UN General Assembly
1972

53. Noting with pleasure that the Economic and Social Council has recently been expanded, I now call upon the Assembly to take whatever steps are needed to ensure that the full power and authority to co-ordinate a coherent, integrated global development strategy rest clearly with the Economic and Social Council. It is entirely self-defeating for the Council to devise a strategy of development that is aimed at closing the gap between rich and poor countries and at assaulting world-wide problems of poverty and unemployment, only to find that the specialized agencies through which the Council must function are devoted to policies that are often in conflict with every thrust of central development planning. With respect, I suggest that this is a situation that is as illogical as it is unacceptable