UN General Assembly
1988

Progress in the political field is in sharp contrast with the prospects for international economic relations. The truth is that, with regard to the question of development, little or nothing has been accomplished in the past few years. The main consequence of this omission during the present decade has been that the developing countries, particularly those of Africa and Latin America, have not been able to contribute to the growth of the international economy in a manner proportionate to their potential. The growing external debt of those countries has caused a massive reverse flow of financial resources that is setting up insurmountable barriers against the imports of the developing world and is posing a formidable obstacle to the growth of world trade. Sharp increases in interest rates, restrictions on commodity trade and protectionist measures in the industrialized countries, along with the enacting of subsidies for their own agricultural exports, indicate the lack of a global development strategy.