UN General Assembly
1999

terms of trade, greater market access and more beneficial investments. The much vaunted new financial architecture that we seek to construct must be designed to enhance the independence of sovereign States. We can only do this through negotiated agreements that are fair, transparent and consensual and in which developing countries are given a real voice. We are heartened by the words of Mike Moore, Director-General of the WTO, who told us, members of the Group of 77, at Marrakesh that he is totally committed to ensuring that the WTO be a family in which every member has an equal place at the table and that trade liberalization bring real benefits to all countries, but especially to developing countries. We, the smaller and developing countries, must be the beneficiaries of unselfish actions on the part of our developed partners. We are aware that free trade can be kind to the strong and deadly to the weak, and so our call is this: Give us time to adjust and move our economies forward. Help us to develop our capacities and technologies