in assisting

less advanced countries with their development could be

marginalized. I use the phrase “drawn away” because the

shift to which I refer would not be something that leaders

sat down and purposefully decided on. In large part, given

the breadth of the Charter, the United Nations is simply in

danger of becoming overwhelmed by its responsibilities. As

regional and national conflicts proliferate, drug trafficking

flourishes, terrorism looms as an ever more dangerous part

of our daily lives, and as the global environment becomes

increasingly threatened, the demands on the time and

resources of this body and its Members to confront

immediate problems are compelling.

But while the need to move towards a closer parity

between the living standards of the North and the South

necessitates long-term solutions, it cannot be forgotten that

in the long term the accomplishment of that goal will do

much to address the problems to which I have just

referred, which seem beyond the reach of immediate solutions.

Meanwhile, as developing countries, we too must do

our part. We must create the flexible, though outward-

oriented, economies that can maximize the benefits of the

global economy in which we also exist. At the same time,

we must not forget that our national identities and unique

national and subnational social, political and economic

situations demand a proactive approach that avoids

blindly jumping on the bandwagon of the latest

development initiatives in order to reap the perceived

benefits of donor assistance. In realizing that mistakes

inevitably are made and opportunities lost, we must not

lose our sense of self-confidence or permit ourselves to

become overly prone to accepting the dictates of well-

meaning donor partners whose understanding of our

situation may not be complete.

But we must also remain very alert to the need for

course correction and we must endure periods of

structural, institutional and even behavioural change. The

process is now ongoing in my country. With the

assistance of the Asian Development Bank and donor

partners, we are well along in implementing a two-

pronged programme that involves Government and public

enterprise reforms, on the one hand, and private sector

reforms, on the other. On the Government side, we are

reorganizing and downsizing our institutions and

improving our tax structure in order to move along the

adjustment path to sustainable finances and rational

service levels. On the private sector side, our reforms are

designed to improve the economic environment for

private sector growth, especially in those productive

activities that earn dollars from abroad. This means,

among other things, reducing the role of Government in

productive activities and restructuring our legal and

regulatory environment to encourage private sector

activity and investment, especially foreign investment.

Despite our determination to carry through this

effort, we know that it alone will not produce

development. It will facilitate development and make our

application of development assistance far more effective.

But now, perhaps more than ever, we will require the

patience, understanding and continued support of donor

partners and international institutions, which have been so

instrumental in helping us to reach this point.

This is to be a session during which two very

important anniversaries are celebrated: 50 years of United

Nations peacekeeping and 50 years of the Universal

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Declaration of Human Rights. As to the first, I wish to

honour those who served in the peacekeeping operations of

the past 50 years, especially those who lost their lives in

the service of the United Nations. As to the second, the

vital role played by the Declaration hardly needs my

endorsement; but I would refer to my statement at the 1993

Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, when, in

speaking with respect to those who have given their lives

in the cause of human rights, I said:

“Those very heroes would be among the first to say,

'Let?s look into the past only for what we can learn

from it. The job is not yet done, and our enemy grows

stronger.'”

It only remains for me to refer to the activities of the

international community and this body having to do with

my country?s predominant resource — the ocean. This is

the International Year of the Ocean. The world can little

afford to miss the opportunities presented by this occasion

to focus on our planet?s most prevalent yet least understood

physical mechanism. The single best example of that

dangerously incomplete understanding surely is the ocean-

generated, worldwide disaster of El Niño, which occurred,

ironically, this year.

For obvious reasons, the peoples of Micronesia

secured involvement in the long negotiations that led to the

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea even

before we emerged from Trusteeship status. We have

continued that involvement as a party to the Convention

and now call on all States to ratify the Convention and

participate fully in the process. We support the Tribunal for

the Law of the Sea, as well as resolutions aimed at

eradicating the practice of driftnet fishing and unauthorized

fishing in areas of national jurisdiction. We urge action to

reduce by-catches, fish discards and post-harvest losses.

Looking towards the Assembly?s special session on the

Barbados Programme of Action, and also towards next

year?s consideration of oceans by the Commission on

Sustainable Development, we encourage the recognition of

linkages between the various related issues and the need for

more integrated treatment. By necessity, I speak of linkages

and integration, which are familiar terms of usage within

the United Nations system but there is nothing routine

about the devastations of El Niño that were visited upon my

country?s people earlier this year and upon other peoples

around the world. I can think of no better example of the

need for the recognition of linkages in terms of ocean and

climatic issues and the necessity for the application of

integrated response measures.

In closing, I should like to refer to the fact that, in

recent years, as the problems of our increasingly complex

and globalized society appear to have escalated, it has

become fashionable in some quarters to question whether

the United Nations Organization is worth maintaining. It

is as though the world?s peoples expect that the worth of

this Organization is to be tested by its efficiency in

“fixing” a set of global problems, after which,

presumably, we would all live happily ever after. That

mistaken notion is grounded in the assumption that

international cooperation exists only for immediate

problem-solving.

Speaking for a relatively new Member country of the

United Nations, allow me to suggest humbly that the

repetition of mistakes of whatever scale and the creation

of new crises along with every step forward is elemental

to the human condition. The Charter of this Organization,

monumental as it may be, is still a document designed by

and for human beings on this planet and must be judged

and applied in light of the human experience. The United

Nations should not be expected to work itself out of a

job.

The people and the Government of the Federated

States of Micronesia deeply respect the past

accomplishments of the United Nations and look forward

to continuing to meet our commitments to it, even though

our contributions may appear small.