Nauru, 2009

I would like to offer my

congratulations, Mr. President, on your assumption of

the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-

fourth session. Allow me also to commend your

predecessor, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, for

his capable leadership during the sixty-third session. I

assure you, Sir, of my delegation’s full support and

cooperation as you lead the work of this important

session.

The new millennium has been no stranger to

crisis. We have seen how ideological extremism can

foment turmoil and civil unrest in ways that do not

respect international borders. We have also learned that

financial instability can quickly propagate through

global markets and cause chaos in the real economy.

And we have been repeatedly reminded that we

disrespect the natural environment at our peril.

The global challenges that we face today may

sometimes shock us, but they should not surprise us.

Most stem from problems that have been allowed to

fester and grow for many years, if not decades. All are

inextricably linked to the choices made by the

international community regarding international

commerce and development. The challenges of the new

millennium are global in nature and therefore require a

global response. Now, more than ever, we must

revitalize our multilateral systems of governance in

order to make them more responsive and more

representative. Large countries tend to dominate

international forums and drown out the rest of us.

In the case of climate change and small island

States, I mean that quite literally. We must consider the

impacts of our activities and institutions on the most

vulnerable, so that large and small countries alike can

enjoy the stability and security necessary for

sustainable economic development. In this new

millennium, even the mighty have been humbled. So

what does that mean for a small island nation like

Nauru? When giants stumble, it is usually the smallest

that suffer the most serious injuries.

The international community must begin this

process of renewal by reaffirming its commitment to

the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an

initiative meant to alleviate the burdens of extreme

poverty, hunger, illiteracy, inequality and disease. After

early success in the 1990s, progress towards the MDGs

has slowed throughout the world.

In the Pacific, where nearly 40 per cent of the

population lives on less than a dollar a day, it has been

no different. The reasons are not hard to identify. The

Asian financial crisis was devastating for the

economies in our region. The recent spike in food and

energy prices has strained our limited financial

resources. Now the global economic downturn

threatens to depress our economies even further.

Additionally, the Pacific confronts a unique set of

challenges in reaching our MDGs. Our remoteness

makes it difficult to access world markets and greatly

increases the cost of doing business. Our small size

deprives us of the advantage of economies of scale, and

our vulnerability to climate change places our hard-

won economic and social progress in jeopardy. Perhaps

the most vivid example of our situation is the price of a

bag of rice. For most countries, the food crisis has

eased as commodity prices have fallen but, in Nauru,

the price of a bag of rice has increased by 80 per cent

over the past year, hovering now above $60. The rest of

the world pays less than $25.

The time has come for the international

community to deliver on its promises and to dedicate

0.7 per cent of gross national income to helping

developing countries meet their development goals.

Past recessions have led to a steep drop in levels of

official development assistance. There will be no hope

of reaching our MDGs if that happens again.

It is vitally important for United Nations agencies

to strengthen their engagement in the Pacific region.

For the past four years, Nauru has called upon the

United Nations to establish a presence on the ground

by opening an office in our country. It is my fervent

hope that the next time that I address this body I can

announce that that commitment of the United Nations

has been fulfilled.

The absence of the United Nations in the Pacific

is reflected by the paucity of statistics collected in the

region. Accurate indicators are necessary for tracking

economic and social progress. It is critical for United

Nations agencies and other international institutions to

work more closely with our national Governments and

with regional organizations so that accurate data is

available for planning and policymaking.

The temptation to add layer upon layer of new

programmes must be avoided. We must not forget the

commitments made under the Mauritius Strategy for

the Further Implementation of the Programme of

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Action for the Sustainable Development of Small

Island Developing States, the Monterrey Consensus,

the Paris Declaration and other international

agreements. Too often, the United Nations and other

development partners succeed in delivering many new

reports, but fail to deliver tangible results. Action plans

are no substitute for action. We must dispense with the

excuse that helping poor countries develop is

something that we cannot afford. That is simply not

true. Quite the opposite: in a globalized world, leaving

large portions of the world to languish in poverty is

what we cannot afford.

The international community must also reform

the world financial system so that all developing

countries share equitably in global economic

prosperity. The current economic crisis has revealed

deep flaws in our international financial system. The

overriding goals of those reforms should be to facilitate

growth in developing nations and to increase their

resilience to abrupt economic fluctuations and the

fickle flow of capital.

While Nauru does not have a mature financial

sector, shocks to the international system can be

devastating to our local economy and dry up vital

development assistance. To be effective, development

assistance needs to be reliable. That is not possible

without a stable and transparent financial system.

Lastly, the international community must next

take swift steps to mitigate climate change, starting

with a bold agreement in Copenhagen. Climate change

presents the greatest threat for my country and many

other small island developing States. Scientists warn

that, within our children’s lifetime, sea levels may rise

by a metre or more. That would wipe out low-lying

coastal areas, and many Pacific islands would be a

distant memory.

However, we do not need to wait for that

catastrophic scenario to see the impacts of climate

change. We live with them every day. Flooding and

inundation are already eroding our shores and

contaminating our water supply. Higher water

temperatures and ocean acidification are damaging the

marine ecosystems that we depend on for food and our

economic livelihood. We pray that malaria does not

find its way to our doorstep.

I applaud the commitment of the Secretary-

General to addressing that issue and his efforts to build

consensus among world leaders this week at the high-

level Summit on Climate Change. From Asia to Africa

and the Arctic, he has visited affected regions to

observe the effects of climate change first hand, but not

the Pacific, one of the most vulnerable regions in the

world.

When the Secretary-General glances out the

window of his aircraft while travelling between Asia

and the Americas, I would ask that he remember that,

in the vast expanse of water below, there is a whole

region of people living on small islands who are

already grappling with the consequences of climate

change. I encourage that his next trip be to the nations

of the Pacific before they disappear.

The science tells us that we must reduce the

concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to

350 parts per million or less in order to avoid the most

dire climate change scenarios. However, most

developed countries have proposed emissions targets

that would result in concentrations far higher.

That is not acceptable policy when human lives

are at stake. If a doctor prescribes medicine to treat a

serious illness, do we only give the patient half of what

is needed? If an engineer says eight columns are

necessary to support a building, would any responsible

person recommend that we use only four? Then why

are the most vulnerable countries asked to accept

proposals that would surely lead to our extinction?

That is not good enough when the lives of real people

from real places are being threatened.

Developed countries must also provide the

financial, technical and human resources necessary for

us to address a problem that was not of our own

making. Nauru joins the Alliance of Small Island States

in calling for developed countries to provide the

equivalent of 1 per cent of their gross domestic product

for urgent adaptation and mitigation efforts in

developing countries. That must be in addition to their

current commitments for development assistance.

Climate change calls for the widest possible

cooperation from every member of the international

community. Taiwan, as one of the world’s 20 largest

economies, can contribute in many ways and should be

invited to play a larger role in the United Nations

system, particularly in the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change process. Taiwan has

much to offer to vulnerable countries, especially in

adaptation measures, technology transfer and

financing.

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Climate change is an imminent threat to

international security. It is therefore vital that the

Security Council be seized of the issue and closely

monitor new developments. Special attention must be

paid to the most vulnerable countries, including the

small island developing States and least developed

countries, and also to vulnerable groups within

countries, including women and children, indigenous

people and the poor.

The challenges of the new millennium can be

overcome only through multilateral cooperation and a

revitalized United Nations system. It is necessary for

the Security Council to be more representative in both

the permanent and non-permanent categories to reflect

current geopolitical realities, which is why Japan,

India, Germany and Brazil should be made permanent

members. I also call upon the General Assembly, as the

world’s most representative governance body, to accept

Taiwan’s meaningful participation in its specialized

agencies and other world forums.

We have seen the power of multilateral

cooperation around the world and close to home. My

country was at the brink of economic collapse at the

beginning of this decade. In cooperation with Pacific

Islands Forum member Governments, my country

outlined a number of key governance and development

priorities in the Pacific Regional Assistance for Nauru

(PRAN) programme. It included a re-evaluation of

fiscal policies and objectives, review of our

Constitution, and reforms for our education and health

sectors. I am proud that in just four years we have

reached the goals laid out in PRAN, so much so that at

the fortieth Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting,

held in Cairns, Australia just last month, leaders agreed

that Nauru had emerged from the crisis phase and was

on the path to sustainable economic recovery and

development, and that PRAN was no longer required.

PRAN was an excellent example of how country-

focused development aid can quickly lift a nation out

of crisis and back onto the path towards sustainable

development. PRAN was successful because it

identified concrete objectives and was backed by

sufficient funds. Future programmes in the region

should likewise bring tangible benefits and be free

from political influence.

Here I must acknowledge and express Nauru’s

deepest appreciation to Australia, New Zealand,

Taiwan, Japan and Forum island countries, our own

regional organizations and others for their unwavering

funding and other forms of support to PRAN. The

people of Nauru will always remember their generosity

during our time of need.

We are also grateful to the United Nations

Democracy Fund. With its assistance, Nauru recently

adopted a number of important constitutional

amendments that will enhance good governance and

bring increased stability and responsiveness to my

Government.

One of the founding fathers of the United Nations

once said, “The test of our progress is not whether we

add more to the abundance of those who have much; it

is whether we provide enough for those who have too

little”. President Roosevelt passed away before the

inaugural session of the General Assembly, but those of

us here today have the responsibility to see that his

spirit lives on.

The United Nations system of multilateral

governance was born out of a time of great crisis and it

ushered in over half a century of peace and prosperity.

However, the benefits were not shared equally, and two

thirds of humanity was largely left behind. The time

has come to take up the project begun 64 years ago so

that future prosperity can be shared by all, including

the smallest and most vulnerable. The United Nations

continues to be our best hope for creating a fairer and

more just world.

God bless the Republic of Nauru, and God bless

the United Nations.