Mr. President, please accept my congratulations on your election to your responsible office. We see your mandate also as recognition of Sri Lanka's role in the United Nations and in the group of non-aligned countries. Your country received great acknowledgment recently as host to the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, whose constructive activity we value.
121.	I also wish to extend best wishes and words of appreciation to Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim for his successful and untiring work.
122.	We cordially welcome the Republic of Seychelles as a newly admitted member of the United Nations.
123.	The German Democratic Republic notes with satisfaction that political detente continues gaining momentum as the decisive trend in international affairs. Peaceful co-operation for mutual benefit is an objective for which there is growing commitment. In Europe, the Conference on Security and Co-operation has had a sensible effect on the relationship between the States and peoples.
124.	In Asia, the endeavor to achieve greater security has increased in strength due to the successful liberation struggle of the peoples, above all those of IndoChina. Further strongholds of colonialism collapsed during the last year. The people of Angola have liberated themselves. The struggle for equitable international economic relations is unfolding very dynamically.
125.	At the same time, there remain many problems to be solved. The arms race is jeopardizing detente. Serious and armed conflicts are threatening security and peace. In southern Africa, colonialist and racist oppression is raging. Most aggressive forces are even trying to push mankind back to cold war. Therefore, those are well advised who value duly, but without illusion, what has been achieved on the road of detente. Let me express my conviction that the United Nations will make its contribution towards strengthening peace and security as provided for by its Charter, which is, now as before, a tried and tested document.
126.	At the Ninth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in May this year, General Secretary Erich Honecker of the Party's Central Committee reaffirmed the effort of our country for the strengthening of peace and security in Europe and in the world. He expressed himself categorically in favor of the extension and stabilization of the results achieved in the pursuit of the policy of peaceful coexistence and for supplementing political detente by measures of military detente.
127.	The German Democratic Republic allies itself with all those who strive to liberate mankind forever from the scourge of war. War must no longer be a means of settling international issues.
128.	Profound changes in the world have created conditions for excluding aggression and the use of force forever from the relations between States. A world treaty on the non-use of force is now imperative. Single-minded action to implement this Soviet proposal would be highly appropriate to extend detente to the world as a whole.
129.	Such a significant move would have a beneficial effect on the international atmosphere as well as on the solution of questions of disarmament, both conventional and nuclear. As a matter of course, the renunciation of force would in no way impair the inalienable right of peoples to resist national suppression and exploitation and to fight for, and achieve, the exercise of their right to self-determination. In addition, it would render imperialist aggression and intervention much more difficult and would help to eliminate them finally.
130.	This initiative has really historic dimensions. Rulers of past times postulated jus ad bellum. The Great October Socialist Revolution abolished it with the Decree on Peace and, as a result of the Second World War, the peoples fighting against fascism compelled its universal banning. And now the noble task is to make non-use of force in international relations an inviolable, sacred law.
131.	In his report to the thirtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, stated that the annual arms spending already amounted to approximately $300 billion.  Meanwhile, this total has largely been exceeded. Immense intellectual and material resources are employed for the development and perfection of weapons and weapon systems and are withheld from the solution of pressing economic and social problems.
132.	Those to whom the arms race is a source of maximum profit go to any length to burden their peoples with ever greater arms expenditures. Mendaciously they seek to justify their policy of strength with an alleged "threat from the East". But it is a notorious fact that the fiercest anti-Communist attacks are launched whenever greater funds are demanded for armament.
133.	Moreover-and everybody knows-all proposals for arms limitation and disarmament that are now under discussion in the United Nations were made by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, other socialist States, and developing countries.
134.	Proceedings in the General Assembly, its competent Committees and in the Geneva Conference of the Committee on Disarmament, and the negotiations in Vienna indicate who is willing to proceed to drawing up inter-national agreements and who is obstructing.
135.	The state of the disarmament negotiations is not satisfactory. Yet we do not share the purposive pessimism of various circles. Given the requisite political will of all sides, practical steps towards arms limitation and disarmament will be immediately possible. For example, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has proved its viability, not least because a hundred States by now have acceded to it. It remains the aim of the German Democratic Republic to strengthen the regime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons along the lines of the Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference in May 1975.  Nuclear weapons must be totally removed from the war arsenals- A complete and general prohibition of nuclear weapon tests is no doubt another step towards this end. We deem it imperative that last year's resolution [resolution 3466 (XXX)] be not only reaffirmed but that all States be called on to co-operate in an. active way. We welcome the text of a convention on the prohibition of the misuse of the human environment for military purposes which the Geneva Committee on Disarmament has prepared and which is before this General Assembly for approval [see A/31127, annex I]. We will vote for it. The tails of experts in the Geneva Conference of the Committee on Disarmament on the prohibition of the development and production of new weapons of mass destruction and systems of such weapons can expedite the preparation of a relevant agreement. These activities should be continued with priority. Like the majority of States, we also consider that arms limitation and disarmament should be discussed at a world conference. The special session of the United Nations which the non-aligned countries proposed at their Conference in Colombo could gain importance for that. The German Democratic Republic hopes for regulations covering the transfer of nuclear material, equipment or technologies for peaceful purposes. They will have to exclude any misuse. To ensure an even more effective application of the principles of the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons it would be good to work out and agree regulations to this effect without delay.
136.	Somewhat over a year ago the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe was signed by 33 European countries as well as by the United States of America and Canada. Already now we may say that this has ushered in a change in the relations between the European States having different social systems and marked out a broad field for multifaceted, mutually beneficial co-operation. To develop it fully will no doubt require the active co-operation of all signatory States in keeping with the spirit and letter of the document.
137.	It will be to nobody's advantage to question again the European post-war order which was documented and sealed in the Final Act, and to present before the highest body of the United Nations a creation of fancy that has nothing to do with reality. It is common knowledge that the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany are two sovereign States independent of each other. Their membership in the United Nations is eloquent evidence of this. In free self-determination, the people of the German Democratic Republic has forever decided for socialism and adherence to the community of socialist States. The western frontier of the German Democratic Republic separates two States that belong to entirely different social systems and alliances. Security of States is and remains, first and foremost, security of their frontiers. To ensure them reliably is an equal obligation for all sides prescribed by the Final Act of Helsinki. Nobody can be discharged from this responsibility. Whoever attempts to deny the international character of this frontier, thus providing irresponsible cover for provocations at this frontier, should bear this in mind.
138.	Only a policy renouncing all arrogation and respecting realities is in accordance with the purposes and tasks of the world organization.
139.	As a socialist State, the German Democratic Republic wants to pursue its peaceful construction work in tranquility and security. It does everything to translate the document of Helsinki into reality, to make it the basis for the conduct of bilateral relations with other signatory States and to implement it multilaterally. On the basis of the principles of peaceful coexistence and with a view to peace and security, my country maintains mutually beneficial relations with countries having other social systems. We participate in the negotiations on the mutual reduction of armed forces and armaments in Central Europe. Remarkable progress could certainly have been made there, were all parties prepared to respect in practice undiminished security for all participants. It has been uncontested for a long time that multilateral arrangements ought to be found concerning problems of energy, environmental protection and transport on our continent. Now the appropriate political conditions do exist. We are in favor of convening all-European conferences for this purpose.
140.	The German Democratic Republic notes with gratification a growth of endeavors to strengthen regional security in Asia. It values lasting, good-neighborly relations between the States as an important prerequisite for converting Asia into a continent of peace and co-operation, and it welcomes what has been accomplished along these lines on the Indian subcontinent.
141.	The founding of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam has an extremely favorable effect on co-operation among the States of the region. Hence we expressly demand the admission of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the United Nations. Viet Nam's equal membership would not only accord with the Charter, it would indeed enhance the authority of the world organization.
142.	We express our solidarity with the demand, which was recently supported by the Colombo Conference, that foreign troops along with their nuclear weapons be with-drawn from South Korea. The German Democratic Re-public considers the implementation of the relevant resolution of the thirtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly [resolution 3390 (XXX)] to be imperative. A task of great urgency is the removal of imperialist military bases in various regions of the world. Their mere existence threatens peace, particularly in the regions concerned. We support those States which want a zone of peace to be established in the area of the Indian Ocean, and which consequently call for the dismantling of foreign military bases.
143.	The German Democratic Republic expresses its deep concern about the aggravating situation in the Middle East. We share the view expressed by many States that, in the interest of international security, a political settlement of this problem is necessary and, we believe, possible.
144.	The precondition is Israel's complete withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967, the fulfillment of the legitimate national rights of the Arab people of Palestine, including the right to establish a State of its own, the establishment of international guarantees for the security and for the inviolability of the frontiers of all States in the Middle East, as well as assurances for the right to independent existence and development.
145.	The clashes and bloodshed in Lebanon are a direct consequence of the unsettled Middle East conflict. The resulting dangers necessitate an immediate end to these clashes without outside interference and with safeguards for Lebanon's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. It must not be permitted that the hard-hit Arab people of Palestine suffer further harm. The German Democratic Republic wishes the United Nations to take action to ensure the overdue reconvening of the Geneva Peace Conference on the Middle East. Any delay will make a comprehensive political settlement more difficult; favor the aggressor and his backers who have ignored the essential demands of the United Nations since 1967.
146.	Likewise, the resolutions of the United Nations on Cyprus should be implemented. Their purpose is to ensure, at long last, peace and sovereignty for this non-aligned State.
147.	In Africa, the struggle for the liquidation of the remaining strongholds of colonial exploitation and racist suppression has grown in strength. Denying the right of peoples to self-determination in southern Africa affects security, both regional and international. South Africa has become a source of war. Increasing domestic terrorism combines with constant aggression against free African States.
148.	But regardless of repeated condemnation of the racist regimes by the Security Council of the United Nations, certain circles, only too well known to the world, are continuing their political, military and economic collaboration with the Vorster regime, and are even dangerously extending it to the nuclear field.
149.	In the name of the people of the German Democratic Republic, we protest against the bloody outrages in South Africa against a people that wants, at long last, to be free and to determine its fate for itself. My country will also in the future display solidarity with and render assistance to the efforts of the forces of national liberation. The last strongholds of colonialism and racism will collapse. The peoples do not accept being deprived any longer of their right to self-determination.
150.	We stand firmly by the side of the free African States in defending and strengthening their hard won independence. Our solidarity is with the People's Republic of Angola with which the German Democratic Republic is linked by fraternal bonds. We strongly support Angola's legitimate right to membership in the United Nations.
151.	the total elimination of colonialism and racism is at the same time the condition for many millions of people to exercise their human rights. The United Nations has a remarkable record in this regard. Its Charter declares peace and the right of peoples to self-determination the Organization's main concerns. On the basis of respect for equal rights and sovereignty, the precept of non-interference, and the right to self-determination, it strives for a state of stability and welfare for all peoples. This is the frame where the international protection of human rights belongs. And with this in mind the United Nations has defined the elimination of massive violations of human rights as an area of international co-operation.
152.	But certain circles are eager, under pretexts that are only too transparent, to change the instrument for the protection of humanity as embodied by the Charter of the United Nations into the contrary. They seek to establish so-called supra-national institutions. The intention is always the same: to pave the way for interference in the affairs of other States and to call into question their personal and territorial sovereignty. But it is on record to what an appalling extent these very circles, contrary to the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations, support the regime of apartheid in South Africa in the political, economic, scientific, technological, financial, and even military, fields.
153.	Nobody can, for instance, relieve a State of its responsibility for all of its citizens to enjoy their right to work and education and to live in secure social conditions, for men and women to be assured of equal rights in all spheres of public life, for so-called guest workers not to be subjected to any discrimination and for nobody to be exposed to political witch-hunting and to be barred from certain types of employment.
154.	We exercise solidarity with the peoples in southern Africa in the struggle for their national self-determination. We vigorously urge the restoration of human rights which are being violated on a massive scale by reactionary and Fascist regimes. In Chile, thousands of upright persons have vanished without a trace behind prison walls and in concentration camps. The world has a right to know about their fate. We demand the immediate release of Luis Corvalan and the other political prisoners.
155.	There can be no doubt that one of the areas of world-wide co-operation vital to mankind is the development of marine resources. The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, to which the German Democratic Republic is a party, is called upon to work out regulations acceptable to all sides for a rational use of the riches of the sea. The German Democratic Republic expresses its willingness to co-operate in mutual accord with all the States participating in the Conference in order to achieve this aim.
156.	Owing to changes in international life and the degree of present political detente, many peoples have been able in the last few decades to win their political independence. Now they are striving for economic independence and the elimination of all forms of neo-colonialist exploitation.
157.	The sixth and seventh special sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States as well as a number of other important international decisions are, not least, a reflection of the fact that the Asian, African and Latin American countries have become an important and active force in shaping truly equitable international economic relations.
158.	The German Democratic Republic concurs with the statement of the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries that one of the major needs of the present time is to change international economic relations. They are to be placed on an equal and mutually beneficial footing, free from racial discrimination and colonialist or neo-colonialist; exploitation.
159.	The States members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance support the developing countries in their struggle for economic independence.
160.	To the German Democratic Republic, detente and development are not incompatible alternatives but inter-dependent sides of the process towards human progress which is palpably taking place in today's world.
161.	The representatives at this session of the United Nations General Assembly have busy months before them. Our delegation expects the thirty-first session to make an important contribution towards the preservation of peace and towards equal co-operation of all States and peoples on the basis of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the world Organization. May I assure you that the delegation of the German Democratic Republic will co-operate constructively with all delegations to attain these goals?


It is with particular pleasure that, through you, Sir, I express to Mr. Amerasinghe, on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus, warm congratulations on his unanimous election to the presidency of this thirty-first session of the General Assembly. It is very fitting that an eminent representative of Sri Lanka, which now chairs the non-aligned movement-to which the majority of the States Members of the Organization belong- should guide our deliberations during a crucial period in international developments. We are confident that, with his rich experience and recognized ability and with his dedication to the principles and ideals of the United Nations, this Assembly will contribute constructively and significantly towards the solution of the various pressing international problems.
61.	May I take this opportunity also to congratulate his predecessor, Mr. Gaston Thorn, for the outstanding way in which he successfully guided the deliberations of the last session of the General Assembly.
62.	It also gives me great pleasure to welcome the Republic of Seychelles to the Organization. The admission to membership of yet another State which has just emerged from colonial status constitutes a further step in the irreversible process towards complete decolonization and the realization of the principle of universality of the United Nations. We hope that this process will soon be further consolidated by the admission of Viet Nam and Angola and of the remaining Territories still under colonial or other alien rule.
63.	Thirty-one years have elapsed since the establishment of the United Nations. Its membership has grown from the original 51 States to the present number of 145, and this fact shows the momentous evolution which has taken place since the Second World War and demonstrates the significance of the Organization in the new era which has since been ushered in for mankind.
64.	Today, the outmoded patterns of international thinking and behavior have given place to the new concept that the world is interdependent and constitutes a single community. Technological advance has made the world shrink, and events occurring in one place have global repercussions. In our world of today, peace, freedom, and social and economic justice are indivisible, and co-operation among peoples and nations is an imperative necessity.
65.	Despite this new thinking and these realities, however, we are equally faced with the very strong resistance of forces striving to preserve inequitable relations by all means. The international scene still abounds with situations ominously removed from the fundamental principles upon which the Organization is based. This reality should not be glossed over in the United Nations and cannot be ignored by the international community without dire consequences to the further course and development of the world; for we are in a period of a delicate balance between the prevalence of the concept of the use of force and domination-an outdated relic of the past-and that of reason and peace, so necessary for the survival of mankind in the interdependent world of the nuclear age. It is in this context, too, that one should view attempts to bypass or ignore the world Organization and attempts to discredit in various ways the United Nations, or to limit its effectiveness merely by declarations or verbal reports.
66.	As the Secretary-General has pertinently pointed out in the introduction to his report on the work of the Organization:
"We have had many recent experiences of the wide discrepancy between the unanimity, or near unanimity, of decisions of the Security Council or the General Assembly and the practical effect which such decisions have on the issues to which they are addressed" [A/ 31/1/Add.l, sect. IV].
And later he stressed:
"The responsibilities of Governments do not cease when a resolution is adopted; indeed resolutions usually require determined action by Governments, in addition to the parties directly concerned, if they are to be translated into reality" [ibid.].
67.	This is indeed true and touches upon a raw nerve and a fundamental issue: the divergence between what is professed in theory and what is done in practice. If the United Nations is to fulfill its fundamental objectives, this pattern must be corrected. Setting aside the legalisms as to the binding effect of United Nations resolutions-whether they be "recommendations" of the General Assembly or "decisions" of the Security Council and, in the latter case, whether they be made under Chapter VI or Chapter VII-the essential point which emerges from this observation of the Secretary-General which is valid and too true for comfort is that a Member State which has voted for a resolution has an obligation, and is duty-bound, to act consistently with the position it has freely taken, and to do its utmost to fulfill the commitment it has thus made; for the alternative plainly is to demonstrate to all-and not only to the critics of the United Nations-the impotence of the Organization to implement what it solemnly, and after due consideration, decided and the hollowness of its resolutions.
68.	It is significant that the Heads of State and Government of the non-aligned countries pledged in the Political Declaration of Colombo to use their collective weight in the United Nations for the promotion of the purposes and principles of the Charter and, more particularly, for the "full application of the Charter provisions relating to the maintenance of international peace and security and also the effective discharge of the functions of the Security Council through the implementation of its decisions" [see A/31 /197, para. 152]. Such a development would give practical expression to the general wish for the strengthening of the United Nations.
69.	Many are the grave problems that are to be dealt with by this Assembly. One, which is of vital importance to mankind, is disarmament. The concept of force and armaments still seems to be the axis around which all notions of security revolve. The effect of this concept is to promote military antagonism and an escalating arms race inconsistent with the Charter and with the basic needs of our times. It should be a source of serious concern to us all that there has been no progress at all towards disarmament since our last session. Indeed, no progress has been made towards defining concepts which could make possible the commencement of negotiations on general and complete disarmament, while the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [resolution 2373 (XXII), annex] has not as yet attained its objectives.
70.	It is with great anxiety that we watch this state of affairs and the recent trend towards the wider proliferation of nuclear weapons which, if allowed to continue, is bound to have the gravest implications and repercussions for the international community as a whole. It is my Government's long-held view that, while all assistance should be given by the nuclear Powers to non-nuclear States in obtaining access to nuclear energy for peaceful uses, the paramount necessity for the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons should at the same time be safeguarded at all costs. Accession to the Treaty should be encouraged by all means possible.
71.	We believe that the problem of disarmament is closely related to the stand which should be taken for the activation of the Charter in its most essential provisions on the maintenance of international peace and security, namely, for the effective functioning of the Security Council through the implementation of its decisions. When Security Council decisions become effective, the foundation will be laid for collective security and peace in a world of progressive legal order. This development will reduce emphasis on ensuring security through antagonistic military alliances and will contribute significantly to the cessation of the arms race.
72.	In parallel, persistent efforts must be made to find a way out of the increasingly threatening situation that the arms race involves. We support, therefore, the holding of a world conference on disarmament, or the convening of a special session of the General Assembly on the subject, in which all nuclear Powers would participate.
73.	Colossal sums are annually squandered on purposeless armaments instead of being spent for the well-being of mankind. If only a small part of this wasteful expenditure was applied to the positive purpose of development, the grave economic difficulties facing the world could be overcome, and the existing gap between the developed and developing countries could be substantially bridged.
74.	This brings us to the inequitable economic disparity which exists in the world and which seriously hinders efforts for the consolidation of peace. The establishment of a new economic order which would lay the foundations for bridging the gap between developed and developing countries has become an imperative necessity in our interdependent world. The seventh special session of the General Assembly went a long way towards this end, but much still needs to be done. The general awareness of the importance of the problem, and of the need to deal with it realistically, as shown at the conferences held at Manila,  Nairobi  and Colombo,  gives rise to the hope that more concrete results may be forthcoming through increased solidarity among the developing countries.
75.	The Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe constitutes a landmark in the history of East-West relations. It is the result of the consciousness of the necessity for co-operation and for a common approach to common dangers and problems, the solution of which will without doubt prove to be to the benefit of the whole world. The sincere, full and indivisible implementation of the Helsinki principles and the turning of the Final Act into a standard of international behavior is a moral obligation for the signatories and constitutes an imperative need for the promotion and consolidation of world peace and security. The continuing occupation of my country by Turkey, also a signatory of the Helsinki Act, serves as an illustrative reminder that the principles envisaged by this Act have not as yet been fully respected, nor its fundamental purposes achieved.
76.	At the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, efforts have been under way to deal with the complex legal, economic and political issues involved and to arrive at an orderly, just and equitable system for the benefit of mankind as a whole. Considerable progress has been made towards the adoption of a comprehensive and generally acceptable convention and I would like to pay a tribute to Mr. Amerasinghe for his constructive role in guiding the Conference to this end. Cyprus, an island State located between three continents, has a fundamental interest in the early and successful outcome of this major undertaking in a manner that will safeguard the position of islands and ensure that the delimitation of zones of maritime jurisdiction will be in accordance with clear and objectively ascertainable rules and with the basic principle of sovereign equality. We are firmly convinced that an essential corollary to the substantive rules of the convention is a comprehensive and effective system for the peaceful and just settlement of international disputes arising therefrom, thus ensuring for all States the protection of their legitimate rights through third-party adjudication on the basis of objective legal criteria.
77.	Persistence in the anachronistic policies and. attitudes of southern Africa seriously imperils peace and stability in the African continent and threatens international peace and security. The continuing illegal occupation of Namibia, the denial of the right to self-determination and majority rule to the people of Zimbabwe and the racist policies followed by the South African regime are unacceptable situations fraught with grave dangers.
78.	The United Nations is shouldering a special responsibility with regard to Namibia and all Member States must give their full support to this Organization so that the people of Namibia may enjoy their inalienable right to independence. With regard to Zimbabwe, we express the hope that efforts currently under way will lead to positive results and enable its people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination and to attain the majority government to which they are entitled. The abhorrent policies of apartheid in South Africa continue to be an affront to the conscience of mankind, inasmuch as they constitute a negation of justice, human dignity and the moral values for which our civilization stands. We emphatically condemn the injustice being perpetrated against the South African people in defiance of repeated United Nations resolutions, and we call for the adoption of effective measures for the implementation of these resolutions; we also denounce "bantustanization" in South Africa, which is aimed at preventing the liberation of its people, while at the same time breaking up the unity of the country. We call for effective and resolute action to combat the designs of the racist regime.
79.	Regarding the question of international violence, including that of the taking of hostages - an aspect dealt with in the proposal by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany [7th meeting, para. 113]-there is no doubt that these matters have become of serious concern to the whole world. A real discussion, however, would have to go to the root of the problem in a comprehensive way in an effort to reach an understanding on all its aspects, with a view to deciding, on the basis of consensus, how the problem can be tackled in its proper perspective.
80.	Guided by the fundamental and immutable principles of the Charter of this Organization, my Government fully supports Panama's legitimate claim to sovereignty over the Panama Canal. It is our fervent hope that the relevant bilateral contacts and negotiations will soon lead to a successful outcome.
81.	In the Middle East, the crisis remains unresolved and the situation continues to be fraught with grave danger. The absence of war does not necessarily mean the presence of peace. The continuing illegal occupation of Arab territories and the violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people constitute the elements of a human tragedy and are the cause of a serious threat to world peace and security.
82.	There can be no radical and final solution, and there can be no just and durable peace in the region, unless Israel withdraws from all Arab territories occupied by it since 1967 and unless the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people are fully restored, including the right to return to their homes in safety, in full implementation of
the relevant resolutions of the Organization. The effective implementation of these resolutions will greatly serve the cause of peace in this very sensitive part of the world.
83.	The tragic events in our neighbor, the friendly State of Lebanon, are directly related to the Arab-Israeli conflict and should serve as a warning of what could befall the whole region if a just settlement of the Middle East problem is not reached soon. We follow these events with grief and anxiety and it is our earnest hope that hostilities will cease and that a solution safeguarding the country's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and non-alignment will be speedily reached.
84.	Closely connected with the problem of the Middle East-and similar to it in many of its aspects-is the problem of Cyprus.
85.	More than two years since the original aggression and invasion of Cyprus by Turkey the problem of my country remains unresolved and the picture that Cyprus presents today continues to be grim. Its component elements remain: the continued occupation of 40 per cent of the island's territory ; the usurpation and/ or destruction of 70 per cent of its economic resources; the 200,000 Greek Cypriot refugees, representing one third of the total Cypriot population; and the illegal presence in Cyprus of 40,000 Turkish troops, with the untold misery which they cause to the Cypriot' people, Greek and Turkish alike. Beyond these, the human drama of the thousands of missing and unaccounted for; Ankara's policy of faits accomplis; the turning of the negotiations into a travesty; the daily expulsions of Greek Cypriots still remaining in the occupied area; the colonization of this area by the mass transfer of settlers from Turkey; and the contemptuous disregard persistently shown by Ankara towards the United Nations resolutions on Cyprus-all these constitute the other aspects of the tragedy of the Cypriot people and reveal the true dimensions of the problem.
86.	The United Nations has repeatedly dealt with the Cyprus problem and adopted resolutions providing the framework and the guidelines for its settlement. Even Turkey voted for resolution 3212 (XXIX) on Cyprus adopted by the General Assembly and endorsed by Security Council resolution 365 (1974). These and other United Nations resolutions, notably General Assembly resolution 3395 (XXX), provide for the withdrawal of all foreign troops without delay and for the urgent return of the refugees to their homes in safety. Since the Turkish aggression, a total of 16 resolutions on Cyprus have been adopted by the United Nations; 13 by the Security Council and 3 by the General Assembly. None of these resolutions has been implemented by Turkey, and none of their provisions has it respected. Sixteen United Nations reso¬lutions have been treated by Turkey as scrap paper devoid of any value.

87.	Even with regard to General- Assembly resolution 3450 (XXX) on the purely humanitarian problem of the over 2,000 missing and unaccounted-for Greek Cypriot civilians and prisoners of war, Turkey has taken an arbitrary stand. It bluntly refused to co-operate with the International Committee of the Red Cross and denied the Committee the access to the occupied area which it needed to carry out searches or collect information on the fate of the missing persons. I address an emphatic appeal to this Assembly to assist in this purely humanitarian matter by taking steps towards the urgent implementation of resolution 3450 (XXX), so that an end may be put to the agonizing ordeal of the families of the missing persons.
88.	Apart from the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Cyprus and the return of all refugees to their homes- provisions which Turkey has chosen to ignore-the United Nations resolutions provide for the holding of substantive and constructive negotiations between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, with a view to reaching freely a mutually acceptable political settlement based on their fundamental and legitimate rights. The purpose of the negotiations is clearly and unambiguously stated in the resolutions. The negotiations are concerned with the constitutional issue and not with the withdrawal of the foreign troops and the return of the refugees to their homes, which, in accordance with the resolutions, should precede and not follow the talks; for how could the people of Cyprus of whatever origin, by themselves, bring about the cessation of the aggression and of the occupation of their country by a foreign Power and in what way could they be expected to negotiate freely their future with the presence of a powerful army of occupation on their territory? It should be remembered, that the problem of Cyprus is not in essence one between the two Cypriot communities but one of aggression against the defenseless non-aligned Republic of Cyprus by its powerful neighbor, Turkey.
89.	The inter-communal talks began within the framework of the above resolutions with the reasonable expectation that Turkey, in compliance with the resolutions, would, in a parallel way, set in motion measures for their progressive implementation. Turkey not only failed to take any steps for such implementation but actually violated the resolutions by engaging in faits accomplis directly contrary, to the substance of the resolutions. At the same time, acting through the Turkish Cypriots in the talks, it adopted delaying tactics and persistently failed to put forward any concrete proposals despite its express commitment. The talks were thus rendered practically useless.
90.	We always welcome talks and negotiations a? an effective means of solving say problem. We firmly believe that a well-meaning dialog may bridge opposing views and settle differences. No problem is impossible to solve if substantive talks are conducted with goodwill, a common wish for their success and a common objective. This has been, and still is our view and conviction. Similarly, we have always expressed readiness to examine any proposal for a solution of the Cyprus problem in the light of the provisions of the relevant United Nations resolutions. It is in the sense of this basic position that we look into the views, advanced by the Secretary of State of the United States, before this Assembly, on 30 September 1976 [11th meeting].
91.	The Turkish side, however, has been approaching the talks in a striking different way. Ankara, which, as is well known, dictates the Turkish Cypriot position in these negotiations, considers the negotiating table as a suitable forum for imposing inadmissible terms, relying upon its military forces of occupation. Turkey looks upon the
negotiating procedure as a convenient vehicle for an undisturbed passing of time which it uses in order to consolidate its position in the occupied territory through a series of faits accomplis and the colonization of this area. It does not aspire to a just solution of the Cyprus problem through the inter-communal talks, but it does find convenient a semblance of negotiation. Although the Turkish Cypriot negotiator, on instructions from Ankara, does not allow a constructive dialog to develop, yet by futilely attending rounds of talks in Vienna or New York, he tries to mislead the world into believing that Turkey favours the talks and through them is seeking a solution to the Cyprus problem. The aim is obvious. In this way, Turkey is enabled to head off international efforts for a just solution under the pretext that negotiations are in progress while at the same time it consolidates its position in the occupied area by a series of faits accomplis. In this respect, it may be recalled that Turkey, deliberately evading international efforts for the solution of the problem, had rejected outright the Soviet proposal for a wider international conference on Cyprus, which my Government accepted.
92.	Turkey has been undermining the negotiations not only by its negative stand on the talks but also by creating further faits accomplis in breach of express commitments which the Turkish side had undertaken during the talks End in flagrant violation of basic norms of international humanitarian law and the United Nations resolutions on Cyprus.
93.	At the third round of the inter-communal talks in Vienna in August 1975, it was agreed that the Turkish Cypriots who remained in the Government-controlled areas would be allowed to move to the Turkish-held areas and the Greek Cypriots who remained in the occupied areas, would be free to stay here and would be given every facility to lea d a normal life. It was also agreed that the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus [ UNFICYPJwovld have free and normal access to the Greek Cypriot villages in the occupied areas. Turkey, having secured the implementation of those provisions of the agreement which were to its advantage, chose to throw aside and violate the rest of the provisions. Not only did Turkey prevent the Greek Cypriots who remained in the occupied area from leading normal lives and denied UNFICYP the possibility to exercise its agreed role, but it also embarked upon a process of systematically expelling the Greek Cypriots through tactics of oppression, harassment and brute force. These inhuman expulsions, which are being carried out daily, add to the drama of the Cypriot people and accentuate the tragedy. The wholesale expulsions have been resorted to by Turkey for the purpose of "homogenizing", as it calls it, the occupied area and for the purpose of facilitating it the perpetuation of yet another repugnant international crime, that of colonization.
94.	Ankara, not content with the uprooting and elimination from the occupied area of the indigenous majority because of its ethnic origin, has also been engaged in the illegal colonization of the area by the massive transfer of .people from Turkey, who are currently being settled in the usurped homes and properties of the expelled Greek Cypriots. One of the results of the policy of colonization-a paradoxical one-has been that the Turkish Cypriots, for whose protection and well-being Turkey sJIegedly invaded
Cyprus, have also become victims of this policy and suffer greatly from the presence of the imported settlers, who receive preferential treatment from the Turkish occupation authorities.
95.	The purpose of the expulsions and colonization and of Ankara's dilatory tactics in the negotiations is only too obvious. Turkey, as I have already mentioned, is trying to "homogenize" the occupied area and to bring about changes in the demographic character of Cyprus with a view to paving the way for the partition of the island and the de facto annexation of the occupied areas. At the same time, the creation of the faits accomplis enables Ankara to repeat its favorite tune of "new realities" in an effort to avert international pressures for the return of the refugees to their homes and lands and for the just settlement of the territorial aspect of the problem.
96.	Turkey's policy over Cyprus consists in the creation, by the use of force, of faits accomplis which it tries to justify to the world by false pretenses and misrepresentations. Turkey calls such faits accomplis "new realities" and asks the Greek Cypriots and the world to accept them. The original faits accomplis are followed by others and the original "realities" become "newer realities", supported by new false justifications and lame excuses. The policy of the step-by-step solution of international problems is in fact used by Turkey in reverse not for the peaceful solution of the Cyprus problem, but for the forced dissolution of the Republic of Cyprus.
97.	Beyond the suffering of a people, the situation in Cyprus and its implications pose a grave challenge to the effectiveness of the United Nations and raise fundamental questions regarding the values and the basic principles on which the continued existence of the Organization depends. The present tragedy in my country, of which I have given but a pale picture, calls for urgent and effective action by the General Assembly. The course to be followed is crystal-clear-that of taking such measures as would give effective implementation to the relevant General Assembly resolutions made mandatory by Security Council decisions. This is the logical and appropriate means for the just and lasting solution of the Cyprus problem which my Government seeks from the United Nations, and this is what we have come to request from this Assembly.
9S. May I, before concluding, avail myself of this opportunity to add a word of praise and deep appreciation for the outstanding work of our Secretary-General, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, in promoting the objectives and ideals of the United Nations and at the same time to express to him our gratitude for his untiring efforts to assist in every possible way in the search for a solution of the Cyprus problem in accordance with his mandate and the principles of the Charter. I should also like to highly commend the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Ambassador Perez de Cuellar, for the exemplary manner in which he performs his difficult task in Cyprus. May I also record, in this respect, our warm appreciation for the dedicated efforts of the Under-Secretaries-General R. Guyer and B. Urquhart.
99. We also wish to express deep appreciation to the Commander of UNFICYP, General Prem Chand, and to all the officers and men serving .under his command, who discharge the responsibilities entrusted to them by the United Nations with dedication and devotion despite the many obstacles confronting them.
100.	I would be remiss if I did not say how grateful we are to the countries that are contributing military and police contingents to UNFICYP, as well as to those which make voluntary financial contributions to enable the Force to function.
101.	Our warmest thanks and gratitude go also to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, for his invaluable humanitarian work in alleviating the suffering of the refugees, as well as to the countries and organizations which contribute for this purpose.


I consider it a signal honor that it is I who today express to you, Mr. President, on behalf of the Government and people of Mexico, our sincerest congratulations on your election by the General Assembly to guide the work of its thirty-first session. The several years during which we have both been Permanent Representatives of our respective countries to the United Nations have enabled me to assess your exceptional qualities, which not only explain but also fully justify the well-deserved and honorable distinction conferred upon you by the international community.
5.	I also wish to place on record our appreciation for the contribution made to our Organization by Mr. Gaston Thorn, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, when he was President of the thirtieth session.
6.	Lastly, I should like to say to the two Presidents-the outgoing and the present-that we attach special significance to the statements made by them at the opening meeting of this session on several specific aspects. Because of their true vision, correct approach and bold analysis those two statements should be die subject of serious meditation and should serve as a point of departure for deliberations and action in the Assembly with respect to some of the problems dealt with in them.
7.	I believe that it can be said without fear of contradiction that the method followed in the statements made year after year in the general debate in the main offer two possibilities: that of speakers who strive to touch, even though fleetingly, on a large number of the more than 100 agenda items, and that of those who prefer to be more thorough, rather than cover a broad field, and concentrate on a review of the items to which their respective Governments attach more importance.
8.	May I state at the outset that on this occasion I shall not follow either of those two procedures; so that when items come up for consideration, whether in the plenary Assembly or in the Main Committees, a statement of Mexico's position will be made on those items.
9.	The reason is that within two short months the six-year period of Mexican administration under President Luis Echeverria Alvarez will come to an end; and, on 1 December, we shall start, on the constitutional mandate of his people, the six-year period to be presided over by President elect Jose Lopez Portillo.
10.	Given the existing parallelism between the purposes of the United Nations Charter and those of the six-year government period which is about to come to an end in my country, as well as because of the continuity which we can foresee in the authoritative statements of both Presidents, it seems to us that it will be more useful and encouraging for the representatives of Member States meeting here- particularly if we bear in mind that the map of democracy in Latin America has been shrinking alarmingly of late- to give a brief recapitulation of the outstanding events of that six year period and choose those that are most relevant to this forum.
11.	As has been rightly said, since the United Nations is but the sum of the States Members and its attributes ultimately depend on the co-operation that they are prepared to give the Organization, it might not be superfluous if we, from time to time, review what bur countries have done or are doing to comply with that fundamental duty.
12.	I should like to start by making it clear that the Government of Mexico considers that the purposes of our domestic and foreign policy cannot be separated, but are a part of the same strategy. Hence, the universal concern about the effects of economic colonialism is answered on the domestic front by a striving for social renewal. As the Head of the Mexican State said in his last report to the Congress on 1 September 1976:
"Social democracy, which is the essence of the Mexican doctrine of development, has been the permanent objective of the nation, since its origin. It combines the need to broaden the system of freedoms with that of guaranteeing them by acting in solidarity. To reaffirm decisively is to show generations to come the course of our history. The mere accumulation of wealth is not development. A society advances when its people advance. To govern is not only to manage goods and supply services: it is to encourage the energies of the community and seek the means that will allow the community to progress morally, culturally and socially. To govern is to co-ordinate the historical tasks of a nation."
13.	The results of six years of government on this understanding have been innumerable economic, social and cultural achievements, and here I shall mention a few by way of illustration.
14.	We lowered the minimum age for deputies from 25 to 31 years, and for senators from 35 to 30. We lowered the membership requirement for the establishment of new political parties from 75,000 to 65,000 members. Those already registered were given the right to speak and vote in all electoral organizations as well as the right to free postage and telegraph and free access to radio and television.
15.	Mexico began 1975, International Women's Year, by eliminating, through constitutional and legislative reforms, all existing barriers to the complete integration of women into every activity of national life.
16.	Mexico made a gigantic effort to improve prospects for economic and social progress. Between 1970 and 1975 annual public investment rose from 30 billion pesos to more than 100 billion pesos.
17.	The State company known as National Financing re-assumed its role as the chief industrial promotion and development bank. The total financing authorized in the six-year period amounted to almost 128 billion pesos, which is equivalent to more than half the total which had been authorized since the company was established 42 years ago.
18.	In the industrial sector we doubled our oil production, which this year will amount to a million barrels a day. We also doubled our installed capacity for generating electric power, which has now reached 12 million kilowatts. In the steel Industry we doubled the 1970 production, which reached 10 million tons of steel.
19.	In the agricultural sector we added more than a million hectares of irrigated land. We enacted a federal law on agrarian reform, established a secretariat for agrarian reform, and distributed to farmers 16,239,428 hectares. Public expenditure on farm land rose from 6 billion pesos in 1970 to a little more than 60 billion pesos, which is to say a tenfold increase. Credits for agriculture in the six-year period amounted to almost 90 billion pesos, which is more than double what had been granted in the previous 35 years.
20.	Investments to expand the transportation and communication systems were triple those of the previous six-year period. They rose from 28.3 billion to 90 billion pesos, so that the network of roads of all grades increased from 70,000 kilometers in 1970 to 200,000. Furthermore, most parts of our national territory have been linked by means of modern telecommunication services as a result of additional investment of 23 billion pesos.
21.	Social security institutions now cover 25,020,000 persons as compared with 11,119,000, which is an increase of more than 100 per cent.
22.	The budget for education, which in 1970 was 8 billion pesos, in 1976 rose to 40 billion pesos, which is five times higher. The national educational system now reaches 27 per cent of the total population. Five hundred and forty-two million school books were distributed free by the Government, which means approximately nine books per inhabitant, an increase of almost 200 million books over the total distributed in the 10 previous years.
23.	We have set up several organizations to meet the demand for adequate housing for a constantly growing population. Thanks to the action taken by those bodies, the principal among them being the Institute of the National Fund for Workers' Housing [INFONAVITJ and the National Institute for the Development of Rural Communities and Housing for the People, it was possible to build approximately 300,000 houses or other dwellings, that is to say more than double the number that had been built in the previous 20 years.
24.	We must not forget that this enormous task of renewal was carried out at a time when the economic and monetary decisions being made in the centers of power as well as an acute inflationary process generated essentially by the economies of the highly industrialized countries were being detrimental to the normal rate of growth and were making it infinitely more difficult.
25.	It is therefore not surprising that, in order to maintain continuity in restructuring the national economy in the vital sectors of our basic infrastructure, agriculture and industry, the Government, on 31 August last, was compelled to decide on a regulated floating rate of exchange for the Mexican peso, nevertheless maintaining without any limitation the traditional free convertibility of our currency to any other as well as the free transfer of money and capital.
26.	The strategy for internal development which I have just outlined had to be tied to foreign policy which, at the same time as it adjusted to the traditional principles which served as its basis of support and which in essence are analogous to those which in 1945 were deemed most appropriate for the San Francisco Charter, opened new horizons for the progress of Mexico a foreign policy at the service of our internal democracy as well as that of democracy among nations.
27.	To achieve this, we added to the permanent vitality of the principles that emanate from our history-the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and the self- determination of peoples-other innovative elements such as the broadening and diversification of our international relations, creative and responsible association in solidarity with the struggle of the developing countries that are generally grouped under the title of the "third world" and the campaign to establish and consolidate a new inter-national economic order based on sovereign equality, justice, equity and interdependence.
28.	As regards the first of these elements, I could quote from numerous statements made by the President of Mexico from the very moment when he took office on 1 December 1970. Among them, I shall limit myself to recalling the statement he made in his third government report on 1 September 1973, when he affirmed that:
"In an era characterized by dialog, Mexico emphasizes its universal outlook. We are an active part of the community of nations and our life is conditioned in many aspects by external events ... We have no prejudices nor fear of their influences. We accept ideological pluralism as an obvious feature of this historical stage. On the basis of a broader perspective, we reaffirm confidence in ourselves and in the course we have selected."
29.	This position as defined was unchallenging confirmed in practice: in six years we practically doubled the number of peoples with whom we had friendly relations in the world. At the beginning of the six-year period Mexico had diplomatic relations with 67 nations, and at present we have them with 131.
30.	The President of Mexico has visited 36 countries-9 in Europe, 4 in Asia, 9 in Africa and the Middle East and 14 in the Americas. During the same period, M Mexico was host to more than 30 high dignitaries, Heads of State or Government and Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
31.	As a result of the President's travels abroad, more than 160 international conventions or agreements were signed, of which approximately one third are for technical and scientific co-operation or in connection with cultural matters and the remainder on economic and trade questions. In the same context we signed the co-operation agreements with the European Economic Community and with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, which opened to Mexico the markets and technology of 17 countries of Western and Eastern Europe.
32.	As regards Mexico's solidarity with the countries of the third world, this too has been explained by the Mexican head of State in a number of statements of which, as in the previous case, I shall take as an illustration only one, which appears to me as most significant, that he made on 21 February 1974 upon inaugurating at the Mexican Foreign Office a conference on continental co-operation, when he said, inter alia, that: "Latin America is part of the third world. Its struggles are similar and parallel to those which other nations are carrying out against colonialism, the new attempts at subjugation, the injustice present in international transactions and the concentration of political power, wealth and the means of multiplying it...
"In seeking factors to promote its moderation, Latin America should not restrict itself to the inertia of its continental relations, which are often an extension of old forms of servitude and which decrease the number of multiple options offered by an open exchange with the world.
"Let us eliminate certain geopolitical determinisms which are anachronistic hi the complexity of con-temporary economics. On the continent, let us consolidate links based on autonomy, equality and justice. Let us establish the basis for sincere co-operation and, within our own hemispheric home, let us practice militant solidarity with the peoples of the third world."
33.	Mexico has always held the belief that theoretical pronouncements must go hand in hand with specific deeds; thus, our affinity for ideological pluralism and our recognition of the need for action in solidarity with the members of the third world has been constantly demonstrated in the most diverse international forums. As an illustration of this, I need only give a very brief account of our action on three questions of vital importance: the new law of the sea, disarmament and the new international economic order.
34.	At the four substantive sessions of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea-which, I would say in passing, were presided over, as is well known, with such exceptional skill by the President of this session of the General Assembly-that have been held since 1974, one in Caracas, one in Geneva and two in New York, the purpose of Mexico's participation has been to protect what we regard as the legitimate interests of the countries of the third world and to 'claim' for them the exercise of what seems to us to be their inalienable rights regarding the benefits to be derived from the natural resources of the sea and the sea-bed.
35.	Thus, from the outset our endeavors have been directed towards reaching just and equitable solutions to the two questions that undoubtedly are most vital today for our peoples: the question of the so-called "exclusive economic zone" and the question of the regime to govern the sea-bed and the ocean floor and the subsoil thereof beyond the limits of national jurisdiction because the questions relating to the breadth of the territorial sea and the continental shelf have practically been solved.
36.	With regard to the first question-the exclusive economic zone-the competent Commission of the Conference, the Third Committee, was able to formulate a single informal negotiating text representing the common denominator on certain essential aspects of the various points of view expressed by delegations. From that single negotiating text we can already see without any doubt at all that the exclusive economic zone will have a breadth which, combined with that of the territorial sea, will extend to an outer limit of 200 nautical miles and that within the zone itself the coastal State-with some limitations that will have to be defined in the negotiations not yet concluded-will exercise sovereign rights for the purposes of exploration and exploitation of the natural resources, both renewable and non-renewable, of the sea-bed, including the subsoil thereof, and over the superjacent waters.
37.	With regard to the second question to which I have just returned, on which, unfortunately, similar progress has not been made, our endeavors have been directed towards a full application of the basic principle adopted at the twenty-fifth anniversary session of the General Assembly, under which it was established that the area of the sea-bed and the ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, as well as their resources, are the common heritage of mankind. That necessarily means that that area shall not be subject to appropriation by any means by States or persons, natural or juridical, and no State shall claim or exercise sovereignty or sovereign rights over any part thereof' [resolution 2749 (XXV)], and that the area dial! Be reserved exclusively for peaceful purposes.
38.	I turn now to the subject of disarmament. By way of introduction I would recall that the General Assembly has been pointing out for more than IS years now that the nuclear arms race constitutes the most serious danger for world peace and the survival of mankind. It seems fitting to add that it not only involves a threat of mass destruction, but also entails an unjustifiable waste of resources and is a serious obstacle to the functioning of the new international economic order. Indeed, it must be borne in mind that the nuclear arsenals of the two States which are customarily called "super-Powers" have alone been conservatively estimated at the equivalent of 1 million bombs of the type which in 1945 caused 100,000 deaths. That means that those arsenals would be sufficient to annihilate 100 billion human beings -that is, 25 times the number of inhabitants of the earth. Furthermore, the military expenditures have been estimated at the stratospheric figure of $300 billion per year.
39.	In order to assess Mexico's contribution to this urgent task, I should point out that Mexico has participated in one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree, in the drafting of all but a few of the hundred or so resolutions on disarmament items which the Assembly has adopted in the six-year period to which I have referred. That applies, for example, to the subjects of the comprehensive program for disarmament, the reports by the Secretary-General on various disarmament items, the World Disarmament Conference, and several items relating to nuclear disarmament, such as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks [SALT] between the United States and the Soviet Union, the cessation of all nuclear weapon tests, the military de-nuclearization of Latin America and the establishment of nuclear-weapon-free zones. The same can be said of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, held in May 1975, and of the 1976 session of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament in connection with the question of a convention on the prohibition of action to influence the environment for military purposes.
40.	I shall make some brief comments on only five of those items, since it would be impossible to dwell on all of them without speaking at undue length.
41.	With regard to the cessation of nuclear weapons tests, it seems appropriate to recall that it was on Mexico's initiative that during the aforementioned six-year period the Assembly has adopted three resolutions in which it not only has reaffirmed that the continuation of nuclear weapon tests intensifies the arms race and thus will increase the danger of nuclear war, but also and even more important -using terminology it has rarely used-has vigorously "condemned" all nuclear weapon tests, in whatever environment they are carried out, and has reaffirmed its conviction that, whatever differences may exist on the question of international control, there is no valid reason whatsoever for delaying an agreement on the total prohibition of all nuclear weapon tests, in conformity with the provision included more than 10 years ago in the preamble to the Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.
42.	Furthermore, at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, held in May 1975, Mexico submitted a draft additional protocol co-sponsored by many third-world countries and intended to achieve the final cessation of all nuclear- weapons tests as provided for in the tenth preamble paragraph of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons itself [resolution 2373 (XXII), annex], and to that end it outlined a simple, practical procedure of automatic application. That draft protocol, later distributed as a document of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament, is also available to the General Assembly as a document of the First Committee.
43.	As regards the bilateral negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of strategic arms, in which the two supper-Powers have been engaged since 1969, Mexico's action had a special influence because the General Assembly adopted four resolutions having essentially a similar content whereby the General Assembly deplored the absence of positive results in those talks and expressed
"... its concern for the very high ceilings of nuclear arms set for themselves by both States, for the total absence of qualitative limitations of such arms, for the protracted time-table contemplated for the negotiation of further limitations and possible reductions of the nuclear arsenals and for the situation thus created".
And time and time again the General Assembly has urged those States to broaden the scope and accelerate their talks on the limitation of nuclear strategic weapons, stressing
.. the necessity and urgency of reaching agreement on important qualitative limitations and substantial reductions of their strategic nuclear-weapon systems as a positive step towards nuclear disarmament".
44.	As regards nuclear-weapon-free zones, it is appropriate to point out that Mexico is the headquarters for the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America, a permanent organization for the only one of such densely populated zones in the world. Mexico succeeded in this at the thirtieth session, with the adoption of General Assembly resolution 3472 B (XXX), which contains two internationally authorized definitions of what is to be understood by "nuclear-weapon-free zones" and also mentions the principal obligations of nuclear-weapon States towards the nuclear-weapon-free zones and the States included therein and defines the objective, which is to strengthen the efforts recently undertaken and those already achieved in the establishment of nuclear-weapon- free zones.
45.	As regards the possibility of holding a world disarmament conference-and this initiative has from the outset had the firm support of my country-the Mexican delegation to the Fifth Conference of Heads of State and Government of Non-Aligned Countries  had an opportunity to make its modest contribution to the text of section XVII of the Political Declaration adopted by the Conference [see A/311197, annex I], which recommends convening a special session of the General Assembly as early as possible and not later than 1978, the agenda of which would include, inter alia, a review of disarmament questions and the question of convening a World Disarmament Conference.

46.	As a final, though no less important, example of a positive contribution by Mexico in the field of disarmament I shall mention the decision taken by my country regarding the draft convention on the prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques, submitted by the Co-Chairmen of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament-that is, by the United States and the Soviet Union [see A/31/27]. In this connection the Mexican delegation to the Geneva Committee submitted a working paper CCD/516 of 1 September 1976 [ibid.]-which explains why Mexico considers it to be "extremely alarming that there can be any thought of legitimizing in an international convention such monstrous actions as... the deliberate manipulation of natural processes to cause earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones of various types and tornadic storms, or changes in the state of the ozone layer or ionosphere or in ocean currents".
47.	If we proceed to consider the co-operation of Mexico in disarmament and its contribution to the creation and consolidation of a new international economic order, there is no difficulty whatever in choosing from among the many available examples the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States adopted by the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth session [resolution 3281 (XXIX)].
48.	In this connection, what will always be essential to what I might call an "explanation of reasons" for that far-reaching document are the relevant paragraphs of the statement made before the third session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] by President Echeverna on 19 April 1972 when he submitted his historic initiative, couched in the following terms:
"We must strengthen the precarious legal foundations of the world economy. A just, orderly and stable world is not possible until there are created obligations and rights which will protect weak States. If we remove economic co-operation from the field of goodwill, let us crystallize it in the field of law. Let us transfer the consecrated principles of solidarity among men to the sphere of relations between countries ... The solidarity we demand is a condition for survival. If, in the adjustment processes now under way, the developing countries are once again forgotten, then the economic divisions between the world Powers themselves will be greater and the relative international stability we have attained will not last long.
"Any decision which contemplates only the immediate, even though it may appear correct, is historically wrong. What is really effective is that which transcends incidental interests and looks ahead to the future.
"Peace is not only harmed by weapons. We shall be preparing for the twenty-first century in so far as we realize that we have a common destiny. The under-developed countries are in the right, not merely in a moral sense. We are right from the point of view of history too, because our vision of the world embraces a real possibility of peace and prosperity.
"It is up to the present generation to fulfill its task, and there can be no postponement. We are on the threshold of a structural change in human society which can come about only if all nations work for it equally.
"If the experience of the past decade is repeated in the present decade, perhaps nothing can then prevent an irreparable deterioration- in the relations of the third world with the major industrial nations ...
"To build an economy for peace is, in our time, the primary duty of the international community. On the other hand, to refuse to co-operate for the reduction of disparities between peoples is to prevent the principles of the United Nations from acquiring real content."
49.	Even though the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, together with the Declaration and Program of Action which were adopted at the sixth special session of the General Assembly [resolutions 3201 (S-VI) and 3202 (S-VI)], constitutes, so to speak, the corner stone of the new international economic order, it is far from being an end in itself. For the purposes it pursues to become reality, it is necessary that its general principles, norms and other provisions be faithfully applied in practice. That is Mexico's view, and at Manila, at Nairobi, at Colombo, at Geneva, and in our own capital, we have contributed, in so far as we were able, to what has been called the "instrumentation" of the Charter.
50.	In February 1976 the Third Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 adopted the Manila Declaration and Program of Action;* in May, the same countries meeting on the occasion of the fourth session of UNCTAD, agreed to strive to ensure a high degree of participation at the Conference to be held in Mexico and to hold a meeting of experts at Geneva to carry out the preparatory work. In August of this year in Colombo, the Fifth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries adopted several decisions [see A/311197] which implied their unequivocal support for the. Manila program. Subsequently, in the early part of September, in Addis Ababa there was a meeting of African ministers on economic co-operation for the' same purpose; and finally, from 13 to 21 September, the Conference on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries was held in the capital of my country.
51.	As a result of the last-mentioned Conference there emerged a series of decisions which, no doubt, will have a paramount influence in developing and strengthening the so-called "horizontal co-operation" sought by the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States as a means by which negotiations between developing and developed countries can be held on a footing of genuine equality. The objectives of those decisions include, among other things, the establishment of a global system of trade preferences among developing countries; the creation of a reserve fund for the regulation of basic commodities ; the convening of a conference of plenipotentiaries for the approval of the statutes of the Council of Associations of Producers of Raw Materials; the establishment of multinational transport companies; the creation of a united front for the promotion of the urgent restructuring of the international monetary system; and the establishment of a data and information bank designed to stimulate technical co-operation among third-world countries.
52.	The Conference, furthermore, agreed upon the need for adequate global machinery to ensure the prompt and effective implementation of measures for co-operation among developing countries, it having been agreed to entrust to ministerial meetings of the Group of 77 the task of reviewing and evaluating the implementation of the steps contemplated in the Measures for Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries,  as well as the co-ordination and harmonization of the position of the Group of 77 in all international forums of concern to it.
53.	The era of horizontal co-operation begun in Manila has thus been consolidated in Mexico, and great strides have been taken towards the collective economic autonomy which, as is stated in the opening paragraph of the introduction to the report of the Conference, is "an imperative of history to which all developing countries have committed themselves", and which will become an effective instrument for the achievement of the new international economic order contemplated in the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States.
54.	There would be serious gaps in this background information if I failed to add a few words about the Centre for Economic and Social Studies of the Third World. Thanks to another fruitful initiative on the part of the President of my country, that Centre was opened in the San Jeronimo Lidice section of the Mexican capital on 14 September last. At the ceremony held on that occasion and attended by representatives of more than 50 third-world States, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kurt Waldheim, who had been with us little more than a year earlier, in June 1975, when we had laid the corner-stone of the institution, and who has offered the fullest co-operation of the United Nations, expressed the following ideas, which are an excellent definition of the principal objectives of the Centre:
"... I feel that this Centre could provide invaluable service. It could develop new knowledge through extensive exchange of experience related directly to third world conditions. Indigenous solutions to such problems as technology, social organization and institution-building can develop, not just as an extension of existing patterns in industrial countries, but as spontaneous creations of third-world thinking and experience."
55.	The uninterrupted work carried out by the Government of Mexico during the last six years has, as the President of the Republic himself said, been intended to serve both "our internal democracy and democracy among nations", and this cannot but redound to the benefit of this Organization.
56.	That is why, as I indicated at the outset, I thought that the summary recapitulation which I have just given would be an encouragement to anyone who is concerned with strengthening the purposes pursued by, and the principles inspiring, the United Nations.
57.	Anything that is an encouragement and stimulus to us in discharging in good faith the obligations of the Charter and in suiting our conduct to those obligations, both in domestic and in foreign affairs, is, it seems to me, of particular value and relevance at a time when respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is simply a matter of scorn for many and when attempted assassinations involving great distances are on the increase in Washington, Buenos Aires and Rome, to mention but a few which have directly affected Latin America attempts which aim at and, unfortunately, very often succeed in, eliminating excellent statesmen whose only crime has been to reject Fascist authoritarianism and to believe still in government of the people, by the people and for the people. No doubt this was what the 1,600 political exiles, who requested and were granted asylum in Mexico, felt.
58.	In closing, I feel it appropriate to choose two from among the statements made most recently by the present President and the President-elect of Mexico which provide a solid foundation for faith in the continuity of a policy such as that whose internal and external benefits I have briefly reviewed in my present statement.
59.	On 1 September last, before my country's Congress, President Echeverna analyzed the results of the voting of 4 July, in which, out of 17,695,043 Mexican citizens who went to vote on that day, 16,703,801 voted freely in favor of the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, and stated:
"Our country has gone beyond the era of improvisation and 'bossism'. It has refined its democratic institutions and through them forged national unity. It has reached a level of development where only men formed by study and by genuine militancy, thoughtful in decision-making and valiant in action, can aspire to guide it. That is why, with full hope and with full trust as a Mexican, I shall hand over, the supreme office of the Republic to Jose Lopez Portillo."
60.	For his part, the President-elect, on being officially informed of the results of the elections, on 9 September, made the following solemn declaration before the members of the Chamber of Deputies:
"It falls to me to succeed the visionary, valiant and creative presidency of Luis Echeverna. I shall take over at a time which is particularly significant in the modern history of a world of which our country forms a part... I receive this notification in the full awareness of the responsibility involved in my assumption, in due course and by the sovereign will personified in you, of the Federal Executive Power, which, in the history of our country, means preserving and constantly renewing our institutions as time goes on without losing the fundamental direction given our country by our forefathers by their words, the blood they shed, their decisions and their will the responsibility of keeping to our course in the pursuit of liberty and of justice, under a democratic regime, the strength and the vitality of whose institutions are a constant, where law rules and where reality conforms to the law".