UN General Assembly
1983

66. If I begin with currency it is because, after all, it is the main primary commodity. A few months ago I put forward the idea of a new Bretton Woods. This was a symbolic reference, as far as I was concerned, to stress the need to recreate the conditions of an ordered monetary system with currencies sufficiently stable and reflecting the actual evolution of economies. That is a need felt by us all. The Prime Minister of India and the Prime Minister of New Zealand were right to issue an appeal for international monetary co-operation. The seven industrialized countries decided at Williamsburg to consider the role that could be played at the right time by a monetary conference with a view to improving the international monetary system. This, I know, is something that will take a great deal of time and requires very thorough preparation, and all the countries interested must be involved in this enterprise. Consideration of stricter rules for the establishment of exchange parities, diversification of reserve instruments, agreement on a rate of evolution of international liquidities, definition of the necessary disciplines in the light of the specific economic and social situations of each country—these are the principal subjects to which thought should be given.