Kiribati, 2006

I bring to you all warm

greetings from the President, Government and people

of the Republic of Kiribati, on whose behalf I am

honoured and privileged to address this Assembly this

evening.

Allow me, Sir, to offer my heartiest

congratulations to Ms. Al-Khalifa on her election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-first

session. I am confident that under her able stewardship

this session will successfully deliver constructive and

productive outcomes that will benefit the membership.

I wish also to offer my congratulations to her

predecessor for his successful guidance of the work of

the Assembly during the past year.

May I also express to the Secretary-General,

Mr. Kofi Annan, my warmest congratulations on his

sterling leadership of the Organization during his

tenure in office. We are grateful for the excellent work

he has done in navigating the Organization through the

challenges of the past decade. We wish him well in his

future endeavours.

We continue to be confronted with major

challenges. Those challenges affect each of us as

individual countries and as members of the

international community. Peace and security remain

elusive in this world of ours, given the ongoing

conflicts and the threat of new conflicts around the

world. Terrorism continues to plague us, despite the

best concerted and collective efforts. Still more needs

to be done to remove the threat posed by the

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And

while some progress has been made towards addressing

the threat posed by the continuing illicit trade in small

arms and light weapons, further work is needed to

eliminate that threat.

For the least developed countries and the small

island developing States, the challenges of economic

development remain at the forefront of our agendas.

Marginalization in the global economy is a feature

common to many least developed countries and small

island developing States. The record high price of oil

has done little to ease the burden on our small

economies.

In Kiribati, our remoteness and insularity, narrow

economic base, small population size and high

population growth rates are factors with which we must

contend. We must also deal with the HIV/AIDS

pandemic and tuberculosis, among other diseases,

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which require the diversion of the already meagre

resources at our disposal to finance development.

With those daunting challenges looming, we are

forced to operate in an environment of uncertainty. I

say “uncertainty”, because our very survival as a nation

and as a people with a distinct culture and way of life

is being threatened by global warming and sea-level

rise.

These are challenges that we, as individual

countries and as Members of this collective body, need

to continue to work together to address. In this

increasingly interdependent world of ours, ripples

emanating from one part will ultimately reach out to

touch the shores of others.

Kiribati consists of low-lying coral atolls and is

particularly vulnerable to the impact of global warming

and sea-level rise. For countries such as ours, global

warming and sea-level rise are critical security issues.

While we welcome the support that has been

forthcoming in developing adaptation strategies to

these phenomena, there is a limit to the extent to which

we can adapt. Rising sea levels will affect our

groundwater supply and gradually erode whatever land

is available on our 33 islands. Yes, we could always

move inland to avoid the rising sea levels. But, given

the narrowness of our islands, if we move inland too

far, we risk falling into either the lagoon or the ocean.

We will continue to call on the international

community to agree on a unified global response to

these phenomena. We will continue to work with like-

minded countries in pushing the case for such a

response. We have been disappointed at the lack of

consensus on these critical environmental issues.

Indeed, we deplore the notion that economic growth

should take precedence over environmental issues

when the quest for such growth threatens the very

survival of some Members of the Organization.

Kiribati is a strong supporter of environmental

conservation efforts. In that regard, we have announced

the establishment of the Phoenix Islands Protected

Area, which is recognized as the third largest marine

protected area in the world. We are pleased to have

been able to contribute to global environmental

conservation efforts through the Protected Area. We are

prepared to work with those willing and able to ensure

its sustainability.

We note the progress that has been made with

regard to reforming the United Nations.

Understandably, we would have liked to see greater

progress made by now, but we fully recognize the need

for more discussions on the various relevant issues.

Indeed, that is multilateralism in practice. The

debate on unilateralism versus multilateralism in world

affairs continues unabated. We see multilateralism in

full play in the debate on United Nations reform. We

consider that to be a reflection of the healthy interest

that each Member country has in the Organization.

Indeed, in this day and age, multilateralism would

seem to be a more appropriate approach than

unilateralism.

Consensus has yet to be reached on reform of the

Security Council. We note with interest the report of

the Working Group. While acknowledging the very

strong interest in the issues raised and the need to forge

a consensus, we believe that perhaps there is also a

need to consider how much more time will be required

to move this forward.

Our position on the issue remains unchanged:

those Member States that are major contributors to

United Nations programmes — especially with regard

to the maintenance of global peace and security —

should be accorded permanent membership of the

Security Council. In our view, Japan, as such a

Member State, qualifies for permanent membership.

Regional cooperation in the Pacific has been

effective. In the recent past, we have had a number of

examples of success in regional cooperative efforts.

The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon

Islands has made substantial contributions to securing

peace and law and order in that country. Kiribati is

pleased to have been able to contribute civilian police

personnel to the Mission. We will continue to support

its work as long as the people and the Government of

the Solomon Islands wish it to continue.

The Pacific Regional Assistance to Nauru

programme has made positive contributions to Nauru.

In view of the historical ties between our two

countries, we have worked closely with Nauru on a

bilateral basis and remain committed to considering

other options through which we can extend our

collaboration.

51 06-52737

Our leaders will be meeting next month to

discuss, among other things, progress on the Pacific

Plan. We are satisfied with the initial progress. The

success or lack thereof of the Pacific Plan will depend

on a number of factors, including the political

commitment of each member country to the Plan and

the Plan’s ability to deliver tangible benefits over and

above what is available, on a bilateral basis, to its

membership.

We extend a warm welcome to the Republic of

Montenegro, which joined the Organization as a

Member this year. Montenegro’s membership brings to

192 the total United Nations membership. The

continuing desire on the part of many to join the

Organization attests to the value and continued

relevance of the United Nations.

Therefore, I note with much disappointment and

regret that the desire of the 23 million people of

Taiwan to join this Organization of ours continues to

be rejected, despite Taiwan’s demonstrated ability,

willingness and commitment to contribute to

international collaborative efforts in the pursuit of

global peace and security. In recent years, there has

been much talk of good governance, of democratizing

nations. Should we not also talk about adopting a

policy of good governance in our multilateral

organizations? Should we also not talk about

democratizing our multilateral organizations? We

deplore the sad state of affairs in which a nation of 23

million people is deliberately exempt from

participation as an equal member of the international

community.

The President of the General Assembly has our

full support as she carries out the duties of her office.

We commit ourselves to working closely with her as

we collectively seek to address the challenges facing

us.

Allow me to close by conveying to all members

of the General Assembly our traditional blessing: to

mauri, to raoi ao to tabomoa — health, peace and

prosperity.