UN General Assembly
1972

124. World trade unduly reflects power relations, and the imbalance in the terms of trade is a consequence of those relations. It is therefore quite normal, indeed, necessary, for the under-developed countries to strengthen their negotiating capacity by means of consultations and agreements so as to present a united front to the industrialized countries. Thus, the meetings of the Special Committee on Latin American Co-ordination, better known as CECLA, the prior meetings of the under-developed countries in UNCTAD, the meetings of countries exporting coffee and other products are all meetings which, like those on coffee, are devoid of any character of conspiracy and are alien to the purpose of organizing cartels. Nor do they intend to distribute markets among themselves or to exercise pressure on them. Their role is to bring about order and to defend themselves, and definitely tends to compensate for the negotiating weakness of one of the parties in order to restore balance of treatment in dealing with the industrialized countries, which daily raise the prices for their technology, machinery and services, but are alarmed when there is an increase of a few cents in the prices of the commodities they purchase from the under-developed countries. It can be demonstrated that over a 15-year period those few cents, which are very uncertain because they fluctuate, creating illusion and despair, are very much lower than rises sustained without any known decline in the cost of industrial products and technological services.