I am very happy to be able to associate myself with the previous speakers from this rostrum in conveying to the President, Mr. Bouteflika, my warmest congratulations on his unanimous election to the Presidency of the twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly. Under his impartial direction and because of his distinguished statesmanlike qualities, our debates will certainly be conducted in the necessary atmosphere of tranquility, thus enabling the Assembly at the present session to achieve its objective of bringing peace and stability to the world in keeping with the role of the Organization.
3.	I should like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, whose tireless efforts for peace are familiar to everyone.
4.	It is a particular pleasure for me to be able to repeat our feelings of profound admiration for Mr. Leopoldo Benites, who conducted our proceedings last year with such efficiency, such tried competence and total impartiality. His long experience in the United Nations and his warm-hardheartedness guaranteed the success of the work of the twenty-eighth session and the work of the sixth special session of the General Assembly.
5.	Faithful to the principle of universality of the Organization, and thereby faithful to our fundamental policy of maintaining friendly relations with all countries without any distinction as to regime or political ideology, my Government is happy to welcome the three countries just admitted to membership in the United Nations—Grenada, Bangladesh and Guinea- Bissau.
6.	I am sure that you will permit me, as Prime Minister of the Khmer Republic, to deal exclusively today with a question which for me and for all the Khmer people is one of the highest priority, that of the representation of Cambodia in the United Nations.
7.	A draft resolution introduced last year by 33 nations asks the Assembly
"to restore the lawful rights of the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia in the United Nations, recognizing its representatives as the sole lawful representatives of Cambodia, and to expel the representatives of the Lon Nol group from the seat they illegally occupy in the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it."1
8.	This draft resolution, which was not considered at the last session, will soon be discussed here. What the sponsors of the draft resolution in derogatory terms call "the Lon Nol group" is the Government of the Khmer Republic, which in 1970 succeeded what was then the Royal Government as a fully fledged Member of the United Nations, and, as everyone will acknowledge, it has fully complied with all the obligations of membership.
9.	As we approach a debate unique in the annals of the Organization, a debate which may have incalculable consequences with regard to the credibility of the Organization and to the subsequent fate of other Member States, the Republican Government considers it its duty to draw the attention of all nations of good will to the extreme gravity of the decision which the Assembly will soon have to take.
10.	Indeed, never has a State, because it has changed its regime something which is a purely domestic affair seen its representation in the United Nations come up for discussion. In recent years in fact, in the last 12 months regimes hitherto considered as legitimate have collapsed under the pressure of the people or of the army. Who in this Assembly has asked that representatives of new regimes be kept outside the United Nations and that representatives of outgoing regimes should be kept on or called back?
11.	There are many Members of the United Nations, in all parts of the world, which have to confront attempts at armed subversion whose main instigators are living abroad. This is the case, in particular, of some of the sponsors of the draft resolution sponsored by 33 countries, which calls for the expulsion from the United Nations of the Khmer Republic. This is also the case of a number of other Governments which, having
recognized for many different reasons that we shall examine later the so-called "Royal Government of Cambodia", feel obliged to promote its entry into the Organization.
12.	Do not the regimes which have taken this position realize that the precedent they are about to create may one day be used against them? If the United Nations were to reject a regime which, like ours, is in control of its capital, all the major and medium-sized towns, most of the economically important regions and much more than three fourths of the population of the country and this for more than four years, in spite of all the pessimistic forecasts made out of malice or misinformation by the self-styled specialists then what regime, I ask, even among those that criticize us, could be sure that, if in its turn it had to combat a substantial attempt at subversion, some heterogeneous coalition favorable to its enemies would not one day exclude it from the United Nations?
13.	Would it not be playing with fire to deal such a blow to a Government which has been defending itself with ever-growing success against an unprovoked aggression and which is doing everything in its power, politically and diplomatically, to restore peace at home?
14.	There has been no lack of warnings to this effect in the Assembly, the most significant perhaps coming from nations of South Asia, which understand the problems of the Khmer Republic better than most. All these friendly neighboring countries have urged their colleagues not to try to impose a Government in exile on a State. To act in this way, they have argued, would be to jeopardize the very structure of the United Nations.
15.	The reference made by these Powers to a Government in exile is perfectly valid in so far as concerns the so-called "Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia". It is true that a certain number of Khmer Marxist leaders, although in 1970 they were in the anti-Sihanouk camp, obtained without any difficulty from the deposed Prince, who was anxious for vengeance, the title of "Minister", and are living somewhere in Cambodian territory, in the shelter of the forests and moving around constantly in order to avoid discovery. Yet they have nothing more to fear than our very small national air force. They claim, in order to explain the absence of any fixed residence, that only Phnom Penh would be an appropriate capital for them. But perhaps to make an impression on the United Nations, they may very soon decide to set themselves up in a provisional capital which they will proceed to abandon as soon as the debate is over.
16.	The so-called Royal Government cannot, for all that, avoid being described as a Government in exile, since its top leaders at least according to their titles continue to reside outside national territory. First and foremost, this is the case with its "head of State", Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who has been in Peking for over four years; in spite of his representations and claims, the Khmer Marxists have been obstinately refusing him the right to return and live permanently in his own country. This is also the case with its "Prime Minister", Mr. Penn Nouth, who, in order to explain why he is staying in the Chinese capital, is invoking "reasons of health". This is also the case with its "Foreign Minister", Mr. Sarinn Chhak, and also the "Minister of State for Special Affairs", Mr. Chau Seng, and some others, who have never set foot in Cambodia since 1970.
17.	You may recall that last year a spokesman for Governments in exile stated in the Assembly that, when a country is occupied by foreign troops, popular resistance is very often headed by a Government in exile. This representative obviously was thinking of the provisional Algerian Government which led the struggle against the French troops in Algeria from outside the country. However, one might point out, on the one hand, that the only foreign occupation forces in Cambodia since 1966 have been those of North Viet Nym and the Viet-Cong, and that, on the other hand, to our knowledge, Algeria was only admitted to membership in the United Nations after its Government had set itself up in Algiers pursuant to the agreements concluded with France.
18.	In the case of the entry of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations a case in which certain delegations sought a precedent which could be used against the Khmer Republic we cannot but stress the fact that, when the People's Republic of China occupied the seat which up to that point had been occupied by the Nationalist regime of Taiwan, it had long been in occupation of all continental Chinese territory, including, of course, its capital, a situation which would not be more different from that of the so-called "Royal Government".
19.	Among the nations which have recognized this "Government", some have done so out of ideological solidarity with the Khmer Communists, or because of great-Power ambitions with regard to IndoChina; others, again, out of sympathy towards a movement which, disguising its true nature, has awarded itself the resounding title of "non-aligned and anti-imperialist"; others, again, because their leaders had friendly personal relations with our former head of State, Prince Sihanouk. There are many critics from every side against the regime of a small country like ours! So many worries for a Prime Minister who, in spite of all the respect owed to the representatives here, would have preferred not to have had to leave his capital where so many urgent, even tragic, problems beset him every day!
20.	And for a Khmer, that is to say, someone who is anxious for understanding, friendship, good and cordial relations with everyone for a Khmer it is extremely painful to see his Government and people perpetually in the dock before the highest court of nations to which the unfortunate Khmer Republic has done no harm except perhaps in that it exists. It is true that in the international community our Republic does have many faithful friends, and we cannot express too much gratitude for their courage and their faith. We even have some in the third world itself, friends who have bravely resisted 'he pressures exerted upon them to abandon our defense. Unfortunately, we also have in the same third world enemies, some violent events at least the others much less heated, and who, I am convinced, would only come out against us reluctantly. Is there any need to remind you that among the sponsors of the draft resolution which would expel us from the United Nations there is only one Asian Power, precisely the one which is the protector, the financer and the harborer of the so-called "Royal Government"?
21.	As to the other Governments which are against us, they know us, above all, through the very black portrait which the vast propaganda machine of our enemies has painted of our Republican regime. Beset by numerous difficulties, perhaps we have not done enough to try to create a better image of ourselves abroad. However, we do not underestimate the intense diplomatic activity which has been carried on abroad by our former head of State, who has, to the benefit of the so-called Royal Khmer Government if only to show that he can still make himself useful drawn on the capital of the connexions which 15 years of authority and international meetings enabled him to accumulate. Thus, last year, at the non-aligned conference at Alger a conference from which we were banned, of course most of the participants voted, in spite of the reservations of our friends who were there, for a motion favorable to recognition of the so-called Royal Government. Some of the representatives to the conference told us later on that they would have much preferred not having to be involved in the Khmer dispute, but that somehow the heated spirit which prevails at major international meetings caused them to act as they did. We hope that, in the more tranquil atmosphere of the General Assembly, nations which are in that position will give more consideration to the fate of a people than to that of a single man.
22.	The Khmer Republic has, as we said, been painted in very dark colors. In the eyes of Governments who have no observers on the spot, it has been described as a retrograde regime without any popular support and, of course, as a "lackey of the American imperialists". Furthermore, that regime has been pictured as being at the end of its tether militarily, incapable of defending what is claimed to be the small part of the national territory it has left against the irresistible assault of the so-called liberation forces. The latter description has succeeded in disturbing several Foreign Ministries, which, believing in the imminent victory of the "Khmers rouges", did not wish to be the last to recognize their "Government".
23.	That caricature of the Khmer Republican regime has done it a great deal of harm. We should like here calmly to state the true position, anH we shall start with the military situation.
24.	The real difficulties we encountered up to the middle of 1973 have now been entirely overcome. Totally reorganized, better commanded, with an appreciable improvement in its material position, our national army has for more than a year now been repelling all the assaults of the enemy: Khmers and communist Vietnamese. In September 1973 one month after United States tactical air support had been discontinued the Republican forces repelled, in hand-to- hand fighting, the major attack mounted by the Reds against the large economic center of Kompong Cham.
25.	This year, after having lost control for a short time of the large rural center of Oudong the former Royal capital our forces, by means of a strong counter-attack, drove out the occupiers and re-entered the neighboring regions. The violent attacks later mounted by the communists against other large centers the port of Kampot, the provincial capital of Takeo and the provincial capital of Kompong Chhnang— ended in resounding defeats for the aggressor. Around the capital and the provincial towns formerly under enemy pressure, the situation has greatly improved.
26.	Unlike the Khmer communists, who imprudently boasted of crushing the Republic during the last dry season, we have no intention of setting a date, even an approximate one, for the complete liberation of our territory. There may still be some disappointments or failures here or there. But what is certain today is that it is no longer possible for the enemy to win a military victory. We believe that sooner or later and sooner rather than later the enemy will draw the necessary political conclusions.
27.	We should like the United Nations, which for years now has been discussing the very complicated problem of disarmament, to undertake to encourage, by all its political and moral means, the disarming of minds in countries like our own where for years now the worst kinds of acts of violence have been committed. We are of course happy to note the Organization's interest in the events in the Middle East. But should it not be as vigilant and active in matters of concern to us? The Khmer people firmly believe that the United Nations can contribute to ending their troubles. Before I left for New York, I myself received a delegation of Khmer farmers, refugees, who said this to me: "When you are there" that is, here at the United Nations "tell those important people that all of our people are suffering; tell them that they must help us to make peace and, in the mean time, assist those who have lost everything".
28.	The representatives of a large community, the Islamic Khmers, our country-men of the Moslem faith, also spoke to me in moving terms. Refusing out of religious and moral conviction to espouse the cause of our enemies, they have suffered reprisals: their most beautiful mosques have been destroyed in five provinces and a large number of their hakims and imams have been murdered. Other mosques have been profaned by North Vietnamese troops, who sacrilegiously raised pigs there for food. Faced with the hostility of the Khmer Moslems, the communists have thrown old men into concentration camps, from which they have never returned. Healthy men and women have been subjected to a re-education program in which atheism is taught. Daily public prayer has been banned.
29.	The venerable Hadji, the leaders of the Islamic religion in the Khmer Republic, said to me: "Tell our brothers who represent the Moslem States in the United Nations about our deplorable plight". Well, the message has been delivered, and it has been delivered by the Khmer Republic, which has recognized the Islamic religion.
30.	It goes without saying that our enemies have not spared the large number of Buddhist monks in our country, either, whenever those monks have refused to be used as instruments for propaganda among the masses. Many monks in all the provinces have been arrested, persecuted and sometimes executed; their pagodas have been burnt as an example to others. The Christian religion, although there are very few persons of that religion in our country, has not been treated any better. We view that offensive, sometimes underhanded, sometimes brutal, against all the religions represented in Cambodia as the result of the particularly evil influence of the North Vietnamese officials who are the mentors of the Khmer communists.
31.	The policy pursued by the Khmer Republic can be understood only if one bears constantly in mind the fact that, since 1966, its regions bordering Viet Nam and, since 1970, the major part of the territory east of the Mekong have been occupied by North Vietnamese and Viet-Cong forces; the number of such forces has varied, but it has never been less than several tens of thousands. Operating from the protection of our territory, those forces are mounting operations against the regime of the Republic of Viet Nam. A rather large part of our country has served and is still serving this time against our will as a rear base against a neighboring country, and that is in violation of our neutrality. The occupiers, whose presence Sihanouk had tolerated and who were receiving from their friends military material through Cambodian ports, ended up by acting in our country as if they were conquerors, driving out our peasants whose presence hampered their activities and openly mocking our powerless provincial authorities. What independent nation, devoted to its sovereignty and anxious to remain truly neutral, could have accepted the perpetuation of this intolerable and constantly worsening situation?
32.	Even before the overthrow of Sihanouk, who bears a great responsibility in this matter, the Khmer Government which was then the Royal Government, but whose principal leaders were for the most part the same as they are today warned the Vietnamese communists to withdraw from our territory without delay. They gave a very swift reply: they attacked our forces in several provinces in the east and south of the country. We had at that time no more than about 30,000 ill-equipped men under arms. However, this handful of fighters, swiftly reinforced by young patriotic volunteers, gave a good account of themselves against these Vietnamese communist forces which were superior in numbers and in armaments when they, immediately after 18 March 1970, spread throughout the country in an attempt to overthrow in the briefest time possible the Khmer Republic, which was guilty of refusing them "sanctuary".
33.	Our national army, our citizen volunteers, and our peasants valiantly resisted for 43 days, absolutely alone, the worst attack that Cambodia has ever sustained in this century. It was only and this is a date to remember on 30 April that United States troops from South Viet Nam entered Cambodian territory to a depth of less than 30 kilometers, less to save our Government than to clear the frontier regions neighboring on South Viet Nam, which was threatened. These troops remained for exactly one month in Cambodia, from 30 April to 1 June 1970. They never came back. This is the truth about the so-called occupation of Cambodia by foreign troops. For more than four years now there have been only Khmer troops in Khmer territory. We are harboring no foreign force or military base, contrary to what certain malicious Powers, who are confusing our country with other countries, persist in claiming. The number of Americans in Cambodia, including the entire civilian and military personnel of their embassy in Phnom Penh, does not exceed 200. To put an end to the charges made against us in this respect we are ready to receive in our country those of you who have in good faith been misled by the mendacious propaganda of our enemies. They can discover for themselves what the real situation is in our country, and we undertake, in advance, to facilitate the visit of United Nations envoys to any part of the territory controlled by the Khmer Republic, to open to them our military bases, our camps, without any reservation or limitation. They will be able to talk with whomever they like and to check on anything they consider important.
34.	We would be curious to know if the other side is in a position to make such an offer of inspection by the United Nations. The so-called "Royal Government" has not, so far, allowed any foreigners to penetrate the zones which they claim to be liberating except, of course, for the North Vietnamese and Viet-Cong occupiers. The only foreign journalists there are those who have been captured when, side by side with our troops and at great risk to themselves, they were making an attempt to inform international public opinion honestly. About 20 of them disappeared in this way, and we are very worried about what has happened to them. It would, however, be interesting to see at first hand whether in the Khmer communist zones there are not any foreign troops or foreign bases. Our enemies will claim that they are being vilified when they hear me say such things. Well, they have an excellent opportunity to show their good faith by proposing, as we have done, an "open door" operation in their own territory, offering the same facilities to our Organization. Will they take this opportunity? If they do not, nations of good faith will be able to judge in what part of Cambodia there really are foreign troops.
35.	It is true that until 15 August 1973 we enjoyed American tactical air support. It enabled our army to organize and to equip itself, and to grow to 250,000 men. It prevented the south of the IndoChina peninsula from falling to the Vietnamese communists. It is indeed clear that if a regime favorable to Hanoi had installed itself by force in Phnom Penh it would have assisted in every way that it could the communist forces operating in South Viet Nam as well as the subversive movement in Thailand. It was not cheerfully but out of harsh necessity that we accepted this air support, for those on the other side who were falling under these bombs were our own brothers. In the "red" zones there are many <people who do not even know what Marxism is, and who wish for nothing so much as the end to inhuman fighting and the return to peace and a decent life. Among the so-called liberation armed forces, how many fighters have been press-ganged into service and feel closer to the Republicans, who are defending traditional Khmer ideals, than they do to the intolerant and fanatical officers commanding them? But, I am afraid, bombs do not discriminate among their victims.
36.	Does the fact that we have accepted United States assistance make us their lackeys? The so- called "Royal Government" is very ill-placed to make this claim, being a "Gpvernment" which would not exist at all without the unconditional support and the "loans" that are really gifts from Peking; whose armed forces would be here guerrillas hopelessly making sporadic raids if^ they did not regularly receive an abundance of arms, ammunition and modern war material from certain socialist countries, primarily China.
37.	The truth is that from the very depths of our heart we wish for nothing more than a rapid end to the conflict which is ruining our economy and destroying our villages, and which has created more than 2 million refugees; a conflict which has killed or crippled for four years now hundreds of thousands of our countrymen out of a total of 7 million. This blood bath, if it goes on, will finally wear out our country, which is so poor and weak that it would then inevitably be-come an unimportant satellite of either the East or the West, losing finally its very national identity. It is tragic to note that the predictions of all the Republican leaders are shared by our former head of State in Peking, where the press has taken up and reported words almost identical with our own just a few months ago. Surely it is paradoxical and tragic that the same man who so loudly approves the Khmer communists' rejection of any of our proposals to discuss the Khmer problem without conditions does not conceal from those around him that the "reds", as he calls them, are ready to fight for years longer to avoid a compromise solution that would prevent them from exercising power over all Cambodia.
38.	It should be stressed that the obstinacy of the Khmer communists in rejecting any offer of talks with the Government of the Republic can be explained for more than a year, not by the prospect of an early military victory which they now know to be beyond their grasp but by the fact that they are waiting for a decision in their favor by the United Nations which will enable them, they believe, to win diplomatically a resounding victory that they can no longer win on the battlefield.
39.	It is our duty to issue a solemn warning to the Powers which have an interest in Cambodia that, in such an event, as in the very worst moments we have been through in more than four years, our Government will never throw in its hand. On the contrary, with the support of its heroic armed forces and the vast majority of the patriotic people who do not want to see installed in their country a regime beholden to foreigners, it will strengthen its resistance. And not only will there be no return of peace, but for our unfortunate country there will open up the gloomy prospect of a cruel and interminable war in the course of which, I should like to point out, we shall not lack friends on the international or regional level. And, however much we love peace, we will never give in.
40.	In a speech which he is making on this very day to mark the fourth anniversary of the Republic, our President, Marshal Lon Nol, after having expressed his hatred of the war which has imposed so much sacrifice on our people, states:
"But let there be no doubt in the minds of our adversaries: we shall continue to fight, if necessary, to prevent ideas and concepts alien to our traditions being imposed upon us. In our struggle for our liberties, we enjoy the support and sympathy of many foreign countries."
41.	Peace will be restored to Cambodia only through conciliation, never by force. That is why, in his speech, the President of our Republic repeated the governmental appeal of 9 July "to all Khmers and to all countries that love justice and peace for a dialog to be established which will put an end to this conflict". It must be possible, he added, "to agree on ideas, values and concepts which could guide the future of this country".
42.	A just peace for Cambodia, that is the desire of the vast majority of the nations represented in this Assembly. There are few who really wish to impose upon it a regime that its population does not want. Many still believe, however, that the so-called "Royal Government of National Union", which they are reminded on every possible occasion is "headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk", is truly a broadly based Government, really headed by the Prince, and able, if it came to power, to pursue a policy of neutrality and of true non-alignment. That belief is particularly widespread among friendly nations in the third world, although they have nothing but good intentions towards the Khmer people.
43.	But it is not just because we deem it to be unlawful that, in this statement, we have constantly described the enemy Government as "so-called". And certainly not just out of an attempt to demean it, which would be petty. It is because we have every proof that behind this lofty title there lurks a different reality, a reality which all friends of an independent Cambodia—beginning with statesmen who have some personal friendship for Sihanouk—must realize.
44.	First of all, there is no longer, if there ever was, a "Royal Government". The only person who is royal in this is our former King and former head of State who was deposed in 1970. Now he, who remains the titular head of this Government, plays no other part than that of a surety for the Khmer Communists. Not only have they never authorized him, in spite of his claims, to come back and establish himself in his own country, but in fact they never take into account his views and recommendations. Thus, set aside and humiliated, under surveillance by his Chinese hosts, spied on by certain Khmer members of his entourage, he has made it known that he will no longer co-operate with those he calls the "Khmers rouges" after the end of this conflict, that he will never return to Cambodia and that he will end his days in a foreign country.
45.	It suffices to read certain statements of the Prince to journalists who visited him statements that he has never denied to understand that everything I have just claimed is the strict truth. Sihanouk and he knows it is now a figure of the past. He has understood but rather late in the day that a "nationalist" Prince, even if he considers himself progressive, has no place in a "people's democracy". We shall leave it to history and to our compatriots, whose misfortunes he is prolonging, to be his judge. It will be noted, however, that he persists in promoting the accession to power, in his country, of a regime under which he himself would not be willing to live.
46.	The Government-in-exile set up in opposition to us not only is not a royal Government, but is even less a Government of rational union. How could this union exist when most of the population lives in the territory of the Republic, where they gave their support to the national Government, and the self-styled "United National Front of Cambodia", dominated by the most extreme Marxists, is itself the best example of rivalry and divisiveness? That is why, incidentally, most of the former supporters of the Prince, seeing that their former master cannot command respect, have abandoned the cause which he was no longer defending and have rejoined the ranks of those who are fighting to protect the national ideals of the Khmer Republic.
47.	Such is the "Government" by which some people would like to replace us in Cambodia's seat in the United Nations, a "Government" which, in order to win as much sympathy as possible, has always concealed its true colors, thus gravely misleading all nations of good faith in a word, a "Government" which could not represent the Cambodia of yesterday and today, a country which is open to all opinions, eager for knowledge of the outside world, and profoundly desirous of maintaining friendly relations with all nations whatever their ideology or governmental system provided they harbor the same desire in regard to us.
48.	When our adversaries call us to war, we call them to peace. We know that in this way we are responding to the deeply seated aspirations of all our people, in whatever area the fighting has placed them. We also know that, on the other side, there are good brave men who do not want to fight for "another 10 years" for the triumph of an ideology, but who are weeping to see their country ruined and suffering. And there will be more and more of them in the future who will help us to bring about a peace where there will be no victors and no vanquished, but simply brothers who have been reunited.
49.	The Government which I head undertakes to spare no effort, to pay whatever price is necessary, to bring an end to hostilities; in the coming months that is the wish of our nation and that is your own wish so that, finally, our people, reconciled, on begin the long march towards the goal of repairing the tremendous damage inflicted on our country, as the only path to a better life for all.
50.	We therefore call upon the United Nations to help us achieve this noble objective before hundreds of thousands more of our compatriots fall on the desolated soil of our ill-starred country.


My first words are addressed to you, Mr. President, to congratulate you on your well- earned election to preside over this, the greatest forum of the peoples of the world, to guide it with your recognized wisdom and boldness at this particular moment in history.
171.	My next words are of welcome to the three new States that have emerged from colonial status into full sovereignty and independence. I greet Guinea- Bissau, Bangladesh and Grenada, whose heroic presence among us gives us cause for rejoicing.
172.	I must say a few words regarding the grief of Latin America at the ravages suffered by Honduras, our sister Republic, struck by adversity in the form of a hurricane. This is the time for us to show our solidarity with that small but great nation, and to give prompt and decisive help in its reconstruction.
173.	Rarely in the history of this Organization has the period between two regular sessions of the General Assembly been so filled with events, or shown a deeper and more extensive transformation in the conditions of human life and the relations between peoples. There is an atmosphere of expectancy, of dissatisfaction and of tension between the industrial countries and the developing nations. The latter have been waging an almost vain struggle to achieve higher standards of living, and to close the gap between them and the economic and technological Powers. The unequal terms of trade are the common denominator of the problem. The Algerian proposal to hold a special session to study the question of raw materials and development resulted in the sixth special session? and served to pinpoint that tension which had been dramatically exacerbated by what was termed the energy crisis, that is, by the decision of the oil-exporting countries to re-price their obviously non-renewable resource and to serve notice that their reserves were limited and that their management had entered a radically new phase.
174.	The effects of these measures have touched all nations of the world to a different extent and in different ways. The bases for industrial production of wide areas have been changed, and many articles have been subject to unavoidable readjustments. Obviously, that measure was not the cause of the monetary troubles which were already being felt, nor can it alone be held responsible for the phenomenon of global inflation. But it is linked to imbalances in the world market, to the financial crisis and to the changes in many prices, which were earlier referred to as equitable but which now appear suddenly capricious in their response to the new oil price levels, which the producers quite justifiably consider as having been set belatedly.
175.	Going beyond the specific and immediate debate on oil, the sixth special session issued a Declaration which might wall be termed the Magna Carta of economic equity and then went on to adopt its Program of Action. Despite some reservations, consensus was the order of the day and for the first time it became obvious that world solidarity was more than an empty phrase. The interdependence of all peoples of the earth was a fact of pristine truth and it was made clear that the needy and the wealthy were components of a single whole that must be reviewed with justice, with courage and with wisdom in order to advance towards a more egalitarian and secure world. It was also made clear that, besides peace, collective security, the urgency of disarmament and the prohibition of aggression, economic development and social welfare were also objectives of equal importance and inseparable from the others.
176.	Among the lasting benefits derived from that sixth special session was the fact that the third world, once an amorphous collection of peoples with neither close contacts nor clear-cut goals, became a consolidated body. That session opened wide the doors to dialog and a gate to the future and set in true motion the principle of the sovereign equality of States. The voices of the strong and the weak acquired equal resonance. These are irreversible achievements; and we can as of this moment assert that the symbol of the United Nations for the next long years will be an economic symbol, or, more specifically, the systematic and courageous search for the way in which three quarters of the world's population are to move towards standards of development, or at least are to be given conditions whereby to achieve such standards; so that contrary to the usual effect, their efforts to progress will not bring about a relative regression.
177.	It is, however, clear that the historic session of April last in this same hall did not possess magical virtues or automatic means, and we cannot confuse our intentions with the long-range results. That session was accompanied or immediately followed by dark economic omens: monetary instability and uncertainty regarding ways of stabilizing currency exchanges; poor harvests and grave warnings about the world's food reserves. But over and above all, there was a global inflation whose levels and speed of growth were practically unprecedented in scope. Many industrial economies that had a mere few months earlier appeared prosperous and sound suddenly showed signs of weakness and sank to near bankruptcy levels. Money had lost some of its purchasing power and became more difficult to obtain. The situation of most developing countries went from bad to critical because of the trend among the industrialized nations towards cutting down on their purchases in the third world and concentrating on raw materials that were essential for subsequent manufacture. Those raw materials did not have the benefit of the necessary emergency machinery to impose conditions of sale and prices; what is more, they bore no relation to the capital goods which those less advanced countries had to import, with their enormous surcharges due to the high standard of living in the manufacturing countries now further increased by the inflationary spiral.
178.	Thus many peoples not only feel that they have drifted far afield from the minimum well-being and development targets set a few months earlier in New York, but now face critical situations in the procurement of food for survival. A feeling of urgency and an awareness of the gravity of the moment seems to hover over most of the items on our agenda. The peoples who have had control over the possibility of peace or war, of collective security and control of trade, as well as those nations which have enjoyed sudden boom conditions, now have the chance of using their resources, not in charitable works, but in an enlightened effort of self-defense against the boomerang of an untenable economic situation. The political stability of the world is threatened by the rising waves. A new type of society, one that is desperate and skeptical regarding all forms of government and of opposing ideologies, may supersede the more stable, peaceful, traditional and organized national communities. One need not stretch one's imagination too far to foresee, among the poor peoples who are being robbed of their hopes for improvement, calamities which will engender further calamities.
179.	The moment is ripe to prove the capacity of the United Nations. No bilateral arrangement, nor agreements between blocs, will have sufficient influence to alter the economic course or to arrive at global policies that will offer true safeguards. It is only world-wide agreements, arrived at here by dialog, through reason and in the assurance that we are living in a united world, that will give adequate answers to the complex and threatening challenge. All countries, some in more orderly fashion than others, are turning to the task of domestic therapy. More than ever before, Governments are aware of the need to assess the possibilities of their respective peoples, and many of the latter are responding with dedication and fervor to the sacrifice of a more than precarious existence. But there is a limit to the ability to perform miracles, and facts, as we well know, are stubborn. Beyond the national effort there is still that great battle to be fought.
180.	Personally, I am optimistic regarding the human ability to adapt in order to meet unforeseen circumstances and almost instinctively to organize in the face of the common threat. Herein lies the greatest reserve of the United Nations: that it is a state of mind and spirit that transcends cultures, ideologies and customs. More than the isolated generosity of some countries, it is a community effort which, with .some sort of occult wisdom, leads us to an equilibrium, to a restoration of peace, to the preservation of order, to a sense of foresight, and to acts that start beyond individual and specific interests. This does not mean adopting a passive reliance on providence, or a giving-in contrary to the strength of reason organized into systematic thinking. It is an act of faith in values that we hold in common and that find in this Organization their most propitious outlet.
181.	Events do not pass by the United Nations without affecting and changing it. The sixth special session is a good example of how the concept of economic development crystallized, despite the vagueness with which Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Charter refers to "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights", which is an entirely different matter. That statute, the result of the post-war period, was based on outmoded notions of sovereignty which were unconnected with natural resources. Yet it has been in force since 1946, so that it is high time for 138 associated nations to revise it, to bring it up to date, making it more operative and dynamic.
182.	At the twenty-fourth session of the Assembly in 1969, Colombia proposed just this. It was then that our then Foreign Minister, now the President of the Republic, Mr. Lopez Michelsen, from this same rostrum, called for the need to rejuvenate the San Francisco Charter that had been drafted "25 years ago to operate for geopolitical conditions which have been surpassed".8 We advocate not its demolition but a change of some of its parts. No one can deny the services that this venerable legal instrument has rendered. But by the same token, no one can blind himself to the slowing down, the artificial obstacles and duplications it has caused, or to the vagueness and lack of precision it has created. Those who fear that a revision of the Charter implies a break-down of the spirit of the Organization and a jump into the unknown are mistaken.
183.	Paradoxically, it is far more in keeping with tradition to ensure that institutions retain their creative dynamism than to preserve their facades intact. The British writer G. K. Chesterton contended that it was far more traditional to keep painting the white mast white than to wait until it had lost the last traces of its whiteness on the pretext of preserving it intact. Notions such as the common character of the seabed, of outer space and their multiple uses cry out for a place in our Charter, as do those of biological balance or those of the campaign to safeguard the environment against pollution, for the right to ecological balance is not the heritage of a single generation isolated in time, and we are in danger of being adjudged by posterity as the destroyers of the planet.
184.	Colombia is honored this year as being the site for the first International Women's Conference at Bogota. The two main phenomena that characterize the social changes of the twentieth century have been the rapid urbanization which brought about the mass exodus from the countryside and the creation of innumerable huge cities. The other feature of our time has been the emergence of women into economic, social and political life. This has led to changes in the structure of the family and of culture itself. Obviously, that leads to a change in mentality, in attitudes and tasks in the life of man. It is the human couple as such that has changed. To assess the alterations in the domestic and social functions of both, their influence on the home and the community, and to discern the new trends will be among, the tasks of that Conference. The Conference will also have to examine the obstacles that still stand in the way of the harmonious integration of the efforts of women and men jointly to grapple with such tasks and responsibilities as are posed by under-development. Furthermore, the Conference will have to gage the results of the World Population Conference held recently at Bucharest. Responsible motherhood and the right to control fertility within the framework of women's freedom and beliefs are indissolubly linked to their rote in modern life and to women's identity, dictated by their biological and psychological nature.
185.	We are well aware that no assistance will suffice to shatter the fetters of underdevelopment unless it is linked to an orderly and systematic internal effort. But it is equally true that the distances between some societies and others are so great that in order to bring many peoples into the modern era a veritable race against time is required. This is typified in the field of technology. In the solidarity and inter-dependence of the present-day world, the right to use or abuse specific knowledge is not too well under-stood. There are some areas, such as health, where the preventive vaccine cannot be the exclusive property of any if it can be used to save the lives of millions of beings. Thus, too, certain discoveries and improvements in key areas, such as energy or the exploitation and preparation of basic products, must be termed the collective heritage of mankind. We must consider that the so-called transfer of technology should be operated not bilaterally through more favorable conditions or counterpart benefits between countries, but, rather, by a gradual but massive transfer as the poorer countries require it. This leads to the idea of a world pool of technology which should be administered or monitored by the United Nations.
186.	One item that certainly does belong on our agenda is the "Examination of the functions of the International Court of Justice" [item 93]. This subject was discussed at the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh sessions and should cast some light on the functions and priorities of the main legal organ of the United Nations. The subject also dovetails with the concern over the review of the Charter. Colombia believes that it would redound to the benefit of the international community if the sphere of the advisory opinions and decisions of the Court were to be widened. The surprising evolution of international law today, which is rich in new issues, should benefit from the clear decisions of the Court, as the nature of the matters brought to the consideration of that supreme tribunal warrant.
187.	During the last few years, the growth of war material of all kinds has been virtually unaffected by arms control or disarmament agreements. Limited or localized wars, such as those of IndoChina, Cambodia or the Middle East, have a markedly experimental character. They affect military criteria and planning. Technological progress in certain tactical and strategic weapons is so rapid that the great Powers are constantly beset by the terror of being irremediably left behind by their peers. This explains the lag and delay in bilateral agreements on mutual reduction of forces and the vagueness of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. It also explains the meager results obtained at the summit talks to find a balance in the possession of multiple independently target-able re-entry vehicles [MlRVs).
188.	Thus, the rate of military technological production has only grown. Even in the fields of chemical and bacteriological warfare there is no sign of a reduction or destruction of existing arsenals, but, rather, it is believed with some justification that more sophisticated progress is being made in these destructive fields.
189.	The nuclear-weapons tests in the atmosphere, which in 1973 shook the world and particularly those countries that border on the Pacific Ocean, are far from ended, and they systematically coincided with the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmoshpere, in Outer Space and under Water, signed in Moscow on 5 August 1963. This proves the paucity of success obtained in this vital field by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament which, doubtless and despite all, is the most important forum for world arms control. Blocked by the negotiations of the super-Powers, it has turned, us attention to the noble, albeit more limited, objectives such as the prohibition of the use of needlessly cruel and indiscriminate weapons, for example, napalm, and acts of war against civilian populations.
190.	I quote from the S1PR1 Yearbook 1974 of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute:
"SIPRI has shown that world military expenditures [for 1973 and 1974] are running at about $207,000 million per year" which is over 6 per cent of the gross national product of the countries of the world and equal to the total income of the 2,000 million persons living in the region of the third world with the exclusion of China. "The military expenditure of those countries which provide development aid is estimated at approximately 6.7 per cent of their gross national product, which is 30 times greater than the official development aid they provide."
191.	We can safely say that, aside from the imbalance between the prices of raw materials and those of manufactured goods, no other factor acts as such a drawback on the life of peoples representing 70 per cent of the world's population as does the arms race.
192.	So, for reasons of world security as well as of pure economy, it is only just that we aspire to a world peace conference whose agenda will include all types of weapons and systems of mass destruction, and whose conclusions will be guaranteed in advance by the great atomic and military Powers by means of forms of verification open to and exercised by the United Nations. This hope, which might appear a Utopian flight of fancy , is, nevertheless, the corner-stone of our Organization, and to its achievement all our efforts must be directed all the more so since the danger is growing and we stand on the threshold of a second generation of countries that are capable of nuclear warfare,
193.	Colombia is a country, dedicated to peace, that is eager to work and, by its own efforts, to obtain what is indispensable to it in a framework of world commerce that will exclude the imperialism of trade, tied loans and inflation built into the goods it imports. During the last decades, we have watched with anguish the systematic erosion of coffee prices, which represent 50 per cent of our export trade, while seeing a radical increase in the prices of agricultural machinery, inputs and fertilizers. The national effort has been gigantic in order to cover the coffee deficit with manufactured goods and to meet the needs of the national growth and the peaceful revolution to ensure a more equitable distribution of wealth and more equality for all Colombian citizens. We believe that at this time the situation of coffee is alarming. We believe in the advisability and the need for a climate between producers and consumers not of confrontation but of dialog and progressive under-standing. The President of Venezuela, Mr. Carlos Andres Perez, in a recent message to President Ford of the United States, denounced this situation in the following terms:
"At this very time, we are seeing how the refusal of the developed countries, including the United States of America, to agree to just and fair prices for coffee has resulted in the inaction of the Inter-national Coffee Organization, which was established precisely to achieve a satisfactory and just equilibrium between producers and consumers. The coffee-producing countries of Latin America and Africa will lose roughly 30 per cent of their foreign- exchange earnings, while manufactured goods from the developed nations have doubled or tripled an price." [S^ AI9784, annex.]
194.	It is obvious that, confronted with this picture, we should feel ourselves as allies of all the countries that face similar obstacles in Africa or Asia. Colombia considers Latin America to be an extension of the concept of the nation and is united with each and every country in that region of brothers. We are aware that in this planetary world of ours Latin America is a bridge that links other areas culturally and economically. We offer our friendship indiscriminately to all the peoples of the world, regardless of their ideology, so long as they respect our institutions and the democratic system of Colombia.
195.	We are here to perform an arduous task, and to perform it together. We are not unaware of the obstacles, but we possess the faith born of our tradition that ideas become the weapons that no wall is sufficiently high to keep out. Freedom is something as real and tangible as the air we brent he. We believe that freedom hungers for bread, for security and for well-being and ultimately identifies itself with them.


Mr. President, let me begin by congratulating you warmly on your election to this high and responsible office. Your unanimous election is proof of the confidence placed in you and in your country and of the certainty that you will make this particularly important General Assembly session a success. To these congratulations I should like to add our sincere thanks to your predecessor, Ambassador Benites. We were very happy to be able to begin our co-operation in the United Nations under his wise and experienced leadership.
36.	I also wish to welcome most warmly the three new Members: Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea- Bissau. We are looking forward to co-operating closely and trustfully with these countries in the framework of our Organization.
37.	The twenty-ninth session of the General Assembly is being held against a background of international events and developments which must be regarded as a challenge to political reason. We share the deep concern that permeates the introduction to the Secretary-General's report on the work of the Organization despite intensive efforts to achieve detente, the number of conflicts involving the use of force is not on the decline; the global network of economic relations is in many places damaged, in some already torn: there is a shortage of raw materials, a struggle over prices; inflation and monetary fluctuations are driving us towards a crisis; the economic situation in some parts of the world has continued to deteriorate dramatically; hunger is still spreading. There are still people who are denied their elementary rights; the gap between the proclamation and the realization of human rights continues to be unbearably wide. Many people no longer believe that their problems can be settled by mutual agreement. This feeling of desperation not only breeds resignation and fatalism; it also generates action that is unjustifiable from any point of view, acts of individual terrorism in the shadow of which no country can feel safe - a terrorism that also leaves its mark on countries not involved.
38.	But our chief concern must be to prevent any further breaking up of international solidarity and to reverse the process of disintegration.
39.	The Federal Republic of Germany has gone through certain experiences which distinguish it from many other countries represented, here and which determine the nature of our participation in the work of this great world Organization. With your permission I will mention those experiences, in order to illustrate that what we need today is not less but more international solidarity.
40.	The Federal Republic of Germany emerged from a separation into states of the indivisible German nation. We are therefore more deeply conscious than others of the fact that States, however great may be their need for existence, are imperfect entities. Our citizens are less inclined to think in terms of nation-States, to regard their Government and their political institutions as the source of all wisdom and to believe that those institutions alone can cope with the massive problems inherent in the pursuit of peace, freedom, human dignity and welfare. We therefore view with concern the re-emerging tendency in some parts of the world to overrate oneself as a nation and the attempts of some countries to increase their prosperity at the expense of their neighbors' procedure that has always resulted in the weakening of all. The Federal Republic of Germany therefore trains its policy on the objective of European unity. We are convinced that only a united Europe can effectively solve the existing political, economic and social problems confronting the member States of our Community. That Community is also willing to share responsibility for solving problems beyond its frontiers; the more closely it is knit together, the more it will be able to do in this respect. This morning [2238th meeting] my French colleague mentioned the request for the granting to the European Community of observer status in the United Nations. This request is further proof of a determination of the European Community to co-operate actively in the solution of world-wide tasks.
41.	The other experience of the Germans has been that force, rather than solving problems, in fact makes them all that much more difficult to settle. Once reconciliation had been achieved with the neighbors in western Europe, especially with the French people, the Federal Government under the then Chancellor, Willy Brandt, and under my predecessor and now Federal President, Walter Scheel, concluded agreements on the renunciation of force with those countries from which we have been separated by a sorrowful past characterized by force and conflict. The Federal Government and I can say this also on behalf of all responsible political forces in the Federal Republic of Germany bases itself on the principle of the renunciation of force. As the United Nations Charter expressly lays down, peoples may and should, in the exercise of their free self-determination, manage their own affairs. This also implies, in our view, that divided countries may reunite if that is their own free decision and that nations may join supranational communities. But if force enters into the conduct of international relations, then it will be the seed from which ever more conflict and violence will spring, and consequently will be the source of distress, want and disaster.
42.	Both these experiences, the imperfection of our States and the senselessness of force, have led the Federal Republic of Germany of necessity on to the road taken by this world Organization. Only by means of a well-structured international order can the people in our State systems find the framework within which they feel confident they can live in security.
43.	On behalf of my country I speak up for the form of co-operation embracing all mankind, the most important model of which is the United Nations, a form of co-operation which, though it is certainly a laborious and tedious way, is the only worthy one and promises to be more successful in the end. Peace, freedom, human dignity, welfare and a reliable system of international relations are indivisible.
44.	Today more than at any other time in the past it is the political will for co-operation that counts. The international institutions cannot be stronger than that political will. This is a question not merely of being willing to play a constructive part in bringing about international treaties, but also of being resolved to comply with them.
45.	This is the prerequisite for the working of that new form of international relations the development of which has governed the period since the Second world war which, we may hope, will also have been the last world war. It is a precondition which will have to be established in all countries, but not only on the part of governments.
46.	I am deeply convinced that it is also the individual citizen in our countries who will have to develop a willingness to act in a way which I have tried to describe as international solidarity. The problems that have been the subject of United Nations conferences in past months and will be the subject of other conferences in the months ahead for instance those on commodity and developing problems, population trends, the use of the high seas, and the world food problems are matters which concern every individual. A government's sense of the common responsibility and its willingness to play a constructive part in resolving these problems depend on the degree of understanding of their peoples.
47.	International co-operation in its multifarious forms has created a framework within which it has been possible to bring about extraordinary changes in the world in the past two and a half decades. Let me mention only two of those changes: the process of liberating the former colonial nations which is reflected most strikingly in this very Assembly where the original 51 members have now become 138; and the development by the United Nations of a peace-creating and peace-preserving policy, which has helped prevent the spread of local and regional conflicts.
48.	Increasingly, doubts are being voiced today about those same international rules and organizations whose often quiet work in the background has made such developments at all possible.
49.	On behalf of the Federal Government I would like to state the following.
50.	We want to strengthen the United Nations and enhance its possibilities of action. Whatever its imperfections, there is no alternative to the United Nations. Those who have the peaceful development of mankind at heart must support it.
51.	The tasks of the many regional groupings are complementary to the universal tasks of the United Nations. For us, the standing of the United Nations is not in any way lowered because of the fact that we are a member of a defense alliance, and that, together with others, we seek political and economic union in Europe. This diversity of international groupings is commensurate with the diversity of international relations. This pattern is useful as long as no organization turns against others and as long as all respect the rules we have all agreed upon within this widest framework. My country will abide by both these principles.
52.	Organizations are the work of men and, as such, imperfect; moreover, times and problems change. For the Federal Republic of Germany there is no reason to question the foundations of the existing international order. Rather, we have to develop its rules and institutions and adapt them to the new requirements, Let us join in studying all aspects of the United Nations system and considering where the Organization itself or the rules upon which it is based can be improved and its problems thus resolved. The Federal Republic of Germany will assist in such a review in the same spirit in which it is seeking within other organizations, especially GATT and IMF, to bring about an organic reform of the international system.
53.	We shall have to examine very closely the forms of international co-operation we have developed to see whether they are suited to removing the causes of the crises that have arisen in many parts of the world. In the United Nations Charter the solution of world-wide economic, social and humanitarian problems receives the same priority as the aim of safeguarding peace. Both realms are indivisible. We know that peace is more than a state in which fighting may have stopped for a while. An international economic order embracing the principle of equality and partnership in trade relations also will in itself help to safeguard peace.
54.	Those who still doubt the need for rapid action will have had their eyes opened by developments in the past 12 months. The prices of many major primary commodities have escalated in hitherto unknown proportions; energy prices have risen vertically. You all know the consequences: alarming balance-of-payments deficits on the one hand; vast surpluses on the other. This has piled plenty of additional fuel on the fire of world-wide inflation. Data which had served as a valid basis for economic planning were called into question overnight. In many countries there is a growing feeling of uncertainty in the face of an economic trend which appears less calculable than ever in the past. The consequences affect all. The difficulties facing the industrial countries are considerable, but they are not to be compared with those of the least developed countries, which are lacking in natural resources and whose very existence is threatened. We have to tighten our belts, but for them it is a question of survival.
55.	This is a challenge which does not distinguish between different systems: it affects all nations, rich and poor, developing and industrialized.
56.	I place very much weight on this point. An exacerbation of the conflict of interests between commodity-producing and industrialized countries not only creates problems between those directly concerned, but also strikes first and most tellingly at third countries. This kind of situation results in new tensions, and many countries would be sorely tempted to try to save their own skins without consideration for others. Let us guard against such a temptation.
Terrible experiences of the past have taught us that seeking refuge in economic isolationism does not remove the difficulty. On the contrary, world economic relations are so intertwined that action which is felt to be egotistical is bound to produce counter-measures. Consequently, the "every man for himself' approach leads straight to economic chaos and creates tensions between States and their peoples. What we want is just the opposite: we want to remove existing disparities, especially the gulf between developing and industrialized countries; we want to quell further conflicts; and we want to avoid the situation of some being entirely dependent on others. To achieve this aim we shall have to bring about a world-wide improvement of our economic and social structures; we shall have to boost productivity and encourage sensible growth without neglecting the task of protecting the environment a task which has lost none of its urgency since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in 1972. When the commodity-producing countries seek to obtain higher market prices for their raw materials, they must be assured that there will be no excessive price fluctuations in the commodity markets. At the same time, we must seek to ensure long-term supplies of those commodities. But in the interest of all we must make sure that the bigger proceeds from energy and raw materials are reasonably used and thus fed back into the international economy. The money should be used where it is most urgently needed.
57.	We are prepared to help find solutions, both regional and world-wide, that will prevent any threats to the international monetary system.
58.	At the sixth special session of the General Assembly last April the important dialog on world-wide economic problems was begun. We shall have to continue that dialog with much patience and resolution and with a good sense of judgment. No one will benefit from decisions that are not supported by all the world's major trading partners; no one will benefit from resolutions that question the world economic order based on division of labor and freedom of trade or that represent an attempt to replace such an order by a system of global dirigisme.
59.	True, the present world economic system is not without defects and weaknesses. We must therefore develop it still further, improve it and adapt it to the needs of all nations. The Federal Republic of Germany has made specific contributions towards this end and is willing to carry on along this road.
60.	We appreciate the need for the industrial countries to make their markets more accessible to products from the less-developed countries. The European Community, of which my country is a member, has been catering to this need for a good number of years by granting general tariff preferences. It is currently negotiating a comprehensive system of mutual economic relations with 44 African Caribbean and Pacific countries.
61.	The Federal Government supports co-operative projects also by private companies in developing countries. It is trying by appropriate measures to steer investment activities towards the least-developed countries.
62.	In recent years the Federal Government has constantly increased the share of its development aid that goes to those countries that are in special need of international solidarity, and it will continue to do so.
63.	The Federal Republic of Germany has declared its readiness to provide, as a member of the European Community, a substantial contribution towards the emergency operation of the United Nations for the benefit of the most seriously affected countries, as soon as, the other countries involved have agreed to play a corresponding part.
64.	The Federal Republic of Germany is taking part in the fight against hunger in the world and in efforts to solve the world food crisis. Within the European Community, too, our contributions are sizable. We help supply fertilizers. The President of the United States of America [2234th meeting] and his Secretary of State [2238th meeting] have rightly re-emphasized before this Assembly the importance of this problem.
65.	Higher commodity prices and the problems they entail confront us with tremendous economic difficulties. Nevertheless, the Federal Government will make special efforts to continue to ^increase its development aid. In the years ahead it intends to increase that aid at a higher percentage rate than the national budget as a whole. For 1975 this has already been decided. Multilateral aid will continue to feature prominently in our development-assistance program.
66.	We are making efforts to increase and intensify exchanges in the field of science and technology. All countries should have access to the scientific and technological resources of this world, so as to become more and more able to solve their problems on their own. This, too, is the aim of our projects in the sphere of educational aid. We welcome the idea of a United Nations conference on science and technology, and we shall do our best to encourage the promotion of that project.
67.	Last year's events have once again thrown into relief the interdependence of the world economy and have made clear to us how sensitive the complex economic mechanisms of highly developed countries are. Even their capacity has its limits. Their economies can function only under their own laws, and domestic stability plays a great role in this. Only countries with a well-functioning economy can be good trading partners to developing countries; only they can help and, over the long term, attend to the problems of others beyond their own frontiers. Industrial countries with economies shaken by inflation are bound to lose in efficiency.
68.	Hence, the results of the Federal Republic of Germany's consistent policy of domestic stability benefit others as well.
69.	We are aware that the solution of economic and social problems is possible only When the political prerequisites are there, the most important being an all-out effort to ensure peace. This task remains^ the prime mission of the United Nations. We can note with satisfaction that in many parts of the world hard work is being done to eliminate conflicts and tensions. To encourage and support those efforts is important.
70.	With regard to peace and security, the obvious cases today are two areas whose conflicts have a direct bearing on us Europeans particularly; they are the Middle East and Cyprus. The conclusion of the disengagement agreements in the Middle East has generated new hopes for a comprehensive peaceful settlement of the conflict.
71.	Such initial steps must be followed by others, in order to establish an equitable and lasting peace ensuring the existence of all States and peoples in that region while taking into consideration the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The progress; made so far is an indication that even among the parties to the conflict the conviction has grown that a genuine solution can be attained by peaceful means only. The Federal Republic of Germany welcomes this development, in which the efforts made by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Kissinger, played a decisive part.
72.	Peace in the Middle East will set free powerful forces that can be harnessed to the reconstruction and development of the whole eastern and southern Mediterranean areas. The Federal Republic of Germany and its European partners will not fail to co-operate. By initiating a European-Arab dialog, the nine members of the Community have already laid the first foundations for that great task.
73.	The Federal Government most deeply deplores the recent events in Cyprus with its tragic consequences for the country and its people. We hope that those involved in the conflict will succeed soon in finding a negotiated settlement securing the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus and restoring to that country external and internal peace.
74. Both in the Middle East and in Cyprus the United Nations used its instruments to help in the efforts to bring about a cease-fire and make negotiations possible. I wish in this connexion to emphasize the valuable work done by Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, to whom we owe appreciation and gratitude.
75.	We thank the soldiers of the peace-keeping forces for their dedication in the service of the United Nations, and we pay a tribute to those who gave their lives in that service.
76.	The Federal Republic of Germany recognizes the important functions of the peace-keeping forces and has therefore been supporting the actions in the Middle East and Cyprus by voluntary additional contributions. The efficiency and possibilities of action of the United Nations forces could be further enhanced if we succeeded in agreeing on general guidelines for peace-keeping operations. We should increase our efforts to bring about such an agreement.
77.	What concrete contribution can we make to an active peace policy? The foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany is geared to furthering detente. Detente in itself will not remove existing differences, nor automatically provide more security. But the policy of detente is an effective instrument in the efforts to eliminate old conflicts and prevent the emergence of new ones and it is only.
in an atmosphere of detente that efforts at arms limitation and arms control with due regard to security interests will make any sense at all.
78.	The Federal Government includes in its policy of detente the most difficult and burning problem prevailing in Germany itself the division of our country with all its painful consequences for the people. I wish to repeat what the Federal Government made clear at the twenty-eighth session [2119th meeting] from this rostrum. We cannot and will not accept the division as history's final dictum on the German nation. That dictum will be spoken by the German people themselves. The Federal Government sticks to its policy of working for a state of peace in Europe in which the German people will regain its unity in free self-determination.
79.	This does not prevent us, however, from exhausting the full measure of co-operation attainable in the, circumstances. This, our policy, has paved the way for contractually, settled relations with the other German State, the German Democratic Republic. It has since been seen that co-operation between the States of a divided country in the United Nations is possible despite fundamental differences of political views, that it is beneficial for all, andI should think for the world Organization too.
80.	Detente in Europe had to begin Where differences clashed their hardest., that is, in Berlin. The Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin of 3 September 1971 opened the way. Hence, one of the criteria by which to measure detente is the manner in which that Agreement works in all its parts. Berlin's secure future is an indispensable element of detente in Europe, and it remains a vital interest of our policy.
81.	The Federal Republic of Germany wants to see the policy of detente effectively continued. It is in this spirit that the Federal Government cooperates actively and constructively in the Geneva Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and in the Vienna Talks on Mutual Reduction of Forces and Armaments and Associated Measures in Central Europe. We do not seek advantages benefiting just one side; we seek a way that will facilitate the coexistence of nations on the crowded European continent, and it is our hope that these conferences will bring us nearer the time when, in Europe, a highly armed East and West will no longer confront each other.
82.	We cannot and will not reconcile ourselves to the thought that the arms race in which not only the great Powers participate is being carried on and on. The economic resources of mankind must increasingly be used to put an end to hunger and misery in the world, but they should be concentrated on that task now, not after there has been a winner in the arms race.
83.	That is why I feet that, even more that hitherto, we must seek practical, controlled measures of disarmament and arms control. As before, the Federal Republic of Germany is determined to contribute actively to this. Disarmament and arms control are an integral part of our policy. We are prepared to assume additional responsibility also in the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament and are certain that we will have an opportunity to do so in the near future.
84.	In this connexion I wish to underline the great importance which we attach to the policy of the non- proliferation of nuclear weapons. The Federal Republic of Germany intends to participate in the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons scheduled for 1975. It hopes that this will provide it with another opportunity to help oppose anything that might jeopardize the policy of non-proliferation.
85.	In this General Assembly the Federal Republic of Germany focuses its special attention on three sets of problems of world-wide co-operation, namely, the strengthening of the international order and its institutions; the improvement of international economic relations in the spirit of partnership and solidarity; and concrete contributions to detente and disarmament with a view to ensuring a lasting peace. It does so in the awareness of, and with respect for, the expectations, the wishes, the hopes and longings of the people of the German nation and all other nations. All our endeavors are ultimately aimed at enhancing the welfare of each individual human being.
86.	This idea leads us to a central aspect of the United Nations work to which this General Assembly should also devote its full attention. I mean the question of individual human rights, of the protection of the individual within the community, and I should like to warn against the illusion that it would suffice to guard the outward order by outward means against war and destruction. What we need is not just the formal recognition of human rights but also their universal acceptance and application so as to endow the outward measures for the preservation of peace with inner firmness and the power of conviction.
87.	These are elementary rights which must be respected and applied all over the world: in Europe and I mean all parts of Europe less than on other continents.
88.	We expect that the entry into force of the two International Covenants on Human Rights [resolution 2200 A (XXI)] which the Federal Republic of Germany ratified in December 1973 will spark off fresh impulses.
89.	As a new member of the Commission on Human Rights, we want to co-operate responsibly in that body's efforts to give effect to human rights. We want to help and do our best to ensure that the individual shall be protected both from arbitrary treatment by the State and from want, and that population groups shall be protected from discrimination on racial, religious, political and other grounds.
90.	We welcome the decision of the Commission on Human Rights and its bodies to prepare studies on the subject of self-determination. The rights of self-determination is a regulative principle to be applied not only in the sphere of decolonization or to one particular continent but in all parts of the world.
91.	Self-determination and human rights are the central issues at stake also in southern Africa. The problems of decolonization and the elimination of racial discrimination in that region will again be occupying the attention of this General Assembly. We have left no doubt about our attitude; we demand that any remaining colonialism be eliminated. We condemn all forms of racial discrimination. We can note today with satisfaction that since the last session of the General Assembly fundamental changes have begun.
92.	We welcome Portugal's historic decision to recognize the independence of Guinea-Bissau and to open the road to independence for Mozambique and Angola. We see in this a confirmation of our view that courage, energy and wisdom can solve these problems too.
93.	The guarantee of individual human rights, the total ban on racism in any form or place, and the achievement of the self-determination of nations are tasks which my people, prompted not the least by its own historic experience, would like to help to accomplish sincerely and energetically.
94.	In his treatise Of Eternal Peace, written in 1795, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose two hundred and fiftieth birthday we celebrate this year, drew up principles for international co-operation. These universal aims are also pursued by the United Nations. The principles which this Organization established for international coexistence almost three decades ago are today sure of world-wide recognition. However, white solemn declarations and resolutions are a good thing, we must do more. It will be the task of the General Assembly at the present session to give practical impetus, to point the way for our future work, so that by concrete measure seven if they are only small steps ahead we come nearer to achieving the aims of the United Nations. At the end of this session of the General Assembly we shall be judged by the progress we have made along this path.