UN General Assembly
1973

167. We cannot forget the worthless results of previous conferences which tried to solve the great problems of the sea by ignoring the constitutional elements of balance between what the sovereign State requires in defence of its legitimate inalienable rights and what is required of it as an active and passive subject in a natural regime of interdependence. No decision that affects the fundamental interests of the developing countries or leads to the adoption of formulas of disguised colonialism or tutelage can be accepted by peoples who insist on respect for their freedom and their right to utilize all their natural resources. Among these resources of importance to the feeding and development of the coastal States are those that are in adjacent seas within reasonable limits dictated by geographic, geological, ecological, economic and social factors.