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Presentation
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Suriname H. E. Yldiz Pollack – Beighle at the 8
thKorea- Caribbean High
Level Forum
31 October 2018, Seoul, South Korea
Your Excellency Mr. CHO Hyun, 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea,
Honorable Colleagues, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and gentlemen,
Opening Remarks
• On behalf of the Government and the friendly people of Suriname, I wish to extend my warm greetings to all delegations, and take this opportunity to convey the best wishes from my President H.E. Desiré Delano Bouterse, to the President of the Republic of Korea, H. E. Moo Jae-in.
• Likewise I thank the Government of the Republic of Korea for the excellent arrangements of this meeting, and to express my appreciation for the warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation upon our arrival in your country with a rich history.
• It is a true delight to be present at this Korea – Caribbean High Level Forum, which remains to be a very significant initiative to advance cooperation on various areas of common interest and urgency.
• In this regard Suriname believes the theme of “Cooperative Partnership in the Areas of Peace and Security” comes at an opportune time, since peace and security, which are preconditions for development, are under increasing pressure from the rise of conflicts and instability. This is a combined result of political, technological, financial and most importantly environmental factors.
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• We can observe that the number of refugees and migrants in the world has increased, and the frequency at which this occurs, is unprecedented. This has its impact on the regions, and could ultimately affect global peace and security.
• Within this context I am pleased to see, and also encourage, the important progress made so far towards reaching historical peace and stability on the Korean peninsula which will not only lead to economic benefits for both parties, and the South-Asian region as a whole, but most importantly its immeasurable value for the people and families of Korea.
• Global warming is leading to an increasing scarcity of water resources and permanent loss of aerable land and grazing land in many regions in the world. The Caribbean region is no exception. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena such as floods, tornadoes and droughts may put an additional strain to existing resources, and even trigger unprecedented challenges to our food security and the preservation of our forests. That’s the reality most of the small island developing and low lying coastal States face.
• At the sixth High-Level Forum of the Korea-Caribbean Partnership, under the theme
“Climate Change and Food Security”, Suriname highlighted that climate change has become a major challenge facing small island developing states (SIDS).
• Given its low lying coastal line, Suriname is among the most threatened countries directly impacted by sea level rise. Approximately 80% of our population resides in the coastal area, while our main production activities are also concentrated in this area, resulting in an existential threat.
• As we have witnessed in the past days, the forces of nature struck once again, not only at our sister Caribbean nations, but also elsewhere in the world. In this regard I once again express our sympathy to my colleagues of the Caribbean region, who have been adversely impacted by the recent natural disasters.
• Suriname is a country with a high forest cover and a low deforestation rate and ranked fourth place in the world with regards to available fresh water per capita.
3 As a resource rich country we understand as no other the importance of protecting our forests and fresh water sources for the benefit of humanity.
• And while the Caribbean region as a whole is not directly threathened or characterized by armed conflicts, that might destabalize regional peace and security, the most alarming and direct threat comes from the effects of climate change.
• I am sure that my colleagues from South Korea could relate, the country is facing similair challenges and I am especially impressed by the collective efforts of the Government and the people of the Republic of Korea to restore and rehabiltate its forests, which for a big part were destroyed more then six decades ago. The succesful forest rehabilitation has received worldwide recognition as a green growth model.
• The theme of my presentation touches upon Suriname’s Diplomatic Policy and Regional Ties in relation to the aspects of peace and security.
Diplomatic Policy and Regional Ties
• In this modern age and the new challenges that come with it, in addition to the traditional ones, the ability of states to effectively implement their developmental agendas, or to effectively protect their citizens has become increasingly difficult to face it alone.
• Cooperation should be therefore high on the international agenda as the optimal solution to these challenges.
• Consequently, Suriname, places great value on strengthening regional ties so that we can speak and act as one group,as well as collectively address problems that we face.
• Therefore, in our foreign policy, the integration process of Suriname in the region lies at the core of our national development plan, given the proven benefits of integration to the wellbeing and development of our people.
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• The integration proces, as well as in the broader context of South-South cooperation, creates opportunities for fundamental principles of development, of which the need to preserve world peace and promote sustainable development, while adhering to mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, aggression, mutual noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
• Our national history has tought us, that the only way to reach development and protect society, is by resolving societal conflicts trough constructive means without resuling to violence. That’s how we survived ethnically or religiuously fueled conflicts, and managed to contain them from escalating to disturbing proportions. That’s also how we survived the foreign supported civil strife that disrupted societies in the interior back in the 1990’s.
• Our multi ethnic population is expressing and enjoying exceptional harmony, tolerance and religious freedom, respect for each other’s cultural background. We have used this multi ethnic and multi cultural diversity that we inherited from our colonial past, to promote dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts.
• Given our own experience with foreign interference in our internal affairs and the historical record it has attained internationally, Suriname’s diplomatic policy will continue to apply the principles of non-interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states and non intervention, with a firm belief that all peoples are equal and that the prevailing structures of government and democracy cannot be prescribed externally.
Zone of Peace/ Treaty of Tlatelolco
• Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that Suriname is actively promoting to keep the Latin America and Caribbean Region as a “Zone of Peace” which was proclaimed as such in 2014 by the Heads of States and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), based on the principles of peaceful resolution of conflicts, dialogue and negotiation.
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• I hereby emphasize the stabilizing effect of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (Treaty of Tlatelolco).
Multilateral sphere
• The UN Charter urges Member States to resolve disputes peacefully, to avoid jeopardizing international peace and security, as the maintenance of these aspects is one of the most important pillars of the United Nations (UN), through the intervention of one of its main body, the Security Council.
• The Republic of Suriname greatly supports the endeavors of the United Nations which has created measures relating to multilateral disarmament and arms limitation as one of the most crucial aspects in maintaining international peace and security.
• The highest priority is given to the reduction and even elimination of weapons of mass destruction, in addition to those conventional weapons, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and the use of landmines. Important developments in the international field, contributing to the process of security building are therefore crucial elements for the various disarmament treaties.
• Ban Ki -Moon stated that the world is over-armed and peace is under-funded. Funds used for developing and maintaining nuclear weapons could be invested in development-inducing measures, such as education, job creation and health care1.
• In this regard I wish to express my admiration for the formidable contributions made by the government of Korea in the field of United Nations peace keeping missions and development assistance. 2
• Regarding peace and security on the Korean peninsula I only wish to add (to the previous speaker’s contributions) that Suriname recognizes the progress made so far
1 And still we see that more money is spend in arms races, the militarization of outer space and the research of artificial intelligence for warfare purposes.
2 Suriname, also would like to reiterate its supports with regard to the Political Declaration adopted at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, prior to the commencement of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York, whereby members reflected on global peace as the main focus of this Summit, in honor of the centenary of the birth of this iconic and inspirational leader.
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Closing
• Before closing, I wish to reaffirm Suriname’s commitment towards the mitigation of and the adaption to climate change and against this backdrop is honored to host a HFLD Conference on Climate Finance Mobilization from 12 - 15 February, 2019 in Paramaribo, capital of the Republic of Suriname. The main objective of this conference is to identify a joint approach in the efficient and effective utilization of the available technical and financial mechanisms and resource mobilization to advance our sustainable development.
• An African proverb states that “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. With this in mind I’m looking forward to a fruitful discussion and how we can advance the cooperative partnerships on issues that threaten peace and security in our region and on the Korean Peninsula.
