Papua New Guinea, 2014

Allow me, on

behalf of the Government of Papua New Guinea, to

congratulate Mr. Sam Kutesa on his election as President

of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session.

Papua New Guinea supports his leadership as we work

with him on the ambitious theme of “Delivering on and

implementing a transformative post-2015 development

agenda”. I also take this opportunity to pay tribute

to Ambassador John Ashe for his strong leadership

in setting the stage for enhancing the sustainable

development agenda of Member States, especially

of small island developing States (SIDS). We also

commend the Secretary-General for his leadership and

untiring commitment to advancing the cause of global

peace and security to enhance the multidimensional

global development agenda.

It has been a long and sometimes hard road for the

people of Fiji over the past eight years. We therefore

warmly congratulate the people of Fiji for their return

to constitutional and democratic rule following their

general elections this year. We welcome the return of

Fiji to the Commonwealth and to the Pacific Islands

Forum. In wishing the people of Fiji well, Papua New

Guinea will continue to stand ready to assist them, as

it has done in the past, along with other major Pacific

partners, in areas where such assistance can be effective

as Fiji embarks on its new path forward.

The recent third International Conference on Small

Island Developing States, held in Samoa, was a great

success. We commend the adoption of the Small Island

Developing States Accelerated Modalities of Action/

Samoa Pathway, which reiterated the sustainable

development priorities of SIDS, which has been

affirmed by the international community.

But the impacts of climate change continue to pose

a serious challenge to the sustainable development

of SIDS. The full range of damaging events — such

as rising sea levels, coastal erosion, salinization of

the fresh water table, prolonged and severe droughts,

flooding and other extreme weather and loss of and

damage to vital infrastructure — remains a constant

concern for SIDS. Many SIDS, especially in the Pacific,

have reached a tipping point. While the right thing for

us to do is to respond to the challenges by working

smarter and harder to improve the livelihoods of people

at risk, the bigger and advanced countries of the world

must not only do likewise; they must also redouble their

efforts in partnering with us.

As part of our support to Pacific SIDS, Papua

New Guinea has launched the Pacific Development

Assistance Programme, which is aimed at assisting

Pacific SIDS in critical areas of development such as

education, health, capacity-building, climate change

and the reconstruction of important infrastructure

after natural disasters. We reiterate our call on the

international community, including the United Nations,

to work together with SIDS in the spirit of genuine and

durable partnership.

We commend the Secretary-General for convening

the successful Climate Summit last week. In

supporting the outcomes, we must build on the political

momentum generated as we move towards Lima this

year and, importantly, towards Paris in 2015, where

the international community must conclude a legally

binding agreement in order for us to collectively

address the adverse impacts of climate change.

The international community stands at an

important crossroads. The imminent deadline of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the

transition to the post-2015 development agenda have

rightly become the centre stage of the global agenda.

We support a people-centered and transformative

post-2015 development agenda underpinned by global

partnerships that support national ownership of

sustainable development.

We welcome the adoption by the General Assembly,

by resolution 68/309, of the report of the Open Working

Group on Sustainable Development Goals (A/68/970),

which recommended 17 goals. We must chart a realistic

path, with goals that are attainable given the necessary

means of implementation. We also commend the work

of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on

Sustainable Development Financing, which is critical

to the successful implementation of the post-2015

development agenda.

In that respect, the Pacific island developing States

note with appreciation the inclusion of the important

proposed stand-alone goals on oceans and seas,

sustainable energy and climate change. Along with

the other proposed goals, those goals should form the

basis for the intergovernmental negotiations that are to

take place. Papua New Guinea will participate in those

negotiations.

My Government remains fully committed to those

efforts because we have experienced the galvanizing

impact of the MDGs, which has helped us take national

ownership and develop a home-grown sustainable

development paradigm. While my country’s MDG

scorecard remains a work in progress, my Government

has undertaken various initiatives to redress the

situation. We have retailored the MDGs to our national

priorities, with 88 indicators connecting them to our

national development plans.

A recent report by the United Nations country

office on progress to achieve the MDGs was optimistic

and positive. The report found that Papua New Guinea

had made important strides towards achieving the

MDGs, especially since the general elections in 2012.

They include the bold decision to run budget deficits

until 2017, which, the report notes, has enabled the

nation to invest in essential areas.

My Government is implementing a policy of free

education for all primary-school children, resulting

in an increase in school enrolments by as much as

80 per cent in some areas. We now have around

2 million children in schools. In the health sector,

we are witnessing a reduction of rates in early child

and maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other

communicable diseases. More mothers and children

are getting access to health care as a result of our free

health-care policy. Our infrastructure development

programme is improving Papua New Guinea’s business

environment and creating opportunities for our people

to participate meaningfully in national development.

A key cornerstone of our development road map

is a people-centred focus on population management

and stabilization. It entails empowering individuals to

take leadership and full responsibility to improve their

livelihoods through appropriate measures. Our economy

has grown over the last decade at an average rate of 6 to

8 per cent per annum, and is projected to reach 20 per

cent in 2015. That growth is transforming our country,

especially with revenue from the completion of our first

liquefied natural gas project and its exports.

This is a new economic and development age for

our economy. The unprecedented and transformative

economic progress will coincide with the pursuit of

the post-2015 development agenda. We are clearly

focused on actively participating in the process and in

its implementation at the national and regional levels.

Our Government is fully committed to ensuring that we

manage the transformation carefully and effectively.

Our challenge is to ensure that the growth delivers the

maximum benefit to our citizens.

Recently, our Government launched a $100 million

initiative with our leading national bank, the Bank of

the South Pacific, to make home loans more affordable

for our citizens. We are also facilitating financial

inclusion services for our people. We are grateful to our

development partners, including the United Nations,

Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan, China

and the European Union. My Government has helped

with the capital for the first national women’s bank and

for microcredit schemes to help our people at the grass-

roots level become owners and drivers of their future

well-being. In addition, we are giving priority to small

and medium enterprises to drive national development.

Furthermore, my Government is developing a

national statistics development strategy to provide a road

map for Papua New Guinea to continually improve and

update the collection and management of its statistical

information in order to improve decision-making.

That includes embarking on a national biometric

identification card system to record and maintain the

population information of our citizens.

Despite our economic growth, social issues remain

a challenge. My Government values our women and

girls, who constitute half of our population, as equal

development partners. We are making sure that gender

empowerment and equality continue to be a cornerstone

of our responsible sustainable development. We

therefore support the work of UN-Women.

I am pleased to inform the Assembly that my

Government has committed record funding of

$10 million this year for various initiatives, including

partnering with the United Nations Population Fund

to make available 40,000 contraceptive implants as

important intervention measures for the health of our

women and girls of child-bearing age. That will be

scaled up to $20 million by 2015. My Government,

in partnership with our development partners, is also

investing in upgrading vital midwifery skills, along

with enhancing our health referral systems to address

complicated pregnancies. As a member of the Executive

Board of UNICEF, we will promote and participate in

the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child.

My Government welcomes and pledges our support

for the President’s timely agenda for strengthening

international peace and security. As a responsible

Member of the United Nations, we are committed

to fostering global peace and security. As such, my

country is deploying a modest level of troops to the

United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Sudan

and South Sudan. As our capacity grows, we intend to

contribute more.

We are concerned about the increasing conflicts

and tensions in many parts of the world, particularly

those involving non-State actors. An unacceptable

heavy toll of destruction is exacted upon millions of

innocent children, women and men, often uprooted

from their homes, dislocated and downtrodden and

their dignity humiliated. We must rebuke and unite

against the rising tide of intolerance, bigotry and hatred

under various banners.

We again condemn terrorism in all its

manifestations. We join the international community

to combat that global threat. Our support for Security

Council resolution 2178 (2014) against terrorism, which

was recently adopted, is a reaffirmation that inhuman

atrocities committed cannot and should not be condoned

by the international community. Those responsible for

such inhuman atrocities must be held accountable.

We are also concerned by the rising tensions

between and within certain countries and the

re-emergence of the ugly head of another potential

arms race. The world does not need that; rather, we

must recommit our efforts for global disarmament that

supports a transformative development agenda that

brings long-lasting improvement in the livelihoods of

people everywhere.

The Ebola crisis is a concern that is not limited just

to West Africa. It is an international crisis, one which

we, the international community, must address together

as we have done with severe acute respiratory syndrome

and HIV/AIDS. Those diseases and pandemics do

not recognize national sovereign borders. Like other

countries, Papua New Guinea has taken appropriate

measures to address the potential spread of Ebola.

We note with concern that progress in the Third

International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism

has been slow. We need to strengthen efforts to

complete that process. Papua New Guinea urges the

implementation of the report and conclusions of the

United Nations visiting mission to New Caledonia this

year, and thereby calls on the United Nations and the

international community, particularly the administering

Power, to support the process of decolonization under

the Noumea Accord. The Summit of the Melanesian

Spearhead Group in June 2013 supported through

a declaration the efforts of the Front de libération

nationale kanak et socialiste in New Caledonia.

Papua New Guinea strongly believes that the

international community is a better, more secure and

harmonious place because of the United Nations.

Certainly there are areas in the United Nations where

reform is required, as is the case with any large

organization. We need to recommit ourselves to the

areas where the Organization has been successful, and

in other areas we need to build adequate systems. Our

ultimate objective must be to promote a more effective,

more accountable, more responsive and more caring

United Nations — a United Nations capable of meeting

the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Papua New Guinea therefore shares the President’s

intention to further reform, rejuvenate and strengthen

the Security Council to allow for equitable geographic

representation. Regrettably, that important organ does

not reflect today’s geopolitical realities. We again join

many other Member States in calling for the reform of

the Security Council in both categories of membership.

At this time next year we will be celebrating

40 years of nation-building in Papua New Guinea, just

as the United Natons commemorates its seventieth

anniversary. We continue to be a proud, united country

of many diverse cultures and peoples speaking more

than 800 languages. We are also rapidly transforming

our traditional way of life to that of a modern country

in just one generation.

In conclusion, I recommit my country to the ideals

of the Charter of the United Nations and pledge to work

closely with all other Member States to collaborate on

solutions to the many issues we all face as humankind.