UN General Assembly
1986

cooperation so that it will be more imaginative, more active and more pragmatic. I am fully aware that not everyone is convinced that this is necessary, but I think that the movement is in the right direction. France, for its part, believes that we must increase international co-operation in three areas. First, there must be increased financing for developing countries to loosen the grip of debt. I should add that there is no instance of a country that has not had to have recourse to substantial external financing during its industrialization phase. This is obvious, and in this area I note some progress, both in thinking and in conduct. Broad agreement is now emerging on the need to expand the role and enhance the intervention capabilities of multilateral development institutions Each of us recognizes that every other kind of financial assistance is also needed, in particular from international commercial banks and from States, in the form of aid for development and commercial credit.