UN General Assembly
1991

Trade and trade opportunities remain pivotal in any effort to reactivate the economies of the developing world. In those countries structural adjustment has been widely utilized in an effort to create economic structures that are rational, viable and self-sustaining. However, we are faced with a paradoxical situation. Competitive exports resulting from the structural-adjustment programmes and economic diversification that the developing countries were urged to undertake are being barred from the market-places in the North by a new wave of protectionism. Moreover, this coincides with a period of historically low commodity prices. These developments are very grave for developing countries and particularly for small economies in which production possibilities are limited by size and resource endowment.