Seychelles, 2003

My delegation is proud

and honoured to see Mr. Julian Hunte, a fellow

islander, also from one of the smallest nations of the

world, presiding over the deliberations of this body. We

are well aware of his skills, experience and

competence, and we are confident that he will lead our

work to a successful outcome. Let me also pay tribute

to his predecessor, Mr Jan Kavan of the Czech

Republic, for his excellent work during the fifty-

seventh session of the General Assembly.

Our appreciation also goes to the Secretary-

General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his dedicated and

steadfast leadership of the United Nations during these

trying times. We commend him for his tireless efforts

to make the United Nations more effective and

responsive to the demands of its Members.

In recent months, some have questioned the

relevance and utility of the United Nations. For

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Seychelles, the United Nations remains a unique,

indispensable and universal multilateral institution

where global issues affecting the entire international

community can be debated and addressed. We believe

that, despite its shortcomings, there is no other

institution that is better equipped and better suited to

meet the diverse demands for justice, peace, security,

development and international cooperation or to ensure

that the voices of its Members are heard, irrespective of

their size or economic power. We hereby reaffirm our

faith in the principles and purposes of the United

Nations in addressing the wide range of challenges

confronting the international community in the

globalized and interdependent world we are living in at

the dawn of the twenty-first century.

We acknowledge the fact, however, that the

United Nations system needs to be reformed and

modernized. We support the ongoing initiative to

revitalize the General Assembly to make it more

effective and efficient. Our Assembly ought to be

restored to its rightful place at the centre stage of

meaningful deliberations on problems and issues

common to all of its Members. We ought to strive to

ensure that debate in our Assembly is translated into

action. In this respect, my delegation calls for the

establishment of a follow-up mechanism to monitor

and implement decisions and resolutions taken by the

General Assembly, as well as those of the major United

Nations conferences of the past decade.

The reform process will be inadequate if the

transformation of the Security Council into a

democratic and representative organ, reflecting its

universal character and present-day realities, is not

achieved. My delegation supports an increase in both

permanent and non-permanent members to include

developing countries from Africa, Asia and Latin

America. After 10 years of debate, it is imperative that

we bridge positions and make progress. What is

required is political will by all the parties concerned

with a view to arriving at an acceptable solution.

We support the decision of the Secretary-General

to establish a high-level panel of eminent persons on

the reform question. We hope they will provide

inspiration and fresh ideas for the way forward.

My delegation holds the view that development

ought to be central to the renewed United Nations

agenda. The reform process should focus on

reinforcing the role of the United Nations system in the

commitment to international cooperation for

development. There should be closer collaboration and

coordination between the United Nations system and

the international financial institutions in elaborating

novel frameworks to address development funding. The

ongoing dialogue between the Economic and Social

Council and the Bretton Woods institutions should be

vigorously pursued.

We welcome the dialogue between the leaders of

the Group of Eight and their counterparts from the

developing world. Those consultations should be a

platform to engage the industrialized countries of the

North in fulfilling their commitments to the outcomes

of the major conferences, in particular the Millennium

Summit, the Doha Development Round, the Monterrey

Consensus and the Johannesburg Plan of Action. Our

development partners should realize that the

implementation of their commitments is vital if we, the

developing countries, are to achieve sustainable

development. Their words must, indeed, be matched

with deeds. The allocation of the agreed target of 0.7

per cent of their gross domestic product for

international development should be an achievable

objective.

This dialogue should also provide an opportunity

for us to candidly discuss issues that are of common

interest and concern. Problems requiring urgent

attention, such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, the root causes

of terrorism, the debt burden, refugees, trade terms,

trafficking in humans, climate change and

environmental degradation, to name just a few, should

be addressed as part and parcel of shared international

responsibilities.

The situation of small island developing Sates

will feature high on the international agenda next

August when Mauritius hosts the International Meeting

for the 10-year review of the Barbados Programme of

Action. It will be a timely occasion to reaffirm the

special characteristics, vulnerabilities and concerns of

small island developing States and to consider their

prospects for sustainable development. It will be an

occasion to remind the international community to pay

greater attention to the social, economic and

environmental vulnerabilities faced by small island

developing States.

The Mauritius review will present the opportunity

to assess implementation progress to date and establish

the appropriate framework for further partnership and

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cooperation in achieving the sustainable development

aspirations of small island developing States. We will

need the required resources to advance implementation.

We therefore appeal to our development partners for

their fullest support in the review process and the

implementation of the outcome of the Mauritius

International Meeting.

My delegation notes with concern the breakdown

of negotiations at the recent World Trade Organization

ministerial conference in Cancún. Small developing

countries have no capacity whatsoever to distort world

trade. It is therefore imperative that their

vulnerabilities and special needs be taken fully in

account. Seychelles urges the international community

to heed the call for special and differential treatment to

be accorded to developing countries, in particular small

island States, that have structural disadvantages. This is

crucial to the integration of our countries into the

multilateral trading system so that we can achieve our

development objectives. Concessions to small,

vulnerable developing economies should include the

critical areas of market access and trade preferences.

The second pillar of my country’s economy —

tuna fisheries — faces a real threat. There will be

considerable social and economic consequences for us

if the preferential treatment on which the industry was

built is to be abandoned. After all, the trade regime is

meant to provide benefits for all, not to condemn the

most fragile and vulnerable groups of the international

family to marginalization and economic strangulation.

A subject of preoccupation to my delegation is

the adverse impact of climate change. Studies, as well

as experience, have revealed that extreme changes are

taking place in the climate patterns of the Western

Indian Ocean region. Over recent years my country has

experienced unusual periods of drought and torrential

rainfall, the latter causing floods, landslides, the

destruction of agricultural crops and infrastructure and

even loss of life. It is estimated the 75 per cent of the

corals in our archipelago have been bleached due to an

increase in sea surface temperatures.

Global warming is not an issue of our making.

Small island nations like mine are not responsible for

it, yet we have to bear the consequences. This growing

threat calls for renewed concerted international action,

as it is affecting the whole planet. All nations must take

steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The

industrialized countries have the prime responsibility

and must be the first to take action. We urge them to be

accountable under the Kyoto commitments and to

ratify the treaty, as this is the only appropriate

multilateral framework that can address and respond to

this phenomenal challenge facing all nations on earth.

Last year the General Assembly endorsed the

New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),

as the framework for development for the continent.

International support for the implementation of this

home-grown initiative is essential. We appreciate the

pledges of support by the G-8 by means of their Africa

Action Plan. We hope that this will soon evolve into

the realization of concrete projects and programmes.

My delegation is of the view that there should be

provision in the NEPAD development agenda to take

into account the peculiar problems and specificities of

the eight island nations that constitute the African

family.

The 19 August attack on the United Nations

compound in Baghdad serves as the latest reminder to

all of us of the central importance of being vigilant and

prepared to combat terrorism. Seychelles reiterates its

condemnation of terrorism in all its manifestations.

We are in the process of finalizing our accession

to the 12 United Nations conventions and protocols on

terrorism. We are actively cooperating with the

Counter-Terrorism Committee in the implementation of

the obligations of Security Council resolution 1373

(2001).

Complying with the obligations of this Security

Council resolution is a daunting task for a very small

country like mine, with extremely limited capacity to

deal with the relevant requirements. We will do our

share as part of our responsibility, but to succeed we

need technical and financial assistance. There is also

the need to ensure that the capacities of small States

are enhanced through sharing of intelligence

information, training of personnel, and the provision of

appropriate technology and equipment, for example, to

deal with and handle the new challenges we have to

confront. We hope the international community will be

attentive and responsive to our predicament.

The conflict in the Middle East has brought about

too much suffering and destruction. My delegation

supports the road map for peace and calls on all parties

to the conflict to embark on genuine and substantive

dialogue and negotiations in the interest of durable

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peace in the region. We reaffirm our belief in the rights

of the Palestinian people to their own independent

State, with clearly defined borders. We welcome all

efforts in facilitating the search for an enduring

solution to the conflict.

As regards the situation in Iraq, my delegation

hopes that full sovereignty will be restored to the Iraqis

as soon as possible, and that a credible and widely

accepted political road map will be drawn up and

implemented. We believe that the United Nations

should have a central role to play in the process.

When Assembly President Julian Hunte assumed

office, he appealed for an action-orientated and

proactive General Assembly. I give him the assurance

that, albeit in a modest manner, he will receive the full-

hearted support of the Seychelles delegation for a

productive and fruitful session.