UN General Assembly
1979

266. The year 1979 could have been a watershed year for the international community in its continuing debate on global economic reform. The fifth session of UNC- TAD and the Tokyo round of the multilateral trade negotiations were major events which held great promise for a new break-through in North-South relations, but then ended inconclusively. The urgent task of this session of the Assembly will be to find a way of restoring momentum to the debate on the establishment of a New International Economic Order, for the international community faces pressing and dangerous economic problems. The economic "ripple-effects" of this year's sharp price rises in oil have become painfully obvious—to developed and developing countries alike. The outlook is for severe disruption to the process of global economic growth. Sluggish rates of economic growth will inhibit the continued development of enlarged "northern" markets for "southern" goods—and vice versa. Heavier foreign debt burdens for many countries seem inevitable. Inflation, unemployment, balance of payments disequilibrium and protectionism will feed upon global economic uncertainty. The pressing need to develop new energy sources will be set back financially—and therefore technically.