UN General Assembly
1957

107. The fact that we favour the establishment of SUNFED surely indicates that it is not our intention to deprive countries outside the franc area with which we have long had mutually advantageous economic relations of the capital necessary for their development. We believe that the Development Fund for the Overseas Countries and Territories provided for in the Treaty of Rome does not preclude the establishment of a Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development, but rather points the way along which we should travel. 108. The harassing problems of the Near East at the present time illustrate how dangerous to world peace is the state of economic development of certain countries and regions of the world. Indeed, several of the countries of the Near East, despite the wealth they possess and their valiant efforts to exploit it, are still far from achieving a standard of living commensurate with their age-old civilizations and their youthful determination to maintain their political independence.