FSM welcomed Republics of Kiribati, Nauru and Kingdom of Tonga as new members of the United
Nations family
FSM, on behalf of the South Pacific Forum, welcomed the Republic
of Kiribati, Republic of Nauru and the Kingdom of Tonga as new
members of the United Nations family at the opening of the 54th
Session of the United Nations General Assembly
New York, 14 September 1999 (FSM Permanent Mission to the UN) – At
the opening of the 54th Session of the United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA) this afternoon, the Assembly, by adopting three
resolutions by acclamation, admitted as the 186th, 187th and 188th
Member States the Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Nauru and the
Kingdom of Tonga respectively.
Speaking in his country’s capacity as Chair of the South Pacific
Forum at the opening of the 54th UNGA, FSM Deputy Permanent
Representative Tadao P. Sigrah joined the chairs of the five regional
groupings at the United Nations and the host country, the United
States in welcoming and congratulating Pacific sister states
Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga on their admittance to membership in the
world organization. Mr. Sigrah also expressed the gratitude of the
members of the Forum to the United Nations Security Council for its
recommendations to admit the three Pacific countries to membership in
the Organization, and also to the many members of the UN
co-sponsoring the three resolutions.
The admission of the three Pacific Island countries, Mr. Sigrah
said, is a further indication of the importance that the Pacific
region places in the United Nations. Though joining the United
Nations for small island countries is a great sacrifice of scarce
resources, the islands can no longer be mere by-standers but must
participate with the rest of the international community in the
processes of finding solutions, he noted. He added that though the
Pacific islands are far apart from the rest of the world, this
remoteness and isolation have not insulated the islands from the
impacts of decisions made elsewhere in the world.
With the admittance of the three Pacific island countries, 13 out
of 16 members of the South Pacific Forum are now members of the
United Nations. The remaining three are the Cook Islands, Niue and
Tuvalu.
