UN General Assembly
1974

The Brazilian Government, which does not refuse to make use of or to resort to consultation between Governments in this as in any other matter, and which has resorted to this method of procedure frequently in the past, cannot 'accept the perversion of the cooperative function of consultation by questioning the sovereignty of States. For this reason we think it is our duty to awaken the consciences of Governments to the implications of principles of consultation that would injure the sovereign right of countries to use their natural resources, and that, though seemingly constructive, would be potentially disruptive to the international order, which it is our aim to preserve, and an impediment to the material progress of nations, which it is our objective to stimulate. We should all be aware that natural resources, the use of which it is intended to regulate in opposition to the sovereign decisions of territorial Governments, do not flow over ground only. There are those that flow beneath the ground, as there are those that flow in the territorial sea.