UN General Assembly
1975

117. A challenge to all the international efforts and initiatives for economic development is posed by the economic situation of the least developed among the developing countries. My country, which is a mountainous agricultural country, falls within this category. The situation is further aggravated by its land-locked character. The land-locked countries are facing a double burden in their development efforts as the problem of heavy and additional transport costs, among many others, makes their development more expensive and, at the same time, offsets whatever meager benefit they may get from their development. 118. It is therefore essential that adequate measures are taken for the economic uplift of these countries before their conditions deteriorate further, so that the objectives of the Second United Nations Development Decade may be achieved and the ever-widening economic disparity between nations be narrowed.