UN General Assembly
1986

Over the past few years, there has been a great deal of consideration of this question. The very volume of such discussion shows that the international community has awakened to the seriousness and, at the same time, the complexity of the situation. Debt, in itself, is the consequence of the distorted development of the international economy which has brought us to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is for that reason that no one can any longer claim that the issue can be resolved in a purely mechanical manner by granting short-term facilities or through the simplistic application of miracle remedies. If we are to solve the problem in a lasting manner, we must tackle the root causes of the situation and not simply its effects. The world facing a crisis of exceptional gravity, a phase of structural adaptation in the international economy requiring greater international