New York, 24 September – Fiji’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, has arrived in New York to participate in the Leaders’ Week of the United Nations General Assembly’s 70 Session.
Minister Kubuabola’s first speaking engagement was at the High-Level working breakfast at the United Nations this morning organised by the Governments of Tuvalu and the UAE.
The side-event was on the subject of “Managing Climate Change in Small Island Developing States”. It was addressed by the President of Kiribati, HE Anote Tong, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Hon. Enele Sopoaga, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Hon. Sato Kilman, HRH Princess Zeid of Jordan, New Zealand Foreign Minister, Hon Murray McCully, and UAE Minister of State, HE Reem Al Hashimy.
Minister Kubuabola’s address focused on Sustainable Goal Development 14, “Ocean’s Goal”, calling for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources. He told the gathering that the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) were determined to ensure the implementation of SDG14 over the fifteen years of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
“If we do not effectively implement Goal 14,” the Minister said, “it will amount to nothing but good intentions.”
Minister Kubuabola stated that Fiji along with the PSIDS has given special thought to SDG14’s implementation, through the design of a dedicated mechanism to ensure the integrity of the delivery of SDG14.
The Minister said, “This mechanism involves a series of high-level Triennial United Nations Conferences on Oceans and Seas”. Minister Kubuabola told the gathering that “The Conferences will fill the governance vacuum and will drive and promote the implementation of SDG14.” He stated that the outcomes of the Triennial UN Conferences will feed into the overall home of the SDGs’ follow-up and review, the High-Level Political Forum at the United Nations. The United Nations will be asked to grant the Triennial Conferences mechanism its mandate through the adoption of a resolution in the General Assembly.
Minister Kubuabola added, “In the Pacific we have been seeing first-hand the decline in ocean’s health, as evidenced by dying coral, the profusion of marine pollution, damaged coastal ecosystems, declining fish-stocks and ocean acidification”. He said it was due to this evidence that Fiji and the Pacific Island Developing States were championing the successful implementation of SDG14.