UN General Assembly
1973

69. My Government, since taking office, has been trying to put its convictions into effect — though I speak in no boastful way, for I am conscious of how small our efforts are when measured against the needs of others. But we are trying to translate into international terms the vision of a decent and humane society which motivates our domestic policies. We have reviewed our mutual assistance programmes against the internationally accepted targets which now form part of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)]. We did so because it seemed to us that there was no greater or more urgent priority confronting us in international affairs — at least among those priorities which we, as a non-great Power, were in a position to do anything about. We were especially concerned about the possibility of failure of the Strategy for the Second Development Decade implicit in the decision of many countries to maintain reservations about the targets of the Strategy. In a world where millions continue to go hungry New Zealand has not felt able to rest on its achievements despite a steady growth in the size of our aid programme in absolute terms.