UN General Assembly
1995

including respect for human rights, and to defend their right to access to the markets of the industrialized countries against tariff and non-tariff barriers, quotas, and downward spiralling in the prices of their raw materials. We can, however, point with pride to the way we fought for our demands for greater symmetry and fairness in commercial and economic relations. This in the end led to the establishment of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The San Francisco Charter illuminated like a powerful beacon the road to the future of the countries that had had to experience the difficult period of the bipolar world. For its part, the Dominican Republic, committed as always to the principles of the Charter, was able to attain the functional democracy we enjoy today. This took place within a world that has some 30 integration processes and has seen the emergence of three strong economic- integration blocs with their spheres of influence — such as the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — in addition to the Free Trade