Samoa
H.E. Mr. Tuila’epa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister
26 September 2008
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Statement Summary
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TUILAEPA LUPESOLIAI SAILELE MALIELEGAOI, Prime Minister of Samoa, recalled his messages to the Assembly last year, that the United Nations had not lived up to its Charter, and that Member States had no one but themselves to blame. No country was too powerful or too small to participate in the solution to make the Organization an agent of change. Samoa supported the Secretary-General’s vision to create an Organization that delivered as one entity.
He called for the revitalizing of the General Assembly, and for the reform of the Security Council, especially to expand its permanent and non-permanent membership. He had observed indifference, intentional or not, from some national leaders towards the small and weaker countries, unless they “teeter[ed] on the brink of becoming failed States”, he added.
He went on to say that Samoa’s strategic plan from 2008 to 2012 would be a comprehensive development framework, and with targeted resource allocation. In 2007, Samoa had also worked with the Organization to promote the Millennium Development Goals during the South Pacific Games held in Samoa. The innovative effort of utilizing sports to effect changes in behaviour resulted in a solar-powered Millennium Development Goal scoreboard in front of the main Government building to monitor national progress.
Although not a contributor to the global crises, Samoa’s small size and isolated location did not shield it from experiencing the consequences, of, among others, climate change, energy and food shortages and the current financial turmoil. He noted that the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in August had adopted the Niue Declaration on Climate Change, which highlighted Pacific small island developing states’ vulnerability to global warming. Last week, the European Union and the Pacific Island Forum Troika joined together to highlight the ongoing vulnerability, and the impact of rising sea levels in that region. Samoa would also work within the United Nations to spotlight the security implications of climate change, and he called for the broad support of the Bali road map so that a post-Kyoto climate change deal could be realized. In this regard, Australia’s participation as a State party to the Kyoto Protocol at the Bali meeting had been encouraging.
[Source: GA/10756]
