): I should first of all like to convey the greetings of the President of Kenya, H.E. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, to the twenty-seventh session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
2.	My delegation also wishes to convey its felicitations to the newly elected President of the General Assembly, Mr. S. Trepczynski, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Polish People's Republic. With his dedication to the ideals of the United Nations, his wide experience and exceptional ability, the present session should sail to a successful conclusion.
3.	The outgoing President, Mr. Adam Malik, the Foreign Minister of Indonesia, conducted the business of the twenty-sixth session with dispatch, fairness and exceptional skill. To him we express our deep gratitude.
4.	My delegation deems it appropriate to address a word of welcome to the new Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, who has, indeed, inherited an exacting job. We have no doubt that, with his proven competence and total commitment to what the United Nations stands for, he will perform brilliantly in his high position of service to humanity at large. Those of us who know the Secretary-General well are conversant with his deep interest in Africa. His sustained efforts to promote decolonization and development have been noted with appreciation throughout Africa. His deep commitment to accelerated disarmament is also very well known and appreciated in our continent.
5.	Every year we congregate ritually in New York for the General Assembly session. Every year we return to our countries having passed a vast number of resolutions and having poured out endless rhetoric that gets recorded in documents of the United Nations that are produced by the ton. However, strangely enough, a program of action, particularly in the political arena, is conspicuous by its absence; expressions of pious hope find no concrete reality; swelling rumbles of economic discontent pass unnoticed; threats to peace continue in ever-widening dimensions. International issues of a complex nature are tainted by competing ideologies and cold war politics and polemics. The Security Council finds itself locked in bitter debate and magnificent inaction in emergency situations. The liberation of over 30 million enslaved and colonially dominated Africans still remains an undischarged responsibility on the part of the international community. Escalation of conflict through massive injections of sophisticated arms to areas of potential and actual war are too frequent. Economic development in the third world remains at an embryonic stage. World markets, advanced technology and international finance are still the zealously guarded preserves of the affluent States. Although new horizons are opening up in space technology, the exploitation of resources of the sea and the application of environmental controls, it remains to be seen how the newly emergent nations would share the ensuing benefits.
6.	It is necessary that certain basic needs be met before peace can triumph over conflict, before understanding can dispel mistrust, and before co-operation can replace political inducements and friction.
7.	The primary need must necessarily be that the interests of nations, small and large, rich and poor, are equitably accommodated to promote peace. It is necessary that international relations must be democratized to enhance understanding, promote co-operation and ease tension.
8.	The historic visits of President Nixon, first to China and later to the Soviet Union, have set in motion the process of detente. This is of monumental importance to orderly world relations and must be carried out to more extensive limits. It is only through personal contact, the objective evaluation of the inextricably bound up interests of all nations, the acknowledgment of existing realities and a certain grant of mutual concessions, that tension can be lessened.
9.	East and West Germany have constructively and positively adopted this approach, which promises to bring ultimate political stability, understanding and co-operation to Europe, long and repeatedly subjected to the savagery and horror of countless wars.
A/PV.2039
10.	The recent dialog between North and South Korea, after years of bloodshed, sustained propaganda and incalculable loss of life and property, is another forceful reminder of the wisdom of a policy of conciliation and restraint as compared with that of armed confrontation and naked aggression.
11.	The decades-old bitter dispute between India and Pakistan, which was responsible for four devastating wars in 25 years, has also been made amenable to peaceful settlement through direct contact between the leaders of the two countries. That is why my country warmly welcomed the Simla Agreement for the normalization of relations between the two countries.
12.	In the same context I cannot but hope earnestly that the tragic and prolonged war in Viet-Nam will also respond to the same process. Negotiations in Paris to terminate this war seem to be making satisfactory progress. We long for the day when, through negotiation, a permanent, equitable and honorable settlement will be arrived at, not in the field of battle but round a conference table.
13.	Kenya applied the same sentiments and hopes to the situation in the Middle East where no peace has been known for almost a generation and where blood-letting, reprisal measures and indiscriminate loss of life and property characterize relations among the embattled nations. "Die Kenya Government continues to hope that Security Council resolution 242 (1967) will prove to be the corner-stone for a just, durable, and an expeditious settlement of the Middle East crisis.
14.	I should also refer to some of the most explosive disputes that were defused peacefully on the African continent. I need only refer to the last Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity [OAU], which met in June 1972 in Rabat, where Algeria and Morocco buried the hatchet over the territorial dispute that had plagued their relations for a number of years. This is what we call in Africa today "the spirit of Rabat". We hope it will spread like wildfire to all other troubled spots in the world.
15.	We certainly hope that the spirit of Rabat will prevail over the present troubled situation in East Africa which imperils the traditionally fraternal relations among the countries of the region. My Government will steadfastly work for the peaceful solution of any problems that have arisen and will demonstrate in action its deep concern for the preservation of the East African community and for the smooth running of its common services. Our salvation lies in accommodation, not confrontation; in peace, not warfare; in understanding, not acrimony. Our common destiny, future aspirations and past heritage only emphasize this necessity.
16.	The next cardinal responsibility that we must discharge is that of eradicating colonialism once and for all. Despite the fact that the world has witnessed an era of decolonization where no fewer than 41 States attained independence and sovereign equality in the comity of free nations, vast areas in Africa remain afflicted with minority racist regimes. Millions of Africans in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau) are held in colonial bondage by supremacist and unrepresentative orders.
17.	The Africans, under repressive laws and police terror, are denied fundamental rights to life, liberty and property. The rule of law does not exist. Judicial safeguards such as they exist in theory are fictional. Arbitrary exercise of authority and abuse of discretionary powers are commonplace and highly rewarded. Large-scale eviction of Africans from settled areas and their replacement by whites from the unemployment pools of Europe is the official policy, which is being carried out ruthlessly without ever arousing qualms of conscience in anyone in authority. Generous supplies of military hardware to the supremacist regimes flow in from countries which never tire of proclaiming their love for liberty, equality and fraternity. Actually they play the role of death merchants under the guise of angels of peace and security. They are openly militarizing the racists to increase their oppressive capacity and to enforce their racist laws with unprecedented harshness. The immense natural resources of these captive lands are exploited to enrich the racist overlords, who live affluently by the toil, tears and sweat of the Africans. Apartheid, the epitome of racism and organized State terror, is being systematically and unashamedly extended to Namibia and Rhodesia.
18. In Zimbabwe the categorical rejection of the Anglo- Rhodesian settlement terms by the overwhelming majority of the people of Zimbabwe must be followed by concrete steps, such as the following:
(a)	A constitutional conference of all interested parties should be convened under the aegis of the United Nations. The fundamental purpose of the conference would be to accelerate the advance to African majority rule in Zimbabwe.
(b)	The scheme of sanctions should be strengthened and stringently applied. The sanctions should be made more comprehensive and should be applied to the ports of Beira and Lourenzo Marques.
(c)	Any country that commits violations of the United Nations-imposed sanctions should be identified and exposed. Member States of the United Nations may thereafter invoke such retaliatory action as they deem appropriate with regard to the offending States.
(d)	The United Nations should consider recommending to States the refusal of landing rights to national airlines which land at Salisbury and whose Governments permit Rhodesian airplanes to land in their countries.
(e)	All postal, telegraphic and related communications between Rhodesia and the States Members of the United Nations should be cut off.
(f)	The United Nations should work out a scheme of confiscation of Rhodesian exports of tobacco, asbestos, chrome and other Rhodesian minerals at the place of entry in the importing country.
(g)	Ways and means should be found to secure the expulsion of the South African military units and police contingents now stationed in Rhodesia.
(h)	All Governments, organizations and private institutions should be urged to render moral and material assistance to the liberation movements of Zimbabwe, which operate both internally and externally, in order to oblige Smith to disgorge his political power in Rhodesia.
(i) All States bordering Rhodesia which fear aggression from Rhodesia, South Africa and the ruling Portuguese clique should be given guarantees of protection by the United Nations. Considering the armed aggression that continues to be unleashed systematically by the Portuguese colonialists against Guinea, Senegal, Zambia and the United Republic of Tanzania, the need for such guarantees is obvious. What is most important is that these guarantees should be made enforceable and should not remain mere paper commitments.
19.	With regard to Angola, Mozambique and Guinea (Bissau), increased assistance of every form to the gallant liberation movements operating in those Territories is essential. Already vast areas have been liberated. Rehabilitation facilities are being made available with the assistance of world churches and other Governments, institutions and individuals that espouse the cause of African independence. The enlightened elements within Portugal, aware of the turbulent winds of change, must recognize the futility of a Portuguese colonial war in Africa. The States Members of the United Nations must not be fooled into believing that weapons and equipment supplied to Portugal through the sources of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] for the defense of Europe are not systematically channeled into the Portuguese Territories to annihilate the African aspirations to independence.
20.	Large countries which are friendly to both Africa and Portugal and which share and maintain political, social and cultural ties with Portugal can exercise decisive influence in changing oppressive Portuguese policies. Such countries are sympathizers with the African cause for freedom and independence. We should ask them to use their unique position and good offices to advance self-determination in the Portuguese Territories in Africa.
21.	With regard to Namibia, my Government shall support every endeavor aimed at securing an effective United Nations presence and control in this Territory. This is in conformity with the decision on Namibia taken by the International Court of Justice, last year,  the resolutions of the General Assembly and the various decisions of the Security Council on this subject. I also wish to register the strongest condemnation and indignation on the part of my Government at the attempts being made by South Africa to extend the discredited system of apartheid to Namibia. The spontaneous and wide-spread reaction against this policy in so-called native homelands constitutes a clear verdict of its rejection by the people of Namibia as a whole.
22.	The position of free Africa on the vital question of decolonization is crystal clear. We have made every concession, explored every possibility and consulted every interested party to arrive at a peaceful solution. However, all these efforts have been met with an unresponsive, rigid and uncompromising stance. Faced with this attitude of the minority regimes of southern Africa on the one hand and the immense suffering of the African people on the other, Africa can only work for a peaceful solution if possible, for diplomatic accommodation if just, and for resort to arms if necessary. All these options have been kept open.
23.	The Committee of Liberation of the OAU is continuing with the armed struggle designed to liquidate colonialism and its last vestiges from the soil of Africa. We ask for the help of every State member of OAU, the non-aligned movement and the United Nations in the discharge of this sacred and inescapable duty. We ask for this help in the interests of world peace, justice and the orderly conduct of inter-State relations throughout the world.
24.	The OAU mission on decolonization has traveled extensively and explained free Africa's viewpoint to leading world capitals. The results of this exercise have been encouraging. Enlightened world opinion, exposed to the new depths of savagery of the colonial regimes, has rallied to the African cause of freedom and independence. The World Council of Churches, the Governments of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and many private institutions and individuals have given assistance to the victims of colonial aggression in those Territories. Swedish and Italian firms have been persuaded to withdraw their participation from the Cabora Bassa project in Mozambique. In the present circumstances it can only be regarded as a colossal scheme of exploitation of the vast natural resources of Mozambique. It is also noteworthy that member States of NATO, like Norway, have in the NATO Councils openly condemned Portuguese colonialism in Africa. We appeal to the other members of that alliance to emulate the courageous Norwegian move, which will greatly accelerate decolonization in the Portuguese-held Territories of Africa.
25.	Now that world opinion is focused on the untold suffering, injustice and humiliation heaped on the colonized people, the United Nations must give a renewed lead to liquidate colonialism and its consequences from the world scene.
26.	Political independence by itself lacks substance unless it is complemented by economic freedom. This can only be derived from developing a self-generating economy to produce wealth for the benefit of all the citizens of a State. To achieve this objective all national resources, human and material, must be marshaled intelligently for nation- building on a basis of self-reliance. Foreign aid alone is not sufficient for nation-building; the self-help effort is of paramount importance in reducing total dependence on foreign aid.
27.	The development effort must be identified with intensified trade and co-operation, diversification of industry, modernization of agriculture, and the provision of facilities for employment, education, social welfare, and so on. This exercise, in turn, can only produce beneficial results if it is based on access to technology, capital and planning techniques. If their proper utilization in the development endeavor can be ensured, corrosive poverty can be eradicated, wide-spread illiteracy progressively reduced and rampant disease substantially controlled.
28.	On the international plane the developing countries in collectivity must gain liberal market access in the developed countries for their primary commodities and manufactured and semi-manufactured articles. Newly emergent nations must ensure that they enjoy an increasing share in world trade, which has been markedly shrinking every year.
Stability of prices for their primary commodities must be secured if their fragile economies are to withstand success-fully the thrusts of unpredictable economic changes. International monetary reforms must take account of the vital interests of developing countries, whose economic system can fall an easy prey to the decisions of a few rich countries. The development endeavor can only become concrete and effective if transfer and implantation of technology in developing countries can be achieved. It is necessary that the receiving State should be able to develop technical capacity as well as a capacity for inventiveness. This should be the essential role of technical assistance and co-operation. All these objectives form part of the International Development Strategy for the implementation of the Second United Nations Development Decade [resolution 2626 (XXV)]. It is therefore essential that, through a co-ordinated exercise, the developing countries in collectivity exert maximum pressure on every platform to achieve the objectives outlined above.
29.	The developing countries must take full advantage of the new vistas opened by science and technology in the field of outer space and the environs of the oceans.
30.	New scientific and technological break-through have enabled man to exploit the vast resources of the oceans and the seas which have been inaccessible hitherto. It is now universally recognized that these resources, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, constitute the common heritage of mankind and are not subject to national appropriation by any State, and that this area should be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. It remains to give substance and detail to these important principles. This should be done through effective international machinery and subject to equitable and orderly exploitation and utilization of the resources of the sea for the development of all countries.
31.	It will of interest to the General Assembly to note that my country put proposals to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction which met in Geneva [A/8721, pp. 180-182]. We have proposed the establishment of exclusive economic zones beyond national waters for the primary benefit of the peoples of the coastal areas and of their economies. It is intended that such States should exercise sovereign rights over natural resources within the economic zone for purposes of the exploration and exploitation of living and non-living resources of the sea and for research. Such States should be empowered to prevent and control pollution without prejudice to freedom of navigation, freedom of over-flight and freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines in conformity with recognized principles of international law. It should be noted that our proposal expressly guarantees the rights of land-locked States of every description. We hope that it will be received sympathetically by States Members of the United Nations.
32.	Environmental control is a subject that has aroused intense interest on the part of every State throughout the world. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment recognized that for developing countries the problems of the human environment arise from conditions of poverty and underdevelopment, whereas for developed nations such problems arise from affluence and pollution. We must ensure that these questions of the human environment are treated within the context of development. Therefore all environmental actions of the United Nations must be integrated within the existing objectives of the Second United Nations Development Decade.
33.	The Stockholm Conference recommended the establishment of a 54-member governing council for environmental programs.  The capital of my country, Nairobi, was mentioned as a possible location for its secretariat. My Government would be happy to accept that suggestion.
34.	In conclusion, I have outlined my Government's position on some of the fundamental issue: t :at confront us today. In the spirit of the United Nations Charter and in conformity with its aims and objectives, the world community, through the United Nations, must work together for the liberation of the colonially-dominated peoples, for the economic advancement of all peoples, for the conquest of disease and illiteracy and for the improvement of our environment and the exploitation of the vast resources of the sea for the benefit of all peoples. Let us work to replace confrontation with negotiation, mistrust with good faith and impressive rhetoric with effective action.


It is an honor for me to come to this rostrum at the United Nations and to speak in this forum where we meet every year to resume the threads of the great international dialog and to expound the basic positions of countries on the problems affecting relations among States within the framework of this Organization.
134.	May I at the outset convey to you, Mr. President, the warmest congratulations of my Government, and my own personal congratulations, on your well-earned election. In choosing you the General Assembly has done nothing other than pay a tribute to your noble country and to the years that you have devoted to the cause of peace and to the Organization itself in the many and delicate responsibilities that your Government has entrusted to you.
135.	I can not fail to pay a tribute to Mr. Adam Malik, whom the Peruvian Government had the honor to receive as a guest during the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 developing countries in Lima. His ability and tact ensured the harmonious development of the General Assembly's debates at its last session.
136.	May I also sincerely congratulate Mr. Kurt Waldheim on his designation to his highly sensitive post. The new Secretary-General of the Organization is a personality whom we know well from his earlier diplomatic activities in his country's service, in which he showed outstanding ability and a special vocation for the ideals of peace. This gives us assurance that his leadership of the Secretariat will be guided by the same principles and qualities.
137.	The Government of Peru wishes to pay a tribute of profound respect to former Secretary-General U Thant, who for 10 years unselfishly gave himself to the tasks of building a world at peace. To achieve such a noble goal, U Thant bent his most serious efforts and earned the appreciation of the international community.
138.	We are witnessing a qualitative change in contemporary history: the classic economic and social systems and the political and philosophic tenets on which they rested are being revised. A new revolutionary stage in the history of mankind is emerging, whose basic trend is the search for new approaches which will make possible the achievement of peace and security in justice, both domestically kid in international relations.
139.	From the very outset of its task of transformation, the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of my country realized that it would be impossible to succeed unless that task was understood as a shattering of internal domination and external dependence, key contributing factors to under-development. A real transformation of the social and economic structures that would alter the relations of political power in our society so as to create a democratic, humanistic and just community was not feasible unless our efforts were directed simultaneously abroad, whence, to a large extent, originated the major events that took place within our country.
140.	During the four years it has been in power a period completed just a few days ago, on 3 October the Revolutionary Government has been laying the ideological and political foundations on which it is building the new Peruvian society. These foundations were clearly defined by the President of the Republic, General Juan Velasco Alvarado, when in July of this year he stated:
"The revolution aims to create a pluralist economy, based on three fields of activity: a sizable State sector, a private sector of reformed enterprises enjoying all the guarantees of stability and respect which it requires, and a social property sector to whose support the State will give priority-all three aimed at the creation of a social democracy of full participation for all."
141.	The economic pluralism to which I have just referred will permit real and progressive participation by citizens at all levels in the decisions which affect their destiny. Policy, understood in its wide sense as action on the social whole, will be exercised on a community basis in the daily activities of the citizens, who in taking decisions on their enterprises, their institutions or their trade unions will be deciding on and guiding the fabric of their society at their own particular levels.
142.	There can be no true revolution without a transformation in man. Structural change means, basically, a change in mentality within the social and economic process. That is why new guide-lines were necessary in the field of education. The new Education Act sets up a new system in this decisive field and will progressively lead to a better and more adequate adaptation of our people to their environment. If we want true culture and not a transplanted culture, we must teach man to know and to recognize himself within the specific confines of the environment in which he is destined to live. His world must be created and organized around the everyday experiences of his own life and from this fruitful interrelation there must emerge a new culture that will place him, and allow him to know how to fit himself into his rightful place, individually and socially. We can be sure that the Peruvian who emerges from this process will achieve a worthy and independent society, humanistic and free, qualitatively different from the one that has existed until now.
143.	The transcendental events that spelled the beginning of our revolutionary process and that are known to this Organization were followed by the clear-cut definition of the principles and acts that Peru considers would constitute a foreign policy in keeping with the new reality which is felt in all our sovereign undertakings and which is consistent and consonant with our domestic policy.
144.	Development was not possible without breaking the circle of dependency. That is a collective task, one that calls for full awareness of self and faith in our destiny as a community that is emerging in the form of healthy nationalism, which is the most important factor in our social identity and in our integration as a country.
145.	Nationalism and independence are therefore the pillars of our foreign policy nationalism as the recognition of ourselves; independence that allows us the freedom of decision necessary to achieve our destiny.
146.	Thus the principles of universality in our foreign relations and the respect for ideological plurality are the ground rules that govern our relations with regard to the changing international scene. We have acted consistently and initiated dialogs with all countries of the world, establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, Albania and New Zealand, as well as extending recognition to Bangladesh.
147.	The world of the cold war, built around two hegemonic centers of power from whose unlimited strength it was almost impossible to escape, has now become a multi centered structure of varied balance in which alliances are not total or antagonisms final and in which the search for satisfaction of the interests of the smaller countries is feasible given the wider margin of play. The awakening of the third world is, in this process, one of the most significant events of our times. The full and honest incorporation of Latin America in the process of awakening is an especially enlightening development.
148.	In Latin America we recognize the existence of individual and differing ways that do not gainsay the community of interests of the continent, which is embarked on a course towards economic independence. We share similar problems of under-development, culture and our undeniably common origin. In this interaction within the structural unit of which the Latin American peoples consist, there must be recognized variables between agreement and disagreement, and between greater and lesser relationships, as occur in the life of human communities. Yet it would be difficult for us to understand our relations in terms of hegemonies, of positions of predominance that might, in themselves, contradict the traditional fraternal relations that we have maintained even when differences have appeared.
149.	The common economic and political experience in foreign affairs has given Latin America a structural character that goes beyond the mere convergence of culture and mentality. It now possesses its own genuine history, formed within its own tangible circumstances, forged in the defense of common interests in the face of external pressures that affected all equally-a history that has been woven around shared interests, but also let us say so frankly around shared frustrations. This concept of Latin American existence has already begun to foreshadow the outline of the whole, which knows itself to be varied and sees itself as different within the international concert. Yet this very concept endows it with an awareness of a self that has emerged individually from among its components as a sort of Latin American nationalism that, ultimately, will carry us to the point where our histories will converge in a form of communitary integration.
150.	At present, the relaxation of tension is a process that touches every sector of the globe and, within it, we have constantly claimed a relocation of Latin America within the new context which, precisely because of its flexibility, may well be favorable.
151.	It was this conviction that led us to submit our request of April last to the Organization of American States. In that request we contended that change had also made itself felt in America, and that therefore there was no justification for the isolation from the system of one of our sister Republics.
152.	To uphold in 1972 the views that in 1964 led to the adoption of measures against the Republic of Cuba is to deny the advance of history, the evolution of ideas, and the qualitative changes that occur in the lives of peoples.
153.	In July of this year Peru had the great satisfaction of renewing diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba, firmly convinced as it is that fraternity lies not in words but in deeds.
154.	From its very inception, the Revolutionary Government of my country has encouraged integration efforts in Latin America, aware that a truly liberating economic process cannot be completed without the integration of vast geo-economic areas which will allow the use of scale economies, which alone can ensure full development and are able to compete on the world market.
155.	The Treaty establishing the Latin American Free Trade Association was, therefore, a fundamental contribution to the formation of an integrationist mentality in Latin America, and has permitted the creation of the Andean Subregional Integration Agreement, which has acquired tremendous impetus.
156.	The agreements recently arrived at within the frame-work of the Andean Agreement are clear proof of the firm desire for integration that fills and inspires the countries parties to the Agreement. Integration, for us, is basically an undertaking for joint development, in which the creation of the productive machinery is from the outset converted into a common task. The approval of the joint industrial program for the establishment of the machine-tool industry shows the degree of compromise and the dimensions of the problems of development and, also, the will to arrive at a true agreement on integration.
157.	Together with all other Latin American countries, Peru is undergoing profound transformations and finds itself aligned with the countries of the third world, with, which we share a common denominator: under-development. For when we clearly understood the realities of our life as an under-developed and dependent society undergoing forms of domestic domination that were an extension of foreign dependency, we also discovered that our condition was shared with the countries of the third world which, in different ways, are tending towards liberation. Thus we find ourselves in a new situation. We are part of the so-called third world which daily, with wealth, generated out of its own poverty, contributes to the opulence and the power of the industrialized societies.
158.	We also realized that political independence is not enough to achieve true emancipation; that there persist subtle forms of political, economic, finance and technological domination geared to the maintenance of old forms of domination. Under-development is, to us, therefore, a multidimensional phenomenon. It emerges in the economic field but does not end there. It spreads to the entire social fabric and affects the cultural, ideological and political fields.
159.	The multi centered world that is emerging today must, as it does, show an equal multiplicity of structures in the economic fields, where the process of political detente must also be reflected. But if this were not enough to contribute to an improvement in the conditions of development of the third world, then we could not, in justice, contend that the risks of a conflict have diminished. For peace and prosperity that are founded on a position of structured under-development at the international level will always be precarious, no matter how noble and worthy the political and trade agreements worked out by the major Powers.
160.	The results of the three sessions held by UNCTAD, and especially that held this year in Santiago, have convinced us of the need to restate their supporting rationale in order to restore the mystique that surrounded them at the outset and that aroused so many hopes in our hearts.
161.	Within a new articulation of the world's economic affairs the third world must devise a consistent and united strategy that will make of it a single and sufficiently powerful unit. Our countries should continue to group together on the basis of productive interests, in order to acquire genuine negotiating strength that will ensure better prices for our products. This in turn will lead to our increased participation in the profit earned from trade in those products and thus we shall be in a position to recover sovereign control over the natural resources which give rise to that wealth.
162.	In the circle of domination and dependence which characterizes the structure of the relations .between developing and more industrialized nations, there is an element of distortion that contributes to imbalance, I refer to the multinational corporations on firms which have acquired a marked economic, financial and political influence in States, whose participation in world trade and capital flow is much larger than that of many countries, and which very often evade the traditional pattern of payments. The third session of UNCTAD showed the growing preponderance of these corporations that control between 20 and 30 per cent of the output of world trade, and alarm was expressed over their speculative role in the world monetary crisis.
163.	Thus far, the United Nations has not been able to deal with this important aspect of development but this failure will allegedly be corrected by means of resolution 1721 (LIII), recently adopted by the Social Council, which requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations to designate a group of experts to study the behavior of such multinational corporations, particularly in the developing countries, and their impact on international relations, so that their recommendations may guide Governments both in the adoption of sovereign decisions and in agreeing on appropriate international action.
164.	In the light of all these circumstances, which clearly highlight the problem of under-development and in the light of the political and economic reality which determines and conditions under-development, a most valuable initiative emerged from the third session of UNCTAD, namely, the idea of preparing a charter of the economic rights and duties of States and of establishing the relevant machinery for such a Charter. At the sUbregional, regional and world levels, Peru has taken an active and constant part in the laying down of principles to govern economic relations among States, and we are ready to participate also in this fundamental task of creating an appropriate international legal framework.
165.	The monetary crisis, its restrictive effects on trade and finance, and the Smithsonian Agreement, adopted without the participation of the developing countries, have had consequences that are prejudicial to the countries of the third world through their net losses in their dollar reserves as a result of the readjustment of exchange rates and other unfavorable developments in their terms of trade as well as the burden of foreign debts.
166.	The need to ensure the participation of the developing countries at the decision-making level in monetary and trade questions of vital importance to the international community was the purpose of the initiative strongly urged by Peru in the Group of 77 developing countries concerning the creation of an intergovernmental group on monetary questions. The final constitution of the group and the important recommendations made therein are to be presented now to the Committee of 20, established by the International Monetary Fund. We trust that an over-all solution to the monetary problem will be found through that group. If not, it will inevitably have to be sought in a world monetary conference, as was initially proposed by Peru.
167.	With regard to the forthcoming multilateral trade negotiations to be held in 1973 within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the developing world has clearly defined the- principles that must govern the talks to avoid the marginalization of which it was the victim at the time of the last Kennedy Round. A further postponement would have dire effects on the economies of the members of the Group of 77 and, hence, on the welfare and progress of more than two thirds of mankind.
168.	International assistance is a duty and not philanthropy. Through it, the industrialized nations return a minimal part of what we have unquestionably provided them for the consolidation of their development and power. Aid, in order to deserve that name, must be free and not subject to contractual conditions. Peru rejects the type of assistance that is burdensome, that carries conditions and is provided on terms of political and economic subjugation, for it then becomes a pressure tool to bend the will of the needy countries against their own interests. Far from encouraging development, such assistance generates further poverty and dependency and belies the most elementary principles of international co-operation, which is intended to channel multilateral aid that should be accompanied by safeguards for sufficient decision-making power without the existence of pressures of any kind. My country, from its own experience, knows the stumbling blocks and difficulties encountered by requests for financing submitted by countries seriously embarked upon an independent course of development.
169.	But assistance must also be sufficient to reach the targets set by this Assembly itself for the Second United Nations Development Decade. According to the Assembly official financial assistance to the third world should be equal to 0.7 per cent of a country's gross national product.
170.	Although some industrialized countries have advanced towards this goal, the President of the World Bank himself has admitted that by 1975 average official assistance will have reached merely 0.35 per cent, that is, half of the target for the Second Development Decade. Yet this is happening at a time when the gross national product of the industrialized countries is increasing rapidly, leaving the developing countries behind and, most important of all, dramatically widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor countries of the world.
171.	Obviously, this situation cannot continue indefinitely and if the flow of official financial assistance settles at a level that is considerably below the target set for the Decade, which seems likely at present, then the international community will sooner or later have to face the need to reassess and restructure the terms of foreign indebtedness of the developing countries, whose fledgling economies will no longer be able to carry the burden of a growing mortgage upon their income, which is, unfortunately, all too often the experience of the countries which make up the third world.
172.	Regarding the question of the law of the sea, events have taken place that are important for the nations that would establish a just order for the use and exploitation of the oceans.
173.	The People's Republic of China in the United Nations, jurists of Asian and African countries at Lagos, the participants in the meetings of the Special Committee on Latin American Co-ordination of the Group of 77, and of the Foreign Ministers of the countries of the Caribbean, as well as the recent official statement of the Government of Cuba all, in one way or another, reaffirm the right of coastal States to dispose of the marine resources within the Emits of their national jurisdiction limits which an increasing number of nations have proposed should be set up to 200 miles. UNCTAD included this right among its new principles. Support for this view was voiced anew by numerous countries from the various continents at the recent meetings of the Committee on the sea-bed designed to prepare for the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea. To all this must now be added the latest proclamations from the Governments of Gabon, Mauritania and Oman that extend the exercise of their jurisdiction beyond 12 miles and, in particular, the courageous attitude of the Government of Iceland to which my country reiterates its solidarity on this occasion.
174.	The facts mentioned are tangible and conclusive proof of the degree of international support achieved for the maritime doctrine which establishes a 200-mile limit in the new law of the sea.
175.	However, this vigorous trend does not seem to have been fully understood in all its implications by a small group of maritime Powers which are determined to establish a narrow zone of coastal jurisdiction in order to be free to exploit foreign waters at will.
176.	In any case, I believe it appropriate at this time to dispel any possible doubts on the issue by reiterating here the firm and unwavering position of Peru to maintain, and enforce respect for, our sovereignty and jurisdiction over the waters adjacent to our coast, including the soil and subsoil thereof to a distance of up to 200 miles, in order to promote the development and well-being of our people. This decision, not only adopted by the Government of Peru, but also shared by the Peruvian people as a whole for 25 years now, rests upon basic geographical, ecological, economic, social, political and juridical foundations that have been set forth at length in different international bodies and whose validity cannot be ignored since they flow from a law of nature and considerations of justice that must prevail over mercantile designs or the desire for hegemony of faraway nations, regardless of how powerful they may be.
177.	The resources of the bountiful fishing grounds lying off the coast of Peru whose existence would seem to be a form of compensation for the same natural conditions which determine the aridity of our coasts-are and will always be considered by Peru as an integral part of our nation's wealth whose use by our people no nation has the right to dispute. Let none believe that this truth-and this determination which is irrevocable can ever be flouted as long as one single Peruvian lives.
178.	The detente that is today clearly evident, has still not dissipated man's feeling that he is still living in the shadow of fear. The end of the dualist and antagonistic division of the world has in no way meant the end of power politics and confrontations which conditioned international relations over the last decades.
179.	Neither the sparse results of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva nor the negotiations at the highest level between the super-Powers have given sufficient hopes for a solution to the world disarmament problem. Furthermore, there seems to be every indication of a lack of a definite will to assert a realistic and honest policy which would lead to final disarmament.
180.	Furthermore, we cannot fail to mention-or, one might better say, to denounce the tendency among certain Powers to accuse the developing countries of fomenting arms races among themselves. Behind this fallacious allegation lies the definite purpose of disguising, on the one hand, the magnitude of their own burdensome expenditures and also, and perhaps primarily, of shifting the responsibility that they bear for the development of the poorer countries. I repeat here, we consider that security is conditioned by development and, therefore, it is not in our interest to expend enormous amounts on armaments.
181.	The great Powers, dominated as they are by the tyranny of technology, spend enormous amounts modernizing their weaponry without considering the already precarious state of world security and certainly without a thought for the legitimate rights and interests of the nations of the third world. My Government therefore supports a restructuring of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament to provide for the participation of all the nuclear Powers, and an increase in its membership so as to allow equitable representation for developing countries.
182.	If we have stated that the development of nations is closely linked to international security, it is obvious that world disarmament, and therefore nuclear disarmament, is the basic goal of all mankind at present. The vast sums spent on these activities and the dangers they represent to the human environment have repeatedly been considered by the international community in this Assembly and in other forums, such as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm last June, where we have asked for a condemnation of and a halt to nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere.
183.	Regrettably, we find that in the programs for nuclear weapon testing in the South Pacific, the announcement of a final suspension of tests in the atmosphere to be carried out over the Mururoa Atoll in the future has not been forthcoming. Peru once again condemns these tests and we shall continue to bend every possible effort to insure a cancellation of such nuclear tests which are undoubtedly a danger to mankind.
184.	At the present juncture in international affairs, Peru is following with great interest and, as is only natural, supports the general trend towards a relaxation of tension, as reflected in the establishment of talks at the highest level between China and the United States, in the Berlin agreements and in the understandings between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea on the independent and peaceful reunification of the country without interference by any foreign State. We are also encouraged by the agreement reached by Pakistan and India on a withdrawal of troops from the Asian subcontinent.
185.	The process of relaxation of tension which extends also to the European scene calls for a re-evaluation of the specific political and economic situation in that continent. This would seem to indicate the need for the holding of a conference on European security and co-operation which will doubtless spell the beginning of a new era in the relations among countries of the continent, the ramifications of which will affect the whole world.
186.	We are attending a new session of the General Assembly, and so far no peace has yet been achieved in the Middle East. Despite the efforts of this Organization, Security Council resolution 242 (1967) has still not been implemented. We repeat to this Assembly our conviction that any solution that we attempt to provide for the conflict in the Middle East must be fitted into the framework of that resolution if guarantees of lasting peace are to be achieved.
187.	We also consider it of the highest importance that the Suez Canal should be reopened, as was stated at the ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 and at the third session of UNCTAD. The continued closure of the Canal causes considerable damage to the economy of the area.
188.	In Asia, the Viet-Nam conflict shows no sign of ending soon. The forces involved continue their bloody struggle, magnified now by the use of sophisticated weapons. No thought is given to the terrible sufferings of a people that will not forget the horrors of this holocaust for centuries to come.
189.	The Revolutionary Government of Peru considers that in the case of Viet-Nam no matter what solution may be considered to end the war, it will obviously have to be based upon the exclusion of intervention by other countries, so that the people of Viet-Nam will thus be able to exercise its right to self-determination.
190.	Peru will support any endeavor designed to have our Organization assume its proper role in the urgent search for solutions to put an end to that conflict, consonant with the purposes and principles of the Charter.
191.	The threat to world peace and security as well as to the effectiveness of this Organization as an instrument for the peaceful settlement of international disputes becomes more acute in the face of persistent problems such as colonialism, racial discrimination and apartheid.
192.	Thus, consistent with its own traditions and its sincere belief in social justice, Peru reiterates its support for the Security Council resolutions condemning all colonialist policies and reaffirming the application of sanctions against Southern Rhodesia, as well as the resolutions of the General Assembly which repudiate all forms of racial discrimination and apartheid.
193.	The world as a whole was shaken by the tragic events that took place during the recent Olympic games. These events only strengthen the views of those who affirm that the present world, in a paradoxical way, is generating an infernal dialectic of violence to combat violence.
194.	The Peruvian Government morally repudiates acts of international terrorism which convert any region of the world, including countries that are not parties to any dispute, into zones of irrational and pointless violence. My country has therefore always advocated in absolutely clear terms international arrangements within this Organization to increase security in the world.
195.	My country understands that very often violence is only a mistaken outlet for despair originating, perhaps, in conditions incompatible with the human condition. Social and economic conditions and the frustration of the just aspirations of peoples play an important role in this reaction.
196.	Peru condemns these acts recently committed against innocent victims, and also voices the most severe censure against other forms of violence that seek to obtain through vengeance what ought to be claimed from the human justice and the conscience of nations.
197.	The United Nations should become the definite means of reaching understanding among men and peoples; one through which differences will be overcome through a new approach, one by whose help the contradictions of wealth and poverty, development and under-development, will become less deep and lead to the humanization of men of all latitudes.
198.	In the era of revolutionary change in which we live an era in which ideas and customs, concepts and actions are questioned in depth the United Nations continues to provide the best and most appropriate framework for harmonizing change and overcoming conflict. The limitations in which this work is carried out do not detract from its importance or weaken our faith. The inconsistency between the lofty aims of the Organization and much postponed justice confirm our certainty that no solutions are possible without the will and true agreement of the parties involved.
199.	Now that a better disposition toward dialog and coexistence seems perceptible among nations in a spirit of understanding and respect for a reality consisting of a plurality of concepts and ideologies, we believe that Organization can fulfill its mission and come closer to its lofty aims. It is because of this that the people and Government of Peru sincerely renew once again their very firm and convinced adherence to the principles of the Charter and their confidence in the destiny of the Organization.


The United Nations continues to be the great hope for mankind to organize relations among States in a system based on peace and the dignity of the human person. On this road towards full justice the world becomes each day more united in its historic destiny. For this reason my opening words must be a greeting to those who constantly serve this ideal and, first of all, to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, and to the President of the General Assembly, who is presiding over our work with such impartiality and efficiency. This is the great forum of the nations, whose hallmark is freedom of expression and in which our problems can be discussed.
40.	The year that has elapsed since the last session of the General Assembly has confirmed the trend that we noted towards an almost total liquidation of the so-called cold war. This is a circumstance which is welcomed by all nations despite the difficulties still encountered in the work for peace. But it is a fact that hatreds are disappearing as are also the territorial scars of the frontiers whose recognition by the German nation was, until a short time ago, in doubt.
41.	Today there is the possibility of a policy of under-standing between Eastern and Western Europe, and the day is not far distant when the once separated blocs will begin talks on a European security agreement. This is a new example of the efficacy of regional security arrangements, which Latin America advocated at the San Francisco Conference as being the true interpretation of the precepts of the Charter dealing with regional arrangements, based on the Dumbarton Oaks proposals. At" that time this Latin American doctrine appeared to be a heresy from the universality of the principles of the nascent Organization, but time has shown that in the solutions of the problems of peace regionalism is the best way to achieve international co-operation.
42.	Furthermore, with the entry of the People's Republic of China the balance between the two super-Powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, has been replaced by a triangular concept of world decisions. Whatever our position may be with regard to the entry of that great Asian country to the world Organization, the fact is that the road has been opened to multi-polarity in international policy, which is further strengthened by the fact that the number of independent States which have shaken off the tutelage of colonialism and achieved the category of Members of the United Nations has increased steadily.
43.	In this last third of the twentieth century we are nearing a truly world-wide political order which has far outstripped the concept of exclusively European international policies. Never before, perhaps, has the United Nations been better able to aspire to universality and to being an Organization which represents all continents.
44.	Despite the good omens that encourage understanding among nations there has been unleashed on the world a wave of terrorism which manifests itself in different ways and which in some cases assumes the proportions of virtual political aggression. This violence does not stop at the borders of the countries in conflict, but takes place anywhere in the world, which is tantamount to a continuation of belligerency on neutral soil and makes victims among the peoples of countries completely outside the battle. This singular trend of our day seeks the methods of terrorism to introduce this new form of war among nations. This was the case in the events that recently took place during the Olympic Games in Munich, whose tragic results shook all mankind.
45.	Colombia condemns violence in any form whether it be personal attack, skyjacking, the taking of hostages, or collective massacres for all of them constitute a return by man to those eras which we had thought belonged to the past: the use of primitive means of violence to achieve political ends.
46.	The Charter lays down principles governing normal relations among Member States and we do not believe that they can be applied differently when law, reason and right must prevail over instincts of violence.
47.	We could never condone any type of attack or violence as licit forms of the struggle to solve international differences. Our civilization, already sorely beset by so many elements of violence, by individual crimes, by drug abuses, and even by the befouling of the air we breathe, will be even more seriously threatened and I would say doomed if those who practice sports, cultivate the arts and letters or proclaim peace are included among the belligerents in a conflict that is not of their making.
48.	But all violence has a cause, and the United Nations cannot overlook the fact that one of the aspects of the conflict in the Middle East-the destiny of the Palestinian people-is still awaiting solution. The problems involved in that long war are many, and a careful study must be made of all of them, as well as of the possibilities for peace which Colombia advocates and hopes will be based on justice and equity for the countries concerned, as stated in Security Council resolution 242 (1967), which calls for the integrity of States within secure and recognized frontiers.
49.	Terrorism has also assumed the equally dangerous guise of skyjacking, whose stigma as a specific crime will remain a simple academic matter until a clear procedure for extradition which we still await is evolved. While there exist countries that serve as privileged sanctuaries to the kidnappers, this other type of useless violence will persist.
50.	Solidarity among all nations must be tightened in order to eradicate the use of terrorism as a political weapon, as well as other forms of violence. But this presupposes the widest possible exercise of the self-determination of peoples as the guiding and basic tenet in the life of nations. The very Charter of our Organization sets forth this principle.
51.	Colombia has defended ideology and even economic plurality as facets of a policy of tolerance and respect for the self-determination of peoples regarding the choice of their own systems of government, and we feel that an effort that has been neglected for over 10 years that of determining of rights and duties of States should be resumed in order to draft a treaty to complement our Charter, which has left many blanks in the clear-cut definition of the true rights and duties of all States.
52.	Colombia is firmly convinced that self-determination of peoples is the key to peace, and its denial the beginning of war. Intervention is another ancient aspect of international life that has become anachronistic, now that powerful nations which fought in the last World War and which today represent different ideologies are tied by links of friendship and the Organization has approved so many declarations on peace and the rights of States by universal consensus.
53.	More than 60 nations that were mere colonies during the last World War have since become emancipated, and this process is irreversible and cannot be stemmed or interfered with by interventions that create fictitious situations. So the war in VietNam cannot be left as a war, with neither end nor victory for either of the belligerents until the right of self-determination of that people is fully recognized.
54.	New generations know well that war pays no dividend and that in a nuclear age it is as dangerous as to play with fire in an ammunition dump. Strictly local wars are a thing of the past, and whenever they may occur there is the inevitable fear of their spreading and of the indefinite continuation of the conflict where both troops and civilian populations suffer equally.
55.	War today is more cruel and destructive than before because of the sophistication of the weapons and the use of chemical and technological means for the extermination of the adversary. Today the entire nation is the battle field the nation with its open cities, its industrial complexes, its irrigation networks and its crops. "Total war", which in 1914 seemed an apocalyptic nightmare, has today become an everyday reality, a more harsh and cruel reality for those masses who are not to blame for living so close to the inferno. Thus we wonder whether the lessons of Korea today on the way to unification might not serve as a blueprint for the two parts of Viet-Nam which, after more than 10 years of destruction and scorched earth, lies desolate and wasted as the result of a war which General de Gaulle foresaw would leave only the dead, without victors or vanquished.
56.	The world in which we live is in essence a plural society in which no other stand is valid but that of the full recognition of the tangible and visible reality of the existence of a multiplicity of political and social systems.
Colombia has understood this fact and entertains relations with Governments of the most diverse ideologies and social disciplines, with the single and special understanding that none will interfere in our domestic affairs, as we would not interfere in those of others. For many years the Latin American regional system has been based upon precisely this recognition, as we stated during the visit to Bogota of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, my eminent friend Mr. Clodomiro Almeyda, when we proclaimed the need to recognize ideological diversity.
57.	The political regime of no country can be an export-able commodity. If we admit this irrefutable fact of our day, we will have made significant progress towards the building of a new international order characterized by mutual tolerance, respect for human rights and the general exercise of the right of self-determination of peoples. We must transfer to the international arena the same evolution that has taken place within the democratic and representative state, where parties coexist as organized elements for political and public action within the framework of the law.
58.	That same pluralism is carried over into the field of economics. The variety of systems in the world also applies to economic and social matters; and international organizations must start with the premise that their primary task is to build bridges between different types of society. World exchange is necessary among all countries for, when all is said and done, we live in a society in which progress must be intensively speeded up in order to cope with "revolution of rising expectations" which is occurring everywhere.
59.	Colombia has been following this practice and applying it constantly to our relations with other continents and in our own Western hemisphere, where, with the countries of the Andean region, we are making headway in our experiment to integrate our economies and harmonize our economic practices in order to make joint plans to do away with tariffs simultaneously and to set our common industrialization targets.
60.	Generally speaking, international treaties and agreements must be able to withstand the acid test of changes of government, for they cannot be considered as applying to specific persons or parties, ceasing to exist when these disappear, as were the family agreements of the monarchic period of Hie eighteenth century.
61.	An era of negotiations has, in fact, dawned in relations between the great Powers, quite in keeping with the system which we have termed the triangular system of world decisions. Those negotiations have borne visible fruits in the relations among those great Powers and obviously they have a beneficial effect on peace.
62.	The triangular system is extremely restricted, extending to a very few nations, and overlooks the rest, the medium-sized and smaller countries. Special envoys are reminiscent of the diplomacy of the last century, when there were no world or regional organizations of many ,nations linked by legal statutes establishing methods and ways of approaching the international problems and the means of solving the differences among States. Chapters VI and VII of the San Francisco Charter, which deal with the peaceful settlement of disputes and actions to be taken in case of threats or breaches of the peace or acts of aggression, seem to have been shelved. Excessive pragmatism on the part of the great Powers in the handling of world affairs has produced the strange phenomenon of the eclipse of the Security Council as the supreme body of the United Nations and the guide of the world political system as originally intended at the San Francisco Conference.
63.	The immediate prospects for the United Nations are not encouraging. Progress towards peace is not paralleled by the same progress in international institutions. The San Francisco Charter is tending to be replaced by a system of secret negotiations among the powerful nations, and a new Charter of an exclusively political nature is being formed through tacit agreements among the great Powers, relegating the earlier institutions set up by the Charter to a secondary place. And thus in a few years we might well be confronted by two statutes, the nominal San Francisco Charter, and the more real and effective Charter elaborated by the great Powers.
64.	This is a disturbing thing for the medium-sized and smaller nations, as has been recognized by our Secretary- General when, in the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization, he notes that the United Nations has "proved to be of limited value as an instrument of collective security" [A/8701/Add. 1, p. 1J. Without over-looking the special responsibilities resting on the great Powers, the Secretary-General quite rightly goes on to state:
"The world order that we are striving to build in the United Nations must meet the requirements of such a society" a world society, that is "and any other system, however effective in the past, obviously cannot be acceptable, in the long run, to the peoples of the world. The interests, the wisdom and the importance of the vast majority of medium and smaller Powers cannot, at this point in history, be ignored in any durable system of world order." [Ibid., p. 2.]
65.	The United Nations is limited by the circumstances that I have mentioned and, particularly, by the exclusive interplay of the interests of the great Powers themselves. Surely, we do not lack principles nor do we want for basic norms for peace but we are simply faced by the desire to consider them as nothing but a series of academic rules.
66.	We do not for a moment imagine that we can alter that triangular system which rules world affairs at the moment. But we do believe that we should at least try to revise some of the basic aspects of the Charter of the United Nations. Colombia pledged its unreserved support to the United Nations from the very first years of the Organization's creation and, despite the limitations we have mentioned, we are still of the opinion that in the San Francisco Charter lie the keys to peace and to understanding among peoples.
67.	The problem does not lie in new and solemn declarations of principle, but rather in a readjustment of out-mode procedures and models of conduct. No social organism can permit itself the luxury of immutability or of staying on the sidelines while great changes in the structure of countries and in the physiognomy of continents take place and when basic modifications in the technological capacities of mankind occur.
68.	One indispensable condition for the correct functioning of United Nations institutions is that the idea of disarmament should be made a reality. While countries of all the continents spend the astronomical figure of $200,000 million a year on armaments, as U Thant, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, pointed out not many months ago, no thought can truly be given to the full implementation of the legal processes established in San Francisco for the solution of international disputes that lead to so-called local wars.
69.	The excess of armaments in the world is one of the main obstacles to, the true fulfillment by the United Nations of its political and universal mission and it is one of the reasons for the survival of poverty and misery in many parts of the world. With an annual investment of $200,000 million, a considerable restriction is placed on the amounts that could be assigned for peace and the progress of the hungry, the illiterate and the disease-ridden peoples.
70.	In the Organization of American States, Colombia has raised the question of the need, even on the smaller scale of Latin American armaments as compared with those of the great Powers, of laying down proportionate yardsticks to avoid increasing unnecessary military expenditures.
71.	Disarmament is the corner-stone of the edifice of the United Nations. Any revision of the Charter requires and presupposes this condition which is as imperative for the great Powers as it is for the medium-sized and small States.
72.	Apart from the above, the basic Colombian idea can be summarized as the desire to eliminate outdated provisions of the Charter such as the mention of "enemy States" in Article 53, which resorts to a language that dates back to the Second World War of more than 30 years ago.
73.	We also believe that the powers of the Secretary- General, according to Article 99, should be strengthened. In this way, he would be able not only to "bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", but also to ask for the convening of a meeting of the Security Council whenever he deemed it appropriate. Because of his special experience and responsibility, the Secretary-General should be endowed with the power permitting him to call for a meeting of the highest body of the United Nations on questions of security and the maintenance of peace. We also seek greater decision-making powers for the General Assembly in the designation of the Secretary-General, allowing it to make a selection from a three-name slate submitted by the Security Council.
74.	On more important matters, Colombia has suggested: The widening of the universality of the United Nations by making it a right for all States to become Members, rather than a favor, as it is at present; the consideration of a new category of "Associated States" in order to settle the problem of the so-called "mini-States", thus making it easier for such States to enjoy economic and social co-operation and even co-operation in the political field and in that of security while not imposing on them the burdens of membership, which might be too onerous for them; the revision of the rules of the Security Council so that the unanimity of all five permanent members is not necessary in the case of simple elections to fact-finding committees or bodies dealing with humanitarian problems; the establishment of a peace force that will not be a fighting army, but a body intended to give military assistance in order to prevent certain areas from being totally unprotected or to guarantee peace formulas between former combatants; the updating of the functions of the Trusteeship Council in view of the fact that now only two territories of only relative importance fall under its jurisdiction and that even these territories are due to achieve autonomy in the very near future, when the Council will have no further duties and could be entrusted with trusteeship over human rights; the consideration of a closer relationship between the International Court of Justice and the tasks of peace as well as the creation of specialized branches for questions of a regional nature.
75.	A special matter which should be discussed in the Assembly, in an endeavor to equip the United Nations to meet the needs of the times, is that of co-ordination between the many and varied existing economic organs. The proliferation of international organs is far too well known to require further comment, but the multiplicity of economic organs both inside and outside the United Nations does call for comment. The delegation of Brazil has proposed that the Economic and Social Council, expanded and reorganized, should become the equivalent of the Security Council on economic questions. In principle, my delegation and Government support that idea since it offers us an opportunity to ponder co-ordination among boards, conferences, commissions, bodies, all of which, in one way or another, deal with the same matters and come to different conclusions.
76.	The United Nations was created when less than half the countries that today compose the third world were in existence when there was no hint of the claims submitted by the developing countries later at the three sessions of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTADJ, held at Geneva, New Delhi and Santiago in 1964, 1968 and 1972 respectively. The changes that have since occurred have completely transformed the nature of the discussions on international trade and economy.
77.	Therefore, it should be only natural for the Economic and Social Council to serve as a body to co-ordinate and make decisions on matters within its competence without prejudice to UNCTAD continuing to be the forum for discussions between the industrialized nations and the third world.
78.	One of the lessons that can be learned from the third session of UNCTAD is that the items to be discussed and dealt with among 140 countries of the most diverse economic capacities and geographical size should be more specialized.
79.	The 22 items included in the agenda for the third session in Santiago were in point of fact an agenda not only for one, but for two, or even three, conferences of that type. The items were so extensive and difficult-items such as the trade and economic aspects of disarmament; the repercussions of environmental matters on trade; the present international monetary situation; the encouragement of exports; non-tariff barriers-and even one item that belongs more properly on the agenda of the Security Council: the closure of the Suez Canal.
80.	We fear that these international conferences may easily lead to world-wide pandemonium, or to compromise resolutions that treat conflicting positions equally and refer them to study groups.
81.	Apart from this, the questions raised at the third session of UNCTAD were all so closely linked to the international monetary situation, that, without a solution to the latter great problem, it is almost impossible to speak of doing away with barriers and obstacles to increased trade. An international trade policy is basically a policy of prices and of remuneration for labor in all 140 countries that were represented at Santiago. That fair-price policy for labor in the developing countries must take into account the monetary fluctuations of the great Powers and the lowering of the purchasing power which these bring about.
82.	The disparities between the price system for industrial goods and the poor payment for raw materials are still all too obvious, and therein lies the major problem confronting the economy of the world.
83.	Without dwelling on individual decisions of the third session of UNCTAD on the various items on its agenda, what was most notable there was the will of the countries of the third world to participate in bodies whose decisions affect their economies-that is, ultimately, the very fate of their peoples.
84.	The bad precedent of a few and powerful countries possessing the power of decision on international monetary questions that affect all countries must be considered outmoded and should not be repeated.
85.	International democracy cannot be a mere skeleton- lifeless and still nor should it be only a literary subject worthy of mention at the inauguration of conferences and in welcoming speeches.
86.	The developing countries are beginning to take a decisive part in the international discussions on the law of the sea, whose evolution had, until a few decades ago, been subject to the control of the more powerful and wealthy nations.
87.	Narrow territorial waters and freedom of navigation had been the ideal set-up for the great maritime Powers in order to ensure them unhampered entry into all seas and the exploitation of the oceanic wealth of all continents. That situation, so typical of the colonial enterprises of the nineteenth century had, as one of its mainstays, the three-mile limit that some countries proclaimed as a principle of international law. But colonialism is no longer a reality of our day.
88.	As of 1945, and more noticeably since 1958, after the first United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, the developing countries conceived new formulas that constitute a trend towards reviving the rights of the coastal States
8
and their sovereignty over the wealth of the seas adjacent to their shores. This was due to very special situations which must be conceded by the great Powers, and among these was the need to protect the plankton that serves as feed for a great number of sedentary or benthonic species against the reckless exploitation and exhaustion of these resources.
89.	Following this line of thought, Colombia, together with 15 other countries of the Caribbean, formulated the doctrine of the patrimonial sea in the Declaration of Santo Domingo [A/8721, annex I, sect. 2], approved at the meeting of the Ministers of the Specialized Conference of Caribbean Countries on Problems of the Sea in June of this year. That doctrine is the most constructive and carefully weighed contribution made to date to find regional solutions on the basis of the existence of an economic zone and of the sovereignty of the coastal State over the exploitation of the resources of the sea adjacent to its shores.
90.	Our view is that the formula that is most closely akin to the legal realities of all continents is the one that recognizes an initial security zone, or territorial sea, of 12 nautical miles and an adjacent zone of primarily economic significance of variable widths up to 200 miles, depending on the width of the maritime areas and the location of archipelagoes in narrow seas like the Caribbean, where 200 miles cannot be drawn in all directions without infringing the sovereign rights of other States. The issue here is that those zones should allow freedom of navigation the jus communicationis and not become closed seas, and that at the same time, a unilateral proclamation should not infringe the sovereign rights of States with adjacent or facing maritime zones. We believe that those zones should be defined in international law, for we want to pass from the stage of purely unilateral declarations of claims by States to the stage of regional agreements governed by international law.
91.	Colombia has been willing to have talks with other countries of our hemisphere in order to co-ordinate the different interpretations of the 200 miles in a regional agreement. This would be at a conference of the Latin American States that could at the same time serve as a preparatory conference for the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea to be held in 1973. Our attitude is one of international co-operation, but we realize that a new phase of this field of law has been reached by the emergence of clear economic needs.
92.	The economic zones of the adjacent seas have even become a symbol of Latin American nationalism.
93.	The number of items that will appear on the agenda of the forthcoming Conference are increasing considerably. Perhaps the authors of General Assembly resolution 2750 C (XXV), calling for the Conference in 1973, did not quite appreciate the universal scope and the great variety of problems that would arise because of the political and economic realities, scientific progress and the rapid technological developments of the last 10 years. Apart from the purely juridical and political factors that tend to modify the 1958 concepts on the territorial sea, the continental shelf, the high seas and fishing rights, there are now the problems of pollution of the marine environment and international co-operation in oceanic research. If we add to these the complex questions of the sea-bed, we find that there will be too many subjects for a single conference of limited duration to deal with.
94.	Colombia wishes a program of work for that forthcoming Conference to be prepared here and now. It should not be impossible to envisage subdividing purely scientific questions, such as marine pollution and international co-operation in research, as well as certain aspects of the sea-bed, to form a special category of problems to be dealt with at special meetings within a co-ordinated work-plan, for the Conference must not become fragmented through a proliferation of items.
95.	On the other hand, the other legal and political questions would be dealt with as a whole in a program of work that will avoid confusion in the debates on matters of a complex nature for which delegations will have to prepare themselves, first of all, to decide upon a policy for the sea and then, and only then, to take up the discussion of carefully prepared texts of articles or paragraphs of resolutions or conventions. In the discussion of the problems of the sea, priorities must be established.
96.	In one word, the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea will have to set down criteria of its own on three main aspects: the expanded economic zones, the sea-bed and ocean floor, and the contamination and the ecology of the seas together with related scientific research. But at its present session, the General Assembly could make some progress with the organization of work.
97.	My country has a consistent and lengthy tradition of compliance with international law in dealing with all foreign affairs problems. I do not believe I would be overstating the case if I say that our international conduct has always been clearly in keeping with the precise terms of law and of treaties. We do not believe that might makes right, or that violence and intimidation can be instruments of international policies. Our frontiers are clearly marked and we aspire to the territory of no other country.
98.	Because of this constant principle of my country, we seek a more just world community governed by the norms and principles of. international law. We wish to see co-operation among States developing in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations not that we need principles and rules, but because we must have the will of all States to put them into effect. The international justice we advocate is not simply theoretical but is eminently practical, and is designed to find the causes of existing conflicts and to promote equitable treatment for the developing nations.
99.	The myth of peace must, in this last quarter of the twentieth century, become the effective reality of peace. Despite its obvious shortcomings, the United Nations is still a good means of seeking that goal that is so ardently desired by my country and the immense majority of men and women of all other countries of the world. The sufferings of the war-torn peoples are the best justification for our appeal for peace in justice and law.