UN General Assembly
1987

For the most part the decolonization process in the Pacific has been peaceful and has laid the basis for good regional co-operation. That tradition has been continued this year with the proclamation of the Compacts of Free Association of ' the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia. New Zealand welcomes them as new members of the South Pacific Forum. We look forward to increasing contacts with the Micronesian Governments in the years to come and to the fulfilment of the United Nations role in the Trust Territory of the Pacific. Political security must be reinforced by economic security. Not only in the South Pacific, but throughout the world, the effect of low commodity prices is having a serious effect. Growth in developing countries is expected to average only 4 per cent in 1987, half the average of the 1960s and 1970s. Hardest hit is the agricultural sector which, in low-income developing countries, employs 70 to 80 per cent of the population.