UN General Assembly
1985

The heavy external debt, which afflicts so many countries, is another crippling burden in the developing world. Some progress has been achieved in dealing with the debt situation, thanks to co-operation among creditor Governments, debtor countries, commercial banks, and international institutions. The strategy of adjustment, financing, and rescheduling has demonstrated an impressive flexibility in helping debtors. But, obviously, more adaptation is needed to meet the special needs of debtor nations. Deliberations in the United Nations help in fostering a better understanding of these economic problems and further the activities of various international institutions dealing with them. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have played a key role in this regard. We should ensure that they can and will continue to do so, taking due account of the particular problems facing individual States. The strains facing the multilateral economic system and facing its leading institutions must be dealt with. Bilateral relations between countries on the one hand, and the multilateral system on the other, ought to be mutually complementary and reinforcing.