UN General Assembly
1983

Past experiences have shown us that all peace-keeping operations must have a clearly defined and operationally feasible mandate. It should be a precondition that all parties to a conflict are ready and willing to co-operate with the peace-keeping force in discharging its mandate. The collective responsibility of all United Nations members for the financing of peace-keeping operations must be respected. Let me add that the Nordic countries have for many years had stand-by forces earmarked for United Nations peace-keeping operations. We are prepared to share our training programmers for the forces with other countries. The East-West relationship plays a dominant role in international affairs. Its impact is felt worldwide, but is of particular significance to the European countries, because it has a direct bearing upon their security situation. East-West relations in the early 1970s were characterized by the efforts to promote defense. This was above all marked by the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. We had hoped that this event would lead to moderation and restraint by all parties—also in the military Held.