Tuvalu, 2007

Today has a very special

meaning for us: twenty-nine years ago, under the

blessings of this body, Tuvalu was granted its

independence. I am honoured, therefore, to speak on

behalf of the people and Government of Tuvalu and to

convey to this session of the United Nations General

Assembly our warmest greetings.

At the outset, Tuvalu wishes to associate itself

with previous speakers in congratulating Mr. Kerim in

his election as President of the General Assembly at its

sixty-second session. We also wish to take this

opportunity to welcome and congratulate the Secretary-

General, Ban Ki-moon, on his appointment as head of

the United Nations.

As we celebrate our twenty-ninth anniversary of

independence, let me convey our most sincere thanks

and gratitude to the international community,

especially to our traditional development partners,

close friends and international and regional

organizations for their support and cooperation over

the past years. We are confident that such gestures of

understanding, friendship and cooperation will

continue in the years ahead. Our endeavours to achieve

excellence have been guided by the United Nations

principles of good governance, respect for the rule of

law and for human rights, democracy and self-

determination. Our future survival as a nation is

founded on these basic ideals of the United Nations.

Tuvalu welcomes the key priority issues of

climate change, financing for development, achieving

the Millennium Development Goals, countering

terrorism, and the United Nations reform agenda,

which the President has clearly identified and

highlighted in his opening address at the sixty-second

session. We would like, however, to focus on five main

issues: the United Nations reforms, the United Nations

presence in Pacific small island developing States, the

question of Taiwan’s membership in the United

Nations and its agencies, criteria for least developed

countries graduation, and responding to climate

change.

On the United Nations reforms, we acknowledge

with sincerity the tremendous efforts that the

Organization has made in fulfilling its purpose, based

on its noble pillars of development: peace and security

and human rights, as enshrined under its Charter.

Through such efforts, the United Nations has reached

out to many countries of the world in providing the

required services for those who need them most.

However, these efforts always encounter many

challenges that can be resolved only if the United

Nations membership and all its subsidiary bodies

commit to work together in harmony and with respect

for each other.

The need for the United Nations to ensure

efficiency, effectiveness and transparency in carrying

out its mandates and all its related programmes cannot

be overemphasized. In this connection, Tuvalu

welcomes and supports the ongoing work on United

Nations reform. In particular, Tuvalu supports the

Secretary-General’s report in response to the

recommendations of the High-level Panel on United

Nations System-wide Coherence and agrees that the

United Nations system must be more results-oriented,

efficient and accountable.

Tuvalu fully supports the ongoing reform work of

the United Nations that promotes country-driven

programmes. However, we are very disappointed with

the unjustifiably slow progress in establishing the

United Nations presence in the remaining Pacific small

island developing States that do not have United

Nations offices. As a full Member of the United

Nations, we feel that Tuvalu and other small island

developing States from the Pacific each deserve to

have a United Nations office established in-country,

which will be instrumental in the coordination and

implementation of United Nations projects and

programmes on the ground. Our isolation and

geographical fragmentation in itself is justification for

establishing a joint United Nations office in Tuvalu.

We appeal to the United Nations for the earliest

implementation of this long overdue commitment.

Tuvalu highly commends the momentum of the

work on the reform of the Security Council, especially

the excellent work done by the Open-ended Working

Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on

and Increase in the Membership of the Security

Council and Other Matters Related to the Security

Council. Tuvalu warmly welcomes the next step of

submitting the issue for further intergovernmental

negotiations as a way forward. Tuvalu further supports

the draft resolution tabled by India for the same

purpose in addressing this very important task.

However, we are very disturbed with the

continuance of finger-pointing and undiplomatic

language being directed at small island developing

States for their contributions to the Security Council

reform process. As a small peace-loving nation and a

full Member of the United Nations, Tuvalu has the

sovereign right to support any issue that will benefit

the achievement of the United Nations goals. We

strongly believe that open dialogue and working

together in mutual understanding under the framework

of the United Nations is the only way to reach our

shared destiny in diversity and to respect one another.

Tuvalu firmly believes that the paramount

mission of the United Nations must remain the

maintenance of peace and security while ensuring the

universal participation of all nations of the world, as

clearly articulated in the Preamble to the United

Nations Charter.

However, the United Nations cannot be said to be

universal nor can global peace and security be assured

until the issue of Taiwan’s membership and

participation in the United Nations is properly

resolved. It is disappointing to note that this body does

not even want to at least put Taiwan’s membership

application on its agenda for proper consideration.

Let me reaffirm Tuvalu’s strong support for

Taiwan’s membership application to the United

Nations. We feel that this issue is long overdue and

needs to be considered more seriously and purely on its

own merits.

Taiwan has shown international responsibility

and has helped many countries in the world

including my own country, Tuvalu with

development assistance. It is our strong opinion that

Taiwan is a country with a clearly defined territory and

an established democratic system of government and is

a responsible international player in world trade,

development and diplomatic relations. The rights and

self-determination of the Taiwanese people to join the

United Nations should be urgently addressed. Taiwan

has all of the capabilities needed to fulfil its

obligations as a peace-loving State and become a full

Member of the United Nations as required under the

Charter of the United Nations.

Despite all this, it is sad to note that the United

Nations has continued to turn a blind eye to the wishes

and needs of the people of Taiwan, who simply want to

be part of the international family and participate

actively in the attainment of the noble pillars of

development, security and human rights. More sadly,

the action taken by the Secretary-General of the United

Nations in not complying with the requirements of the

Charter of the United Nations and the rules of

procedure of the Security Council is disappointing.

Tuvalu further appeals for the proper and urgent

consideration of Taiwan’s membership application to

the United Nations.

The issue of graduating from the least developed

countries (LDC) category has caused great anxiety for

Tuvalu. As recognized in the Mauritius strategy for

small island developing States, it is most alarming that

all the potential candidates for graduation from the

LDC list are Pacific small island developing States,

despite our special disadvantages and environmental

vulnerabilities. We appeal to this Assembly, the

Economic and Social Council and our development

partners to carefully reconsider the criteria for LDC

graduation and their application, taking into account

the special disadvantages of small island developing

States.

The President’s leadership in choosing

“Responding to Climate Change” as the theme of this

session is highly commendable. Likewise, Tuvalu

applauds the leadership of the Secretary-General on

climate change. We are pleased that world leaders at

the High-level Event on Climate Change have agreed

on the urgency of addressing climate change in a

comprehensive way. We believe we are now ready to

make a historic agreement in Bali to start negotiations

on a new climate change agreement.

As the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Mr. Apisai

Ielemia, clearly stated in the June issue of the United

Nations Chronicle magazine, “If there is one issue that

strikes at the heart of my nation, Tuvalu, it is climate

change.” Climate change is undoubtedly an issue of

extreme importance to a small, atoll nation like Tuvalu.

The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change highlights the extreme vulnerability of

island countries like Tuvalu to the impacts of climate

change and the urgent necessity for global action to

address this vulnerability. In this context the coming

session of the Conference of the Parties to the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in

Bali will be very important.

In our view, the Conference in Bali should have

the following components: First, it should reconfirm

the important role of the Kyoto Protocol and encourage

parties to the Protocol to pledge new and substantial

emissions reductions and encourage others to become a

party to it.

Secondly, we should agree to amend the Kyoto

Protocol so that we open the door for newly

industrialized countries, countries with economies in

transition and any other interested countries, including

developing countries, to take on commitments to

reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Thirdly, we must commit to a new global

framework on adaptation to the impacts of climate

change. For highly vulnerable countries like Tuvalu

this is an essential step in the process.

Lastly, we must agree on a new negotiation

process under the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change that will establish a

new legal agreement to allow developing countries to

make voluntary commitments to reduce their

emissions. Under this agreement we envisage that

developing countries will be able to make voluntary

commitments to reduce emissions from the energy,

transport and forestry sectors. These commitments

would be linked to appropriate incentive mechanisms.

In the context of reducing emissions from

deforestation we believe that any agreed measures

must bring about real reductions in global emissions.

Actions to reduce emissions from deforestation should

not undermine or devalue efforts to reduce emissions

from other sectors. Furthermore, these actions should

not infringe upon the rights of indigenous peoples and

local communities. The causes of deforestation are

complex, particularly as there are serious governance

issues to resolve. Let us make sure to get a durable

solution to this issue that will achieve a lasting climate

change outcome.

There are a number of elements that we think are

essential in a new global framework on adaptation. We

elaborated some of these during the High-Level Event

on Climate Change. Let me highlight two: First, we

must establish a whole new source of funding for

adaptation and a new approach on how adaptation

funding is managed. A potential new source of funding

for adaptation could come from a tax levied on

international aviation and maritime transport.

Secondly, we must establish a global insurance facility

to help assist vulnerable countries recover from the

impacts of climate change.

We must seize the opportunity at Bali. We must

set ourselves a short timeframe to create a new legally

binding agreement on climate change. This should not

undermine the Kyoto Protocol but should build on its

strengths. Those countries that have turned their backs

on the Kyoto Protocol must now take part in the global

effort and commit to reducing their emissions within a

tight timeframe. Once this is done, then we will see the

rest of the world move forward, for it is crucial that all

countries must make an effort to reduce their

emissions. We must not waste the opportunity at Bali.

In conclusion, my Government encourages all

countries to support the reform agenda for the United

Nations including the serious consideration of self-

determination and the universal participation of all

nations. We strongly encourage all Governments to use

the next climate change Conference of the Parties in

Bali to be a starting point for new negotiations on

climate change. The future of Tuvalu and lives of many

others like us is at stake.