UN General Assembly
1983

27. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago considers that development can best be pursued in a climate of peace and security. History has shown that arms races inevitably culminate in war. The arms race continues unabated, with little sign of any substantial change of attitude on the part of the major Powers. Some estimates give the amount spent on armaments over the past year as $650 billion—resources that are sorely needed for social and economic development. Apart from the actual expenditure on armaments, there are also the resources, human and financial, which are channelled into the disarmament effort and are thus deflected from constructive developmental activities.