UN General Assembly
1972

234. It is regrettable that the meagre results which emerged from UNCTAD's third session disappointed many of the expectations of the developing countries. The attitude of some of the more affluent nations was unfortunately coloured by considerations of self-interest, narrowly conceived. Such an attitude hardly conforms to the objectives of the International Development Strategy [resolution 2626 (XXV)]. It is no wonder that the poor and the under-privileged are increasingly pointing to the growing gap between intentions and performance, a gap which is ever widening under the pressure of a fast-growing technology. The third session of UNCTAD did, of course, have its positive achievements, notably in the field of international monetary policy, where agreement was reached to associate the developing countries in the negotiations to take place under the auspices of the International Monetary Fund, as well as in the agreement to accord special assistance to the least developed of the developing countries. On the other hand, no solution emerged to the burning problem of ensuring easy access for the manufactured products of the developing countries to the markets of the developed world and to the question of stabilizing commodity prices. This lack of progress on such fundamental issues cannot but engender a feeling of frustration in the third world, and it is certainly no consolation to know that the passage of time can only compound the problems, especially as the inexorable march of technology will tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.