New Zealand, 2010

It is an honour to

lead New Zealand’s delegation this year. The opening

of the General Assembly’s new session is the best

example there is of the capacity of the United Nations

to bring us all together. Our discussions here will be

wide-ranging, but inevitably settle on two main issues:

global security and sustainable economic development.

We want to make our world safer, more secure

and more prosperous. These goals will require strong

collective action with a focus on practical outcomes.

New Zealand is seeking every opportunity to

contribute. We are a young, small and fair-minded

country. We depend upon a United Nations that is

effective and credible.

New Zealand takes pride in its diversity. In

addition to our indigenous Maori population, we are a

mix of people from Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Our

links with Europe are built on history and tradition.

Within Asia, we are developing ever-stronger economic

and security relationships. Our future is closely tied to

both of these regions. We have an equally strong focus

on our closest neighbours in the South Pacific. New

Zealand is a Pacific country. Auckland is the largest

Pasifika city in the world, and a number of Pacific

countries have more citizens living in New Zealand

than at home.

The security and development of the region is

New Zealand’s constant preoccupation. It is a matter of

grave concern that the South Pacific is second only to

sub-Saharan Africa in terms of lack of progress

towards the achievement of some of the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). We want to see the

MDGs achieved, and we want to see the wider Pacific

prosper through good governance and sustainable

economic development. That is why New Zealand is

increasingly deploying our development resources

within its region, since that is where they are most

needed and where they can be most effective.

The development challenges in the Pacific are

extremely complex, with vulnerable economies and

challenging environmental circumstances. New

Zealand has increased and will continue to increase our

overall level of development assistance, despite

challenging times for our domestic economy. A higher

percentage of that larger budget will be focused on our

region.

But money alone is not enough; aid effectiveness

and donor coordination are vital. Progress will also

depend on good governance within the region.

Next year we will mark the fortieth anniversary

of the Pacific Islands Forum, the central body for

regional engagement in the Pacific, which held its first

meeting in New Zealand in 1971. We will welcome

leaders from around the region back to New Zealand

next September to celebrate our achievements over

40 years and to take stock of the challenges we must

face in the future.

The past year has reinforced the need for better

disaster management. Just three weeks ago, residents in

Christchurch woke to the most destructive earthquake

in New Zealand in 80 years. Miraculously, there was

no loss of life, but the damage runs into billions of

dollars and people’s lives and livelihoods were

affected. Significant aftershocks are still affecting the

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population. But less than a month after the earthquake

hit, roads and buildings have been repaired, tourism

infrastructure is at almost full capacity, and people’s

lives are being rebuilt.

Others have not been so lucky. The earthquakes

in Haiti and Chile and the recent flooding in Pakistan

are reminders of the devastating scale of such disasters.

The Pacific has been hit hard, too. This month will

mark the first anniversary of the Pacific tsunami that

took the lives of 184 people in Samoa, American

Samoa and Tonga.

These events and others demonstrate the

importance of disaster preparedness, management and

recovery. New Zealand’s experience with major

earthquakes has taught us how to mitigate risks,

enforce strong building codes, and implement effective

recovery plans. But there will be lessons we should

learn from this recent experience. We will work with

the United Nations system, non-governmental

organizations and other international agencies to

ensure that those lessons are shared and help others to

prepare.

While development and disaster management are

crucial to our quest for a safer world, underpinning

both is security. Peacekeeping is a key responsibility of

the Organization. Indeed, it is its peacekeeping

operations that shape perceptions of the United Nations

for many people around the world.

New Zealand is committed to supporting global

security and United Nations peacekeeping. That is why

we have been engaged in peacekeeping and peace

support operations since the 1940s. New Zealand’s

soldiers, police, engineers, corrections and customs

officers, doctors and other personnel are today

involved in 12 operations that span the globe from

Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East to Asia and

the Pacific.

One of the clearest examples of New Zealand’s

commitment to the principles of collective

responsibility is through the United Nations effort in

Timor-Leste. Since 1999, New Zealand has been a part

of every United Nations mission that has served in

Timor-Leste. We have played a major role in the

United Nations-sanctioned international military

operations that restored order there in 1999 and again

in 2006. Over 6,000 New Zealanders have served in

Timor in the past decade — a significant undertaking

for a country of only 4.4 million people.

Of course, helping ensure peace and stability in

our region alone is not enough. New Zealanders are

among those who have been affected by terrorism,

killed in the attacks that took place just a few blocks

away from here in September 2001, and more recently

in Bali, in London and in Jakarta.

The need to respond decisively to those who

perpetrate such atrocities is a key reason why New

Zealand has led the provincial reconstruction team in

Bamyan, Afghanistan, since 2003. We have redeployed

our special forces to work alongside the Government of

Afghanistan and the international community to ensure

that that country does not return to being a safe haven

for Al-Qaida. We must address the conditions in which

terrorism thrives. We are increasing our development

spending in Bamyan and recently placed the Provincial

Reconstruction Team under civilian leadership for the

first time.

New Zealand is also strongly supportive of

peacekeeping reform. The expansion in peacekeeping

since 1990 has been dramatic. Never before has this

Organization deployed so many missions to such

complex environments. This expansion has opened up

discussion of the way the United Nations conducts its

peacekeeping operations. Clear and achievable

mandates are needed, progress needs to be better

monitored, and efficiency needs to be improved.

We are also contributing to United Nations efforts

to strengthen peacebuilding in practice, including the

need for better participation of women in

peacebuilding. Of course, the response of the United

Nations to crises has not always been successful. It is

for this reason that New Zealand has strongly

supported the responsibility to protect (R2P). We were

pleased to contribute to the proposed joint Special

Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide/R2P office and

look forward to the more comprehensive

implementation of R2P throughout the United Nations

system.

Effective pursuit of these goals — countering

terrorism and maintaining peace and security —

demands coordinated, collective action. The United

Nations is the best vehicle for that action. New Zealand

has been, and remains, proud to be a part of that

community of collective action. In line with that

commitment, New Zealand is seeking a seat on the

Security Council for the 2015-2016 term. In doing so,

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we will work with others here who want the world to

be a safer and more prosperous place.

This year significant gains have been made in

global disarmament. New Zealand welcomes the action

plan adopted at this year’s Non-Proliferation Treaty

Review Conference, the groundbreaking nuclear

security summit, and the entry into force of the

Convention on Cluster Munitions. These are tangible

and practical successes. But we still face some

significant challenges. New Zealand is concerned by

the continuing inertia of the Conference on

Disarmament. The Secretary-General’s High-level

Meeting on disarmament this morning was a valuable

step in acknowledging this problem and trying to find a

way forward.

As a country that prides itself on sustainable

development, New Zealand is also greatly concerned

about global environmental issues. As well as working

towards an outcome in Cancún, we are involved in

practical projects for addressing climate change. One

such project is the Global Research Alliance on

Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. Fourteen per cent of

worldwide greenhouse-gas emissions come from

agriculture. At the same time, there are projections that

world food production needs to increase by 50 per cent

in the next 20 years, and to double in the next 40 years,

to feed a growing world.

Clearly, we need a scientific breakthrough to help

meet the challenge of producing more food while

reducing emissions. New Zealand formed the Alliance,

which now includes more than 30 agricultural nations,

to find ways to address this problem. Scientists and

researchers are now linking up across the world to try

to balance the need for increased agricultural

production with the need to address climate change.

This is just one example of how countries can come

together to address climate change in a very real way.

When I was here a year ago, we were watching to

see whether the world would be able to climb out of

the global economic recession. Much progress has been

made and key economic indicators are generally

pointing in the right direction. The rapid and

coordinated international response, including by the

Group of 20, has been effective. The World Trade

Organization’s rules-based trading system has held up

well. But, like many countries, New Zealand is

frustrated that the conclusion of the Doha Development

Round still eludes us.

Over these last few days, especially in the context

of discussion of progress towards the Millennium

Development Goals, I have heard many fine words

spoken in support of the world’s disadvantaged. I take

this opportunity to remind those speakers and countries

that the single most effective step that could be taken

to advance the position of the world’s disadvantaged

would be to create a framework within which they can

trade themselves to a better future.

I want to strongly endorse President Obama’s

statement, made yesterday, that there is no viable

alternative to the resolution of conflict in the Middle

East other than two States, Israel and Palestine, living

side by side in peace and security. We believe that

direct negotiations, with both parties at the table, are

the only way to resolve the conflict. We congratulate

President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu on

having the courage to negotiate in very difficult

circumstances. We ask that Israel heed the international

community’s unanimous call to extend the moratorium

on settlements and create the enabling atmosphere that

will allow direct negotiations to continue.

We also agree with President Obama that

resolution of the Middle East conflict is not just the

responsibility of Israel and Palestine. Countries in the

region especially, but also countries elsewhere, must

work towards Middle East peace. New Zealand, as a

friend of both Israel and Palestine, will play its part. I

recently visited the Sinai, where a New Zealand officer

has command of the Multinational Force and

Observers. I was reminded that there has been peace

between Israel and Egypt for more than 30 years, a

prospect once unthinkable. With the commitment of the

two parties and the support of the international

community, Israel and Palestine can enjoy the same

freedom from conflict. We all have a huge stake in

achieving that objective. Resolution of the Palestinian

question would tear out the fuse that threatens to ignite

conflict in the Middle East and beyond.

So today we add our voice to that of President

Obama and of others who believe that this dispute can,

and must, be solved. And we call on all Members of

the United Nations to lend their support to this process

in the critical weeks ahead.