UN General Assembly
1991

Closer to home, the island-developing countries, of which Fiji is one and which are widely recognized as the most fragile and vulnerable of all the developing countries, continue to find themselves in a particularly difficult position. There are over 20 island-developing countries and territories in the Pacific subregion, scattered over an enormous geographical area. Most of them are small and some are tiny, both in their physical size and in population, and natural disasters are frequent occurrences. Four are within the least developed country category. Their links to the outside world are few and poorly developed; these links are highly expensive to maintain but without them they could not survive. They are heavily dependent on outside sources for the supply of many essentials, having very few resources and negligible productive capacity themselves.