UN General Assembly
1992

progress has now made it possible to cure. Moreover, from recovery plans to adjustment programmes, the economies of many countries have lost their structure and become anaemic, and their Governments find themselves virtually powerless. The case of Africa, in this regard, is tragically instructive. Its economic growth rates have remained at their lowest in proportion to population growth; investments are rarely seen and infrastructure needs are the most significant. Here is a continent which is rich in minerals and mining resources but in which paradoxically most of the poorest countries are to be found. These sorry records are explained in part, by the youth of the countries that make up Africa. But they are the result, above all, of its raw materials and other products being sold at prices fixed outside the continent and most of the time in total disregard of its interests. This situation is all the more worrying because it has persisted I would even say worsened despite the efforts of African leaders to improve it, especially since the beginning of the 1980s.