Mr. President,

It is a great honour and privilege for me to participate in this Twenty-second Special Session of the General Assembly to review and appraise the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action five years after its adoption in 1994. I should like to convey our appreciation to the Chairman of the Group of 77 for his enlightening statement on this important issue at the outset of our discussions.

Small Island Developing States are often exotic and spectacular in their beauty; they also play a unique role as sanctuary to innumerable ecological and bio-diverse resources. But their ecosystems are fragile and their populations are vulnerable to many development challenges. Their small size magnify their problems and so they suffer the brunt of globalization, the adverse effects of climate change, the inaccessibility of markets and other constraints. We are thus gathered today in Special Session to carry out a comprehensive review and appraisal of the Barbados Programme of Action, a programme designed to address a number of critical issues affecting SIDS and thereby help them rise to higher standards of living and well-being.

As a country that comprises over 17,000 islands, most of them sharing the development challenges and constraints that are weighing down the SIDS, Indonesia fully supports the system-wide implementation of the Programme of Action for Sustainable Development of Small Island States, the major outcome of the Global Conference in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1994. Moreover, we welcome the opportunity afforded by this comprehensive review to reflect on, assess and recommit ourselves to this valuable programme and muster the will to move it forward.

The Commission on Sustainable Development, acting as a preparatory body to this Special Session, has done a great job of preparing the report before us. I am also pleased by the progress achieved during the informal consultations. My Government reaffirms its commitment to and support for the continued implementation of the Programme of Action. We hope that by reinvigorating the implementation of the programme, we can disencumber SIDS of the constraints that stand in the way of their sustained growth, sustainable development and attainment of higher standards of living.

Mr. President,

To a considerable extent, the initial momentum of the implementation of the Programme of Action has been dissipated by the forces of globalization and trade liberalization as well as by the widespread acceptance of a development paradigm that favours the unrestrained play of market forces over multilateral cooperation.

These have led to a decline in both bilateral and multilateral assistance to the SIDS and erosion of their competitiveness in global trade. In the case of the Pacific islands, there has been a sharp reduction of export revenues as the purchasing power of their Asian trade partners has been rolled back by the financial crisis. In the preparatory talks last April, donors agreed as they did five years ago in Barbados, that to carry out the Programme adequate, predictable, new and additional financial resources are needed. Yet, donor countries have not matched the efforts of the developing countries and continue to lag in fulfilling their commitments. Moreover, given the rapid pace of globalization and their inadequate technology, SIDS will find it even more difficult to attract investments and other financial flows.

Thus, a critical challenge facing us in the implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action is the need to mobilize the financial resources to meet the priorities and responsibilities of the Programme, particularly in the areas of capacity-building, institution-building and the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. To sustain such an effort, there should be integrated planning in which a wide range of government agencies, civil society and other development actors must participate.

In international trade, the SIDS face challenges made more formidable by the fact that, instead of helping them increase their competitiveness, the WTO has ruled against their entitlement to preferential treatment. This will constrict their already limited external earnings, exposing their vulnerable economies to greater risks. It is therefore crucial that the international community should help to strengthen the competitiveness of the small island developing countries and restore preferential treatment for them in the multilateral trading system. It is also essential that we effectively address the issue of their access to markets and the improvement of their competitiveness in global trade.

With regard to transboundary movement of hazardous waste, we welcome the progress achieved during the informal consultations leading to an international mechanism involving all states and the relevant international organizations that will address these concerns in a specific and comprehensive manner.

Due to their limited national capacity and infrastructure, SIDS urgently need access to low-cost, environmentally sound technology, including information technology. In this regard, we welcome the efforts of SIDSNET to pool the information resources of the SIDS.

In this era of globalization, Mr. President, there is no alternative to international cooperation and the promotion of equitable partnership for ensuring the successful implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action.