Fiji, 1999

It is my honour today to

convey to the Assembly the warm greetings and best

wishes of the Government and people of the friendly

islands of Fiji.

On their behalf, I congratulate the President on his

election. He will be interested to know that his great

country, Namibia, is grouped together with my country in

the same pool at the Rugby World Cup, which begins in

Wales next month. While we are friendly rivals on the

rugby football field, we are absolutely confident here that,

with his extensive experience, and impressive credentials,

we can all look forward to another successful session of

the General Assembly.

We also express our deep appreciation and gratitude

to our outstanding Secretary-General and to the members

of the Security Council for their wise and able

stewardship of the United Nations over the past year.

The priority challenge for the international

community continues to be to help ensure that there is

26

freedom and justice and peace and prosperity in every part

of our common habitat — the good planet Earth.

I trust that this session of the General Assembly will

focus particular attention on specific issues that bear

directly on our collective responsibility, as Member States

of the United Nations, in promoting peace, security and

development to make our good planet Earth a better and

safer place for all its citizens.

In this regard, I wish to acknowledge the Government

of the Republic of Indonesia for its foresight in giving the

people of East Timor the freedom to choose their political

future. Now that they have freely made their choice, we in

Fiji join other States Members of the United Nations in

appealing to the Government of Indonesia to facilitate the

peaceful and orderly transition of East Timor to full

nationhood and independence.

To enable this, it is crucially important that every

effort is made to restore law and order and ensure the

provision and maintenance of effective security measures to

allow the people of East Timor to return to their homes.

The tragic situation which has arisen there, with the loss of

hundreds of lives, need not have occurred had the

Indonesian Government and the military properly exercised

their responsibility to deal decisively with the unlawful

armed elements.

As a member of the United Nations family, Fiji stands

ready to participate alongside other Member States in the

United Nations peacekeeping force in East Timor in laying

the foundation for lasting peace in that new nation. Also,

we call on the international community to provide tangible

assistance to enable East Timor to put an effective

Government in place and rebuild its shattered economy.

I take this opportunity to reaffirm Fiji’s continuing

commitment to United Nations peacekeeping operations in

Lebanon, Sinai, Bosnia and Kosovo. Within our own

Pacific island region, we remain ready to support and assist

Papua New Guinea in bringing permanent peace to

Bougainville, as part of a South Pacific Forum regional

peace mission. In the Solomon Islands, we are ready and

prepared to cooperate with the Government, at the

invitation and under the aegis of the Commonwealth of

Nations, in restoring peace and promoting goodwill and

understanding among the people of this very important

neighbouring State. In all this, the guiding principle of

Fiji’s participation is respect for the sovereign rights of the

countries concerned and maintenance of the democratic

rights and freedoms of their peoples.

Making sacrifices in serving our common interests

is nothing foreign to us in Fiji, for it is through the

willingness of the various constituent communities in our

multi-ethnic and multicultural society to make sacrifices

in order to safeguard our collective future that we have

succeeded in constructing an agreed constitutional

framework for peace and prosperity in our country. We

unanimously adopted a new Constitution in July 1997 to

replace the racially weighted Constitution imposed on our

people following the military coups of 1987. Under the

new Constitution, general elections were held in May this

year. In those free and democratic elections, my

Government was elected into office with a clear,

overwhelming majority. We decisively won the elections

because our People’s Coalition Party promised policies on

development that were focused specifically on addressing

the basic needs of the people — the need for regular

income through jobs or business opportunity; the need for

better education and health services; a safe and clean

water supply; electricity; good standard of housing at

affordable prices; safe streets and neighbourhoods; and a

clean and healthy environment. But above all these was

the emphasis we placed on the critical need to bring relief

and assistance to the poor, to those on low incomes and

to the growing number of those who, through no fault of

their own, live in dire poverty.

Unemployment and poverty can be countered

effectively only when people have the opportunity,

through development, to apply their God-given talents and

ability fully. To promote development we need sustained

economic growth, but growth that creates employment

and opportunities for a wide cross-section of society:

growth that creates wealth for only a few and does not

reach the masses that live in grinding poverty cannot be

regarded as being for the national good. We therefore

need to promote economic growth for human

development: it must be regarded as the right of every

citizen in any society to share in the benefits of growth,

development and progress — benefits not just in the form

of material well-being, but also in the improved quality of

life through self-fulfilment and the contentment that

comes from service to others and love of one’s

neighbours and fellow citizens.

And so it is with the global community. The

promotion of freer international trade for greater growth

and prosperity must be pursued with a strong sense of

economic and social justice. At international gatherings

such as this, we hear high-sounding platitudes and

promises of international arrangements that would favour

all nations. Such are the kinds of promises about gains

27

from free trade that we hear from the World Trade

Organization. In reality, however, opportunities are never

the same, let alone equal, given that conditions and

circumstances are different, varying from country to

country. It is not surprising, therefore, that international

agreements genuinely aimed at facilitating freer and

increased mutually beneficial international trade have often

been undermined and frustrated by unilateral decisions and

actions taken to protect vested national economic and

political interests.

Globalization and our growing interdependence must

be accompanied by a strong and genuine international

commitment — especially by those economies that

dominate world trade, international finance, technology and

industrial production — to consider special arrangements

for the developing economies. The specific aim must be to

create new opportunities for developing countries to earn

higher incomes through their own efforts as participants in

the global trading system.

This is why my country, along with others in the

Pacific, African and Caribbean regions, are deeply grateful

to the European Union for the special trading and other

arrangements under the Lomé Convention. For us in Fiji,

300,000 of our total population of 800,000 are dependent

for their livelihoods, directly and indirectly, on the sugar

industry. But it is the sugar protocol of the Lomé

Convention with the European Union which is helping to

sustain the continuing viability of this very important

industry, while enabling us to attain the internal efficiencies

necessary to enhance our international competitiveness.

Similarly, it is the special South Pacific Regional

Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, or

SPARTECA, which Australia and New Zealand maintain

with Pacific island nations, that has been a positive factor

in increasing Pacific island exports to these two countries.

This Agreement has stimulated new industries in the

manufacturing sector in our country, has substantially

increased our export earnings and has helped create new

employment for thousands of our people.

We are, of course, grateful for the development

assistance we are receiving from both bilateral and

multilateral donors. I recognize in particular our traditional

donors such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United

Kingdom, the European Union, the People’s Republic of

China and many others, along with the various United

Nations development agencies. This development assistance

has been of immense value both in our economic and in

our social development efforts.

While we deeply appreciate all this assistance, we

also believe that helping us with increased opportunities

in trade and investment is the best form of aid — aid to

assist us in achieving higher rates of growth and progress

through our own self-reliant capability. We would

therefore welcome increased and stronger United Nations

support for global policies that contribute specifically to

increased foreign capital investment and assistance to

developing countries.

We have been very disappointed by what we

perceive to be the lack of genuine commitment by the

international community, especially by bilateral and

multilateral donor agencies and the large developed

markets, to respond positively to the Barbados

Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of

Small Island Developing States. This Barbados

Programme commitment was made five years ago. I very

much hope, therefore, that the coming special session on

small island developing States will readily agree on a

common regime of international support to assist them in

their efforts to achieve sustainable development.

In that regard, my Government welcomes the new

emphasis by multilateral agencies such as the World

Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the

Asian Development Bank to assist developing economies

in the eradication of poverty, in enhancing human-

resource development through better education and health

facilities and services and in the improvement and

expansion of infrastructure to support increased

investment in the economy by both foreign and local

investors.

May I take this opportunity to congratulate the

Kingdom of Tonga, the Republic of Nauru and the

Republic of Kiribati on their admission to the United

Nations. Their membership will no doubt add strength and

resonance to the voice of Pacific Island nations in this

very important international forum. But like them, we in

the Republic of the Fiji Islands recognize that, in the

ultimate, the United Nations draws its strength from the

quality of the commitment of every Member State to its

basic purpose and mission, as set out in the United

Nations Charter and other related documents.

Article 56 of the Charter reminds us all of our

collective responsibility. All Member States are to pledge

themselves to take joint and separate actions in

cooperation with the United Nations for the achievement

of its purposes.

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Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights states that we are all endowed with reason and

conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of

brotherhood. In my country, the Republic of the Fiji

Islands, we have, in our new Constitution, adopted a

number of very important fundamental principles as the

basis for consolidating peace, unity and stability in our

multiethnic and multicultural society. In Fiji we believe in

the kind of multiculturalism that recognizes the value and

contribution of each community and also that cultural

diversity serves to enrich our society. But we temper this

by drawing in and uniting all our citizens through focusing

on our common needs as human beings.

We believe deeply and sincerely that it is the duty of

government — indeed, of every government — to give

equal care and attention to the development needs and

concerns of all citizens, irrespective of race, religion,

gender or economic and social status. These principles and

this approach are working for us in Fiji, and I have no

doubt that their universal application will also contribute to

greater international peace, goodwill and understanding.

Indeed, as we direct our attention to the beginning of the

new millennium, and in particular the proposed millennium

summit of the General Assembly in September of next year,

let us look to it both with seriousness of purpose and with

a new determination as a unique opportunity to rebuild the

foundation for international cooperation.

My delegation fully supports the efforts of our

Secretary-General to reform the Organization. The United

Nations was established fifty-four years ago. To be

meaningful, this reform must include a revision of the

United Nations Charter to reflect the realities of today.

On the Security Council, this must include an increase

in both the permanent and non-permanent membership,

based on a more equitable representation of the different

geographical regions. We also urge that the existing

regional groupings in the United Nations for the purpose of

representation in the various organs and specialized

agencies should be reviewed with a view to reconfiguring

them. This is, again, to ensure fair and equitable

representation of the various geographical regions.

The countries from the South Pacific region, for

example, are currently split between the Asian Group and

the Western European Group. Australia and New Zealand

are part of the Western European Group. On the other

hand, Fiji and other island States from the South Pacific are

members of the Asian Group. Such a configuration is not

only discriminatory on ethnic lines, it is also, in these

days, artificial and irrelevant.

I believe, therefore, that it is time Member States

from the South Pacific should be allowed to have their

own distinctive regional grouping in the United Nations.

In proposing this, we are not asking for something that is

totally new. In fact, this is already the accepted

arrangement in such United Nations agencies as the

World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture

Organization.

With regard to its development agenda, the United

Nations, we believe, must give greater attention to its

responsibility, under Article 55 of the United Nations

Charter, on the promotion of international cooperation in

economic and social development, with particular

reference to the needs of developing countries.

The World Summit for Social Development at

Copenhagen in 1995 agreed on 10 main commitments to

be part of an international Programme of Action to

enhance social development, including the eradication of

poverty in the world through decisive national actions and

international cooperation. We look forward to next year’s

review by the United Nations of this very important

Programme of Action. As we begin the new millennium,

let it be a challenge to the United Nations to recommit

itself to the very important goal of promoting social

justice and equity as a top priority in economic

development, both within and between nations.

It is incumbent on all of us — the Member States,

multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and the

IMF, and the various United Nations development

agencies — to cooperate in taking all appropriate actions

to create conditions of stability and well-being, which are

necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among

nations.

As I have said, our membership of the United

Nations and our attendance here at this session of the

General Assembly reflect our commitment to the United

Nations Charter on the maintenance of international peace

and security. I urge all Member States to work together

to encourage the resolution of disputes and conflicts

through dialogue and the pursuit of consensus. And we

must do this always with recognition and respect for

national sovereignty and independence.

As men and women of goodwill, we have gathered

here at the United Nations to reaffirm our common

29

commitment to promoting a more peaceful world. But let

us remind ourselves that peace is more than the absence of

war or conflict. Peace can be real and enduring only when

we all cooperate closely to create conditions for life to be

lived in freedom and security, and with justice and dignity.

We must therefore collaborate and cooperate in

promoting international trade in goods and services,

financial and technology transfers and development that

benefits all countries, big and small, developed and

developing. And let us act in concert, and with

responsibility, in safeguarding and protecting our precious

national and global environment.

In concluding, I pray to the Almighty to bless us all,

as children of His divine creation, with His wisdom and

love, so that we may live together and relate to each other

as brothers and sisters, bound together by mutual care and

concern for one another.