UN General Assembly
1967

119. It is almost embarrassing to have to renew this appeal and repeat this warning. Fortunately, there are in the developed countries some distinguished thinkers who are trying, along with us, to awaken leaders and public opinion in their own countries to the true nature of this serious problem. Too few people, in fact, know that the material assistance given to less favoured countries by wealthy countries, in a spirit of solidarity quite new in history, an assistance which in absolute figures seems impressive to the layman, is to a great extent cancelled out by the phenomenon of deterioration in the terms of trade which I have referred to. It is urgent that this should be remedied, first by stabilizing the cost of basic commodities — the main source of income in underdeveloped countries — and then by facilitating their export.