UN General Assembly
1985

A concomitant feature of the decline in multilateralism has been the marked resurgence of unilateral approaches to economic problems that have global ramifications. What is of the utmost concern to my delegation is the adverse impact on the developing countries of the unilateral decisions and acts of the powerful actors in the global economy. Such actions, by definition, are bound to be arbitrary and extremely self-serving. It is therefore not surprising in the least that they tend to violate basic economic agreements and concepts which they themselves have invested with the cloak of sacred economic doctrine and international law. Some of these unilateral actions include high interest rates, volatile exchange rates, protectionism, measures that result in deteriorating terms of trade for the developing countries, and refusal to vies with sympathy the external debts of developing countries which have resulted in the net export of capital to the developed countries.