UN General Assembly
1997

swift and steady implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, and once again we call upon the developed countries to fulfil their commitments and pledges of support. In this connection, we call upon the industrialized countries to follow the examples set by the United Kingdom and the European Union during the nineteenth special session of the General Assembly and to commit themselves to legally binding and meaningful targets to reduce their greenhouse-gas emission levels. For the Maldives, a country that will be affected severely, if not fatally, by climate change, it is hard to accept a target below the 20 per cent reduction level by the year 2005, as contained in the AOSIS protocol, as a meaningful reduction. Last month the Maldives hosted the thirteenth session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change, which was regarded not only as a very important meeting on the subject, but also a very timely one, as the world is looking forward eagerly and with great optimism