UN General Assembly
1978

193. Notwithstanding the engagement and commitment which genuinely characterized our efforts, the programme for the First United Nations Development Decade [resolutions 1710 (XVI) and 1715 (XVI)] —and, I dare add, the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)] — remained more a wish than a policy. The net aggregate flew of financial resources from the North to the South was still desperately short of. attaining the targets specified in the Strategy, and, even though there has been an over-all increase in economic growth over the last 30 years, the promise of the 1960s has not been maintained through the 1970s, and the gap between aspiration and achievement has widened. 194. Permit me to take this opportunity to record the appreciation of the Government of Sierra Leone of the decision of Her Britannic Majesty's Government to waive the debts of the poorest developing countries. In our view, this is a decision in the right spirit and direction. In the same vein we commend and applaud those other countries that had earlier done the same.