Federated States of Micronesia, 2000

I would like to

take this opportunity to congratulate the President on

his assumption of the presidency of the fifty-fifth

session of the General Assembly.

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the

members of the Pacific Island Forum group of

countries at the United Nations, comprising Australia,

Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand,

Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon

Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and my own country,

Micronesia.

It is with pride that I congratulate and extend a

warm welcome to our Pacific Island neighbour Tuvalu

into the United Nations family. The members of our

group may vary greatly in land and ocean areas,

population, resource endowment, economic

development, social structures, languages and cultures,

but we share a common goal for the Pacific, based on

security and stability, as well as prosperity and

economic opportunities for its peoples, and the

sustainability of resources. Within the same context the

Pacific Islands Forum countries represented in New

York reaffirm their commitment to play a supportive

role in the United Nations decolonization programmes

in respect of the remaining non-self-governing

territories in the Pacific.

The Pacific Ocean occupies a central place in the

lives of the people of the Pacific Islands. Preservation

of this resource — which contains the world's highest

marine diversity — is critical to our future economic

development. The vast oceanic area under the control

of our members is rich in fishing potential but requires

careful management and monitoring to address illegal,

unregulated and unreported fishing and other

environmental threats. A major achievement for us and

our distant-water fishing partners is the convention

recently adopted by the Multilateral High-Level

Conference on the Conservation and Management of

Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and

Central Pacific, which will protect the world's last

great tuna fishery.

The first meeting of the United Nations Open-

ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and

Law of the Sea, under the co-chairmanship of the

Ambassador of Samoa, promises to serve as a vital part

of the preparatory process for the General Assembly's

consideration of ocean issues. The ocean priorities

identified by the Pacific Island Forum include

ratification of the United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea and the United Nations agreement on

fish stocks; marine scientific research and technical

assistance; and the delimitation of maritime zones,

including continental shelves.

The world's security environment has become

more fluid and uncertain with new and emerging

threats. Events this year show that a reputation for

stability and peace are by no means guaranteed in the

Pacific. In light of the political crisis in Fiji and the

social unrest in the Solomon Islands, Foreign Ministers

of the Forum met in Samoa in August. They recognized

the need for regional action to be taken on the basis of

all members being part of the Pacific Islands extended

family. In doing so the Forum must demonstrate that it

is prepared constructively to address difficult and

sensitive issues, including the underlying causes of

tensions and conflicts, such as ethnicity, socio-

economic disparities, lack of good governance, land

disputes and erosion of cultural values. Accordingly,

they decided to recommend to the Pacific Island Forum

meeting in Tarawa, Kiribati, that leaders commit

themselves and their countries to a number of

fundamental principles and courses of actions,

including the following: belief in liberty of the

individual under the law, equal rights for all citizens

regardless of gender, race, colour, creed, political belief

and in the individual's inalienable right to participate

by means of a free and democratic political process in

framing the society in which he or she lives; upholding

democratic processes and institutions which reflect

national and local circumstances, including the

peaceful transfer of power, the rule of law and the

independence of the judiciary, just and honest

government and recognizing the importance and

urgency of equitable economic, social and cultural

development to satisfy the basic needs and aspirations

of the people of the Forum.

The ministers established a working group to

develop these principles, and options for action in

cases where the principles have been violated, for

consideration by Forum leaders when they meet in

Kiribati.

In addition to increasing incidents of civil unrest,

the region is facing new threats from international,

financial and cyber crime and people-smuggling, as

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well as the challenge of preventing and controlling

communicable diseases and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The threat associated with uncontrolled access to even

a small number of weapons was brought into stark

relief in the region recently, adding weight to the

Forum leaders' decision in 1997 to put in place

regional cooperation and a legal framework to control

the spread of weapons in the region. This approach is

in step with international efforts to combat the illicit

trade in small arms, particularly in the lead-up to the

2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in

Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects.

Work on a legal framework has progressed to a point

where we expect draft legislation to be circulated

among Forum island countries before the end of this

year.

We in the Pacific retain a close relationship, in

both economic and cultural terms, with our natural

environment. We therefore maintain a keen interest in

the development of the Environmental Vulnerability

Index. We thank the several Governments that have

kindly committed substantial funds for the completion

of the third phase of the studies being conducted by the

South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission

(SOPAC), and encourage its adoption by the United

Nations so that the environmental and natural risks that

our members face are recognized when consideration is

given to eligibility for concessional aid, trade treatment

and least-developed-country status.

Agenda 21 and the Barbados Programme of

Action for the Sustainable Development of Small

Island Developing States remain the basic guideline for

protecting the environment and achieving sustainable

development. Steady progress is required in the

preparations for the 10-year review of the United

Nations Conference on the Environment and

Development, to take place in 2002. We give high

priority to international efforts to have the Kyoto

Protocol come into force at the earliest possible date.

We are thus committed to achieving a successful

outcome to the sixth session of the Conference of the

Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change, to be held in November. We

welcome the formulation of specific tools, such as the

Clean Development Mechanism, which promise to be

useful in enabling island countries to do our part to

combat climate change and to adapt to its consequences

within the parameters of our own national

circumstances.

Strengthened efforts are being made in the region

to build capacity to understand and respond to climate

change, including through observational networks. The

small island nations of the Pacific face unique

constraints on development. Most have small

subsistence-based economies with a narrow export

base. Forum economic ministers meeting in July

reconfirmed their commitment to the process of

economic reform, based on the principle of good

governance, with the aim of providing a sound

economic basis upon which social development can

take place.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) remains

the world's most significant international opportunity

for the negotiation of trade and commercial issues. The

Pacific Island Forum has agreed to establish a Forum

delegation in Geneva and a working group of Forum

trade officials to improve cooperation in the WTO and

to actively engage in the policy debate about the best

way to enhance the role of the WTO in contributing to

development. We recognize the importance of finding

ways to ensure that trade reform delivers outcomes

which will contribute not only to economic growth, but

also to the advancement of development and social

equity objectives and improved environmental

outcomes.

The global information economy promises great

opportunities, particularly for those in isolated areas

such as the Pacific, but it also demands new skills and

technology. Efficient and effective communications

services, including a dedicated modern network system

like the Small Island Developing States Network

(SIDSNET), are of critical importance in achieving

economic and social development and overcoming the

constraints resulting from the relatively high cost

structures of telecommunication networks for Forum

island countries. A Forum vision for the Pacific

information economy seeks to develop an appropriate

mechanism for the cooperation of regional regulators

and relevant organizations. Education and training are

of fundamental importance to enhancing the

adaptability of Pacific islanders to economic reform in

a rapidly changing world and region. By supporting

education, the United Nations can help overcome one

of the major obstacles to economic growth and poverty

reduction.

The United Nations system continues to play a

vital role in protecting the interests of small island

States, such as most of the members of the Pacific

28

Island Forum. It is essential that the United Nations

remain strong by adapting to meet new challenges such

as globalization. At the same time, the central role of

the General Assembly, with its universal membership,

should be strengthened. The Security Council should

be made more representative, transparent and

democratic so as to be able to respond to the

requirements of a fundamentally different international

setting. It needs to be reformed comprehensively to

meet contemporary demands and the conditions of the

world today.

We welcome the Brahimi report (A/55/305) and

look forward to the strengthening of the ability of the

United Nations to carry out its key peacekeeping role.

To fulfil its collective security responsibilities, the

United Nations must be afforded strong and sustained

political support, together with financial and

institutional resources. An integral element is a more

equitable scale for determining peacekeeping funding.

The Pacific Island Forum group remains

committed to ensuring an effective United Nations.

Programme of work