UN General Assembly
2022

I bring greetings from our President, Mr. Surangel S. Whipps Jr., and the people of Palau. It is a great pleasure to be able to address the General Assembly and, at the outset, I wish to congratulate the President of the Assembly at its seventy-seventh session, Mr. Csaba Korosi, and pledge Palau’s support during the course of his term. I also wish to thank the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session, a fellow islander — from Maldives — who was gracious enough to take the long journey to Palau during his term, Honourable Minister Abdulla Shahid, for his astute leadership over the course of the last year. We meet at a precarious time. Thankfully, the world has made great strides in collectively combating the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The people of Palau thank all our international partners and friends who came to our aid during this difficult time, particularly the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and others. The collaboration was successful in minimizing the impact of the pandemic in our small and vulnerable community.