UN General Assembly
1988

An extremely important step in this direction is the decision recently taken in Caracas Venezuela by the countries that make up the Latin American Economic System (SELA) to hold the first Latin American conference on foreign debt next year. We believe that the conference should be held as soon as possible and that the participants should include representatives of other regions that also suffer the consequences of this grave problem. But it is not enough to recognise the gravity of the debt problem and arrive at a just solution on the basis of recognising the shared responsibilities of debtor and creditor. The new international economic order must also become a reality. If it does not, little or nothing will be gained by resolving the debt problem temporarily, because problems are resolved not by addressing their effects but by attacking their causes.