UN General Assembly
1982

24. Since 1963 UNCTAD has been a central forum for the determination of development priorities. In retrospect, considerable value should be attached to UNCTAD as a forum for negotiations and as one which has lived up to expectations, rather more than did the first session of UNCTAD, which resulted in the creation of an international trade organization. Similarly, GATT continues to be a focal point for some of the distressing features of disharmony in international trade. It is ironic that laissez-faire thinking, which was mooted as a framework for improvement in trade and in trade-related matters for the world as a whole, has today resulted in modifications to the detriment of third world countries at a time when barriers to trade constitute one of the biggest impediments to advancement in this field. The social factors that prompt protectionism and what are termed unfair trade practices are understandable. It is this very fact that should prompt the international leadership to undertake a searching examination of the issue, with a view to changing attitudes on a global scale in order, to prevent a breakdown in relations.