In his address to the assembly, Vinci Niel Clodumar, the head of the Nauru Delegation, criticised the Western European and Others Group and advocated for the creation of a new Oceania regional group to include both Australia and New Zealand, as well as the ASEAN member countries, Japan, South Korea and the Pacific island countries. In his speech he mentioned that "the 11 Pacific island countries are drowning in the Asian Group, while Australia and New Zealand...are marooned in the Group of Western European and other States."[1]