Solomon Islands, 2003

I present the warm

wishes of the Government and people of Solomon

Islands on the election of Mr. Julian Hunte as President

of the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly. I

also offer gratitude to his predecessor for presiding

over the last session.

And we salute the Secretary-General for his bold

leadership of our Organization. Through him, Solomon

Islands wishes to pay tribute to the members of the

United Nations staff and others who lost their lives

during the senseless attack on the United Nations office

in Baghdad last August and the recent incident a few

days ago.

Fifty-eight years ago, the United Nations was

founded to, among others things, guarantee freedom,

peace and security and to promote economic and social

advancement to all people. Over the years, many

threats to international peace and security have receded

or been resolved. The cold war has ended. Security and

arms control regimes are in place. Institutions such as

the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and

others have been established to address the economic

and social dimension of humankind’s needs.

In spite of these significant achievements, peace,

security and our quest for sustained economic and

social development remain the main challenges of our

time. New and complex threats to international peace

and security have emerged at alarming and global

scales during the past decades.

International terrorism continues unabated in

different parts of the world, targeting and killing

mainly innocent and vulnerable civilians. There can be

no other option but for the international community to

redouble efforts to fight this evil menace on all fronts.

Solomon Islands remains committed to its obligations

under Security Council resolution 1373 (2001). Steps

are being taken to enact relevant legislation and to

accede to international conventions to counter terrorist

activities.

Solomon Islands believes that a lasting settlement

of the crisis in the Middle East will have positive

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effects on global peace and security. We therefore

support the efforts to bring lasting peace and stability

to the region, especially to the Israeli-Palestinian

conflict and the situation in Iraq. The United Nations

must play a crucial role in the Middle East peace

process.

The primary responsibility of addressing the

daunting challenges we face today lies with individual

countries. However, history proves that much more

could be effectively achieved through multilateralism.

We all agree that this era of globalization brings new

global challenges. And global challenges require

cooperative global solutions. The United Nations, as

the leading and legitimate multilateral institution, must

take equal responsibility in addressing the global

challenges we now face and must therefore be

strengthened.

This is why Solomon Islands supports the

Secretary-General’s ongoing reform of the United

Nations system as a process, not an event. Yes, the

reform process has achieved positive results and

greater transparency, but we need to do more if our

Organization is to remain effective and relevant to the

changing political environment.

A reformed and restructured Security Council is

also necessary. Japan, Germany and others deserve

permanent membership in the Council. They are

equally capable of contributing constructively to

achieving and maintaining international peace and

security. The use of veto power by the permanent

members should be restricted to the provisions of

Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

Restoring law and order, economic recovery and

simply bringing normalcy to Solomon Islands have

been difficult challenges which my Government faced

when we took office in December 2001. But having

made the commitment to address these challenges

through the Government’s strategic plan and priorities,

we have engaged ourselves in a series of dialogues and

consultations with our development partners. Our

intentions are clear — we want outside assistance to

restore law and order and economic recovery.

Last July, with unanimous bipartisan support, the

Solomon Islands National Parliament adopted enabling

legislation that authorized outside assistance to restore

law and to help the economy to recover. Following an

explicit invitation by the Government, the Regional

Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI)

led by Australia, was assembled and deployed under

the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum’s Biketawa

Declaration and in accordance with the provisions of

the United Nations Charter.

I am pleased to inform you that the immediate

impacts of RAMSI have been significant and positive.

Security in terms of law and order has been re-

established and the Government’s finances are

beginning to stabilize. The course of action through

RAMSI is the best option we took. It is a unique

regional cooperative and partnership arrangement that

is not merely limited to re-establishing and maintaining

peace and security. It accords Solomon Islanders the

best real opportunity to rebuild the country and address

the deep-rooted problems we have had for years,

including fighting corruption, restoring the principles

of democracy, good governance and respect for

fundamental human values and rejuvenating the social

cohesiveness of our people.

RAMSI’s work ahead will be challenging, but we

assure RAMSI of every support and cooperation. The

Government and the people of the Solomon Islands are

equally committed to achieving this common objective.

We deeply appreciate the overwhelming support

of the Pacific Islands Forum countries, expressed

through the Forum Declaration on the Solomon Islands,

the Forum Foreign Affairs Ministerial Statement and

their active contribution as Participating Countries in

the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon

Islands (RAMSI). These countries are committed in

their resolve to help a neighbour recover and rebuild.

For this, I say “Tagio tumas for helpem fren blong

iufala”.

We also appreciate the support RAMSI has

received from the wider international community, the

Commonwealth, the United Nations, the European

Union and other individual bilateral donor partners. We

look forward to more active support to complement the

important work RAMSI is doing in addressing the

immediate and long-term objectives and plans.

The Government’s National Economic Recovery

and Development Plan of 2003 to 2005 will be

formally presented to our development partners in

November. Our immediate objectives are to restore and

maintain law and order, to bring about macroeconomic

Note: Solomon Islands pidgin for: “Thank you for helping your

friend”.

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stability and income growth, to restore full services in

health and education and to re-establish the foundation

for sustained economic growth and human

development.

While the immediate security situation and

economic situation of the country are being addressed

by RAMSI, the planned November meeting will

provide the opportunity for the rest of our development

partners to define their respective roles and assistance

towards achieving these key objectives.

As a least developed and island State, our

economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities are

major constraints to achieving sustainable economic

growth and livelihoods. But we place our hope on

greater international support and partnership to address

these constraints in order to meaningfully and

successfully implement our national development plans

and such key policy outcomes as the 2000 Millennium

Development Goals, the World Summit on Sustainable

Development (WSSD) Johannesburg Plan of

Implementation and other programmes within the

development agenda of the United Nations.

Implementation of the 2000 Millennium

Development Goals has been slow. We have, however,

now incorporated those objectives into the

Government’s Economic Recovery and Development

Plan of 2003 to 2005, as priorities for national

implementation.

The Solomon Islands looks forward to

participating fully in the review process of the

Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable

Development of Small Island Developing States. We

envisage the outcome of the 2004 international meeting

in Mauritius to be one that will focus on real

commitments and practical implementations of the

Programme at the national and regional levels.

The Brussels Programme of Action for the Least

Developed Countries (LDCs) provides yet another

opportunity and dimension for addressing the pressing

problems facing poor countries. Implementation of this

Programme at the national level has been slow. Real

commitments from the international community to

address our constraints, including capacity and

indebtedness, have, however, not been forthcoming

either.

We commend the work of the High

Representative of the Office for the Least Developed

Countries in seeking international support and

commitment to implement the Programme. We further

call on the international community to seriously

consider more resolute measures, such as cancellation

of debts to highly indebted poor countries.

As a member of the World Trade Organization

(WTO), the Solomon Islands is equally concerned that

the Cancún meeting failed to yield positive results.

Like other least developed countries, we have a key

interest in the development dimension of the Doha

Round, and we wish to re-echo what we stated in

Cancún, namely that a new, equitable and fair trading

system must take into account issues such as the

difference in income, economic size, technological

development and private sector capacities of countries.

The Solomon Islands attaches great importance to

regional cooperation. The communiqué of the leaders

of the Pacific Islands Forum last August, which has

been made available as an official document of the

fifty-eighth session of the United Nations General

Assembly, reflects the range of issues that directly

concern us in the Pacific region. Those issues include

climate change and sea-level rise, fisheries and the

protection of our marine environment, trade,

sustainable development and security-related issues. As

small States with inherent geographical and structural

disadvantages, our strength lies in pooling our

resources to address these issues collectively. We call

upon the United Nations to take more active part in

regional initiatives.

Allow me at this juncture to express once more

our strong support for Taiwan to be admitted as a full

member of the United Nations. It is an undeniable fact

that under international law, Taiwan is a sovereign

state. It has a transparent and democratic political

system, a vibrant and progressive economy and a

highly efficient social system, all of which are

completely independent with no control whatsoever

exercised by the People’s Republic of China.

Taiwan is a willing partner, able to meet its

international obligations under the Charter. Its

contribution to the international community and the

global economy are well known. Yet only a fortnight

ago, this body once again denied the wishes of the

people of Taiwan to be considered for membership in

the United Nations. Over the years the international

community has discriminated against its 23 million

people. The delayed World Health Organization

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assistance to Taiwan during the outbreak of severe

acute respiratory syndrome early this year is an

example of how reasons of power politics prevail over

timely humanitarian assistance.

I have made the assertion that the United Nations

must remain relevant to the changing political

environment. It must live up to the fundamental values

and principles enshrined in its Charter. It must remain a

universal and all-inclusive Organization, capable of

serving all its Members, however big or small, however

powerful or weak and of whatever creed, religion or

political belief. Every country must be treated with

equal respect and attention. The United Nations must

also live up to its principle of equality of all nations in

this new millennium.