Ambassador Peter Thomson's Fiji Day Address at UN Luncheon

Address by Ambassador Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Fiji to the United Nations, to the Fiji Day Luncheon, New York, 13th October, 2010.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.  May I welcome you here today in some of the languages of Fiji, ni sa bula vinaka, noa’ia e mauri, salaam aleikum, namaste.  

Any of you who have experienced India, will recognise that last greeting as the beautiful Hindi invocation of peace.  In the early 1970s, when I was a Fiji district officer in the rural province of Navua, a local pandit told me that the namaste invocation means, “the highest in me greets the highest in you.”  I suggest to you, that in the halls and committee rooms of the United Nations, it is this invocation we should pass amongst ourselves as we go about our daily work in the cause of international upliftment.

 

Today is the 40th anniversary of Fiji taking its place as the 127th member of the United Nations.  This great day in our national history came just three days after Fiji’s attainment of independence as a fledgling nation.  Since that time we have treasured our UN membership, seeing in it our country’s dedication to striving for good global citizenship. 

It is in this spirit of striving to fulfill our international rights and duties, that we have recently embarked on the formalisation of diplomatic relations with all countries with which we have previously had none.  Many of you here today are amongst the twenty-three countries with which Fiji has formalised relations over the last six months, and in the year ahead there will be more of these formalised commitments to bilateral respect, friendship and cooperation.  It is in this same spirit of global engagement that Fiji has applied for membership of the Non-Aligned Movement.

In its work at the United Nations, the Fiji Mission is concentrating on three areas of special responsibility.  The first is peacekeeping.  Most of you know of Fiji’s service to UN peacekeeping over the last four decades in Lebanon, Namibia, Timor-Leste, Southern Sudan, Dafur, Liberia, Iraq, and with the Multi-National Force in the Sinai.  This service is at the core of Fiji’s foreign policy, as the embodiment of our commitment to good international citizenship. 

May I take pause here, Your Excellencies, to pay tribute to all UN peacekeepers,  past and present, especially to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of world peace.  Fiji is one country that will forever honour their service.

The second area is that of climate change, the great challenge with which humanity is faced, one in which the Pacific Islands find themselves at the forefront of a battle to combat rising sea levels and inadequate international response.  Fiji is a member of PSIDS, the Pacific Small Island Developing States, and it is through our commitment to this vibrant island grouping that we are taking our fight forward, through AOSIS and the UNFCCC.

The third area is that of oceanic affairs, to which we are tied by virtue of the realities of Pacific Islands existence.  Be it matters of relevance to the International Seabed Authority, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or be it matters of oceanic integrity such as the pressing issues of the acidification of oceans and coral bleaching, or the all-important defence of sustainable Pacific fisheries, Fiji’s commitment to the urgent oceanic tasks at hand is assured.

Mention of matters oceanic, affords me the great pleasure of bringing to your attention our special guest today, Satya Nandan, former Ambassador of Fiji, former Under-Secretary-General of the UN, long-serving Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority, and current Chair of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission.  One of Fiji’s most famous sons, Satya Nandan is reknown for his work with regard to the creation of the Law of the Sea.  But what many of you may not know, is that he was the first Fijian diplomat to be sent to New York in preparation for the day whose 40th anniversary we celebrate at this luncheon. Thank you for your years of sterling service, Ambassador Nandan, vinaka vaka levu saka.

I would like to close this address with words of sincere gratitude to the great majority of the members of the United Nations who have taken the trouble to express to the Fiji Mission their assurances of understanding, of encouragement and friendship.  At this time, Fiji is calmly proceeding through a national reform agenda that is necessary for sustainable democracy to be ingrained into the fabric of our country.  As many of you know, since the first coups d’etat in 1987, Fiji has been on a long journey, at times traumatic, at times inspired.  During that time, we have come close to the spectre of communal violence and divisive racial strife, but we have pushed that spectre away, taking instead the path to making Fiji a better place for all Fijians. 

In 2014, for the first time in our national history, Fijians will go to general elections under universal suffrage without regard to race. I would not be standing here today, if I did not believe that to be for the national good.  I would not be standing here today if I did not believe the 2014 commitment to be set in stone, and that it will be delivered with the conviction that it will bring to an end our country’s so-called “coup culture”.  It will be in this way, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, that Fiji will repay its many good friends in the international community.

And so to the toast.  I will ask you to raise your glasses in honour of Fiji’s National Day and of the 40th anniversary of Fiji’s membership of the United Nations.  Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I propose the toast to, “The President of Fiji.”