UN General Assembly
1982

view, an important milestone in the relations between developed and developing countries as it incorporates, in terms of structural and institutional changes, the concept of interdependence between North and South. However, the alarming rate at which the world economy continues to deteriorate, the widening wealth-gap between developed and developing countries and the little progress that has so far been achieved in the establishment of the new international economic order, constitute ample testimony to the fact that our partners in the North have still to summon the political will fundamental to the implementation and success of the Strategy. With regard to trade and development, notwithstanding the progress achieved in this area within the framework of UNCTAD, including the Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities which is still not fully operational, and the adoption of rules to regulate restrictive business practices, developing countries continue to contend with the serious effects of spiralling world-wide inflation, inequitable terms of trade and phenomenal recession, as well as escalating protectionist measures in industrialized countries directed mainly against the finished