UN General Assembly
1980

31. The member States of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC], in spite of the unwarranted calumnies often heaped on them, have amply demonstrated what developing countries can do to help themselves and other less fortunate developing countries. They have shown how raw material-producing, developing countries can organize themselves to defend their economic rights. They have shown how to arrest the historical trend whereby the rich countries get increasingly richer at the expense of the poor countries. It is therefore a matter of regret that quite deliberate efforts are sometimes made to mislead the public about the role of energy in the prevailing economic crisis. OPEC prices have risen only in direct proportion to the inflation and price rises generated by the prohibitive costs of imported goods and services as well as the fluctuating rate of exchange of the dollar.