Mr. President, the delegation of Chile takes pleasure in congratulating this Assembly on its wisdom in electing you to preside over its deliberations. Your intelligence, tact and experience, which are necessary for such an important international post, have unanimously been recognized. Our pleasure is enhanced because there are strong ties of friendship and close co-operation between your country and my own.
115.	We wish respectfully and warmly to salute the Secretary-General, Mr. Waldheim. We should like to convey to him our gratitude for his praiseworthy efforts to revitalize the United Nations so that it may more actively engage in the search for solutions to the many serious and urgent problems facing mankind today.
116.	The Chilean delegation has considered with the greatest interest the Secretary-General's proposal for the inclusion on the agenda of this session of an item on terrorism [A/8791 and Add.l]. We have followed the debate on this subject with utmost attention. For reasons unconnected with the Secretary-General but having to do with the very nature of the phenomenon he has highlighted, the formulation of the item may be ambiguous and involve many contradictory issues, depending on the standpoint from which one approaches the problem. Hence the amendments that have been adopted and the need for a calm and exhaustive examination going to the very roots of the problem that each day assumes new and unforeseen dimensions.
117.	The people and Government of Chile have expressed their sincere grief for the innocent victims of blind terrorism motivated by desperation, hatred or madness. Chile, whose Government rejects terrorism, is bringing about intensive social and economic changes within the free functioning of democracy. Nevertheless, as is well known to world public opinion, we have had to defend ourselves against international plots and sabotage that have tried to bring to our country coups d'etat, chaos and civil war. Had such sinister plans been successful, there would have been worse consequences for our people than international terrorism on a large scale.
118.	We share the concern of many delegations that it might be possible, given the imprecision and vagueness of the term, to describe as terrorists the heroic fighters against colonial exploitation and shameful racism or those who legitimately rebel against oppression, injustice or poverty. Similarly, we should not like to see the adoption of measures against terrorism signifying an international coalition of reactionary forces against the progressive forces of mankind, nor should we like to see provisions hastily arrived at that would actually undermine the institution of the right of asylum, which has been upheld by Latin- American juridical traditions and has been an unchanging norm in the republican history of my own country.
119.	Many of the causes of terrorism would be eliminated if there were respect for the principles of the Charter and self-determination, if there were no violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and if a responsible approach were taken to the tragedy of the growing impoverishment of the developing countries which, instead of being given co-operation, are being pillaged, boycotted and driven to desperation. The delegation of Chile is ready to participate in the examination of this item whose complexity should not be used as an excuse for not examining it dispassionately in all its aspects.
120.	My Government believes that this session of the General Assembly is being held in favorable international circumstances, which augur well for a reduction of tension and the search for paths leading to real peace. Contacts and negotiations between great Powers, the beginning of dialogs which only a few months ago were difficult to imagine, and the emergence of a will to examine squarely the problems which constitute threats of hostility or confrontation have given birth to hopes which, we trust, will not fade or be disappointed.
121.	It is a fact that by means of bilateral diplomacy the great Powers have made praiseworthy efforts to reduce their rivalries, thus making less likely a nuclear catastrophe. There are new prospects for disarmament, and there has been a reduction in the degree to which the world is divided into blocs. There is an increase in the possibilities of peaceful and active coexistence. There is emerging what the Secretary-General calls a new "balance of caution", which should replace the balance of power based on mutual nuclear terror, suspicion, rivalry and the arms race.
122.	We welcome the rapprochement of the great capitalist Powers and the great socialist Powers. It would certainly yield positive results for humanity if the capitalist world would decide once and for all to put an end to the policy of the cold war and to realize that socialism is an irreversible historical fact which manifests itself in various forms in accordance with the special character of the country adopting it.
123.	We take great satisfaction in the fact that there has been a normalization of relations among all European States and that a system of security which strengthens the machinery of peace, channels the energies of those States towards scientific and technological progress and extends the benefits of such progress to the whole of mankind, and in particular to the countries which most need it, such as those of the third world, has been consolidated in that continent. But we are convinced that the thaw in international relations, if it is to be genuine and promising, cannot be something which exists only among the great Powers or in certain highly developed areas. Tension and threats to peace, the desperate situation of millions of human beings who are suffering from malnutrition, illiteracy, exploitation and imperialist penetration, violent or covert, often lead to tragedy in other parts of the world, specifically in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where we witness wars and coercion and where there are no signs of relief. That is where there is no perceptible relaxation of tension.
124.	Paradoxically, along with the improvement in international relations, the aggression in Viet-Nam continues, as does the conflict in the Middle East, the subjugation of peoples in Africa and the exercise of pressure by imperialism in Latin America. We recognize as a real and historical fact the existence of great Powers with sufficient might to bring the world to the brink of destruction or to guide it towards peace, security and progress. Those Powers bear a special responsibility towards the peoples of the third world, who have been kept outside the mainstream of the progress of civilization.
125.	If a great capitalist Power decides not only to avoid confrontation with other great Powers, but indeed decides to extend and increase its co-operation and trade with them while insisting on continuing its imperialist policy of exploitation and aggression vis-a-vis small nations which are jealous of their sovereignty, the relaxation of tension may be positive, but it can only come to full fruition if it is extended to all the peoples of the world.
126.	There is something else we should add. Bilateral diplomacy is of the utmost effectiveness, but the results attained would be more tangible and beneficial if they were consolidated through the collective system so patiently worked out by the United Nations on the basis of international law, which develops in accordance with the requirements of justice for the whole of humanity. Nevertheless, we must condemn here the attempts made to invalidate the collective system of the United Nations, to deny it the resources and the means for its organs to discharge their functions of assistance to developing countries or, in brief, to diminish the prestige of our Organization so that it cannot really and properly participate in the political, economic and social leadership of today's world, whose problems require fresh vision and new approaches.
127.	. My delegation cannot help referring to the tragedy of Viet-Nam. The Government and people of Chile reiterate their firm solidarity with the people of Viet-Nam, as well as with the peoples of Cambodia and Laos. We should like to express once again our condemnation of the bombings, the mining and the blockading of North VietNamese ports, the destruction of dikes and the so-called VietNamization of the war. An act of aggression is being committed against the people of Viet-Nam, which could be described as systematic and highly mechanized terrorism I repeat, systematic and highly mechanized terrorism which has produced innumerable innocent victims and has laid waste the entire country.
128.	The peace in Viet-Nam so longed for throughout the world, longed for indeed by vast sectors of the public of the United States, can be achieved only by the total withdrawal of United States troops, the acceptance of the proposals of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet-Nam, and the respect of the territorial integrity and self-determination of all the peoples of IndoChina.
129.	Certainly this General Assembly session, like so many others, will condemn colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism and apartheid. The colonialist and racist countries continue to enjoy the support of certain Powers, in spite of resolutions of the United Nations. On the other hand, the resistance and liberation movements, which are opposed by modern armies and arms, do not enjoy sufficient support. It is impossible for Africa to realize its true potential for progress, unity and security, if in the southernmost part of that continent a colonialist and racist bloc is allowed to consolidate, a bloc which, with the complicity of imperialism, is entrenching itself and disregarding the agreements of our Organization.
130.	Chile, as a member of the United Nations Council for Namibia, is following with great attention the contacts established between the Secretary-General and the Government of South Africa to clear the way for the final independence of the people of Namibia. However, we are surprised and disturbed at the fact that this Government, on the one hand, has welcomed the important initiative of the Secretary-General while, on the other hand, it pursues a policy of dividing the people of Namibia, persecuting its leaders and entrenching the evil system of apartheid, a crime against humanity which should of considered urgently in order to devise juridical instruments which would be binding on States.
131.	My Government categorically supports the peoples of Africa fighting for independence and considers that the United Nations should intensify its decolonization activities, primarily condemning the colonialism and racism of Pretoria and Salisbury.
132.	Still in the field of decolonization, as far as Latin America is concerned we consider it a memorable event of the utmost importance that the Special Committee on decolonization  should have decided in favor of "the inalienable right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination and independence in conformity with resolution 1514 (XV)" [see A/8723/Rev. 1, chap. I, para. 85].
133.	My Government regrets.that in the Middle East there has been no progress towards a just and stable peace. Indeed, a distressing sequence of events has occurred, including the massacres at Lod and Munich and the armed attacks in Lebanon and Syria. The occupation of Arab territories continues; the Jarring mission is paralyzed; and no real efforts are being made to gain respect for the lawful rights of the people of Palestine. We trust that this Assembly will reach more effective agreements in keeping with Security Council resolution 242 (1967). Our Organization should actively work to end one of the most distressing tragedies of our time and one of the most terrible threats to the peace of the world.
134.	Chile is undergoing intense economic and social changes designed to remove the outmoded and unjust structures of a society based on exploitation and to achieve socialism. This is a process designed to eliminate our dependence on imperialist monopolies and finances and in this way to bring about complete national independence. We do not conceal our difficulties and the desperation and hostility of reactionary forces which cannot reconcile themselves to the loss of their privileges.
135.	In two years the Government of Popular Unity in Chile has brought about substantial changes in the life of Chile. We have nationalized our basic resources, copper, iron and saltpeter. We have eliminated large estates. We have nationalized and democratized the system of credit by making our bank State-owned. We have made progress in the area of social ownership, and we have included in this system very important monopolistic businesses. We have provided new educational opportunities and we have extended protection to the mother and child. Above all, the working classes have assumed responsibility and enjoy participation at all levels of the State.
136.	Chile's experience, considered as one of the great social experiments in the world, is being acquired in respect for the constitutional and legal norms of our country, democratic pluralism and the free functioning of opposition forces. Much has been written and reported about the Chilean experiment, sometimes objectively but at other times obscurely and misleadingly. However, Chile is a country open to anyone who wants to understand the tremendous importance of the historic phase our people is passing through. We have nothing to hide, nor do we fear criticism. We simply want people to deal with us without mystification or falsehood.
137.	Our foreign policy, rooted in the facts of our national life, is entirely in harmony with the principles of the Charter and the resolutions of this Organization. We have often given evidence in these two years of the Popular Government of faithful compliance .with principles such as non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States, respect for the self-determination of peoples, human rights and peaceful coexistence, which transcend political or economic doctrines or systems.
138.	Chile, which would appear to be cut off and remote because of its geographical position, has extended its network of international relations to all corners of the earth in the desire to establish bonds of friendship and cooperation with all peoples. Fundamentally, we proclaim that we belong to Latin America, and we are striving to achieve with all Latin American peoples not only profound friendship but genuine integration in various areas.
139.	Our feelings of belonging to Latin America have inspired us to do everything we can to bring about the integration of Latin America. We are ready to seek alternatives and new possibilities within the Latin American Free Trade Association. In this context, we attach particular importance to the strengthening of the Cartagena Agreement of 1969, in which, along with Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, we have succeeded in establishing a subregional plan of integration, and the progress we have already achieved is virtually irreversible. This is an example of integration which will surely have an impact on the entire region in keeping with our common destiny as Latin Americans.
140.	We are full members of the group of non-aligned countries. Our non-alignment is not directed against any great Power. It is simply against the division of the world into blocs or spheres of influence. We want to contribute to the establishment of peaceful co-operation in keeping with the principles and resolutions of the United Nations.
141.	With regard to progress towards a solution of the questions relating to the sea, my delegation considers that this session of the General Assembly should play a particularly positive role. The decisions which it should adopt with regard to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, and the opportunity it will give to continue during this decisive phase the necessary political negotiations, encourages my Government to hope that the world Organization will demonstrate in this field its potential for resolving problems of interest to all States.
142.	Chile takes particular satisfaction in the progress achieved towards the formation of a political plan for a solution. My Government believes that the growing support for the concept of zones of maritime jurisdiction of up to 200 miles, with an economic content, contributes in large measure to this plan, which should take into account the aspirations for justice and development of all peoples. The recent announcements, to this effect, of the States of Latin America, Africa and Asia, strengthen the economic interest of the countries of the third world, an interest which should be fully safeguarded if we want to achieve a global international solution.
143.	My Government is concerned at the fact that the sea-bed and ocean floor beyond the limit of national jurisdiction which was solemnly declared in resolution 2749 (XXV) of the General Assembly, along with the resources of the zone, to be the common heritage of mankind may begin to be exploited, in contravention of this declaration and what was known as the moratorium resolution [resolution 2574 D (XXIV)].
144.	Chile has offered the facilities of its capital for the first session of the Conference, which it would like to be held in Santiago. I should like to express the thanks of my Government for the warm reception which this invitation received, in countries of all regions and systems, during the last session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor beyond the Limits of National Jurisdiction. We are confident that this session of the Assembly will decide to accept the invitation. For Chile, a favourable decision would be a tremendous encouragement to its policy of negotiation and international co-operation, both in the Latin American sphere and on the world level.
145.	We support the initiative of the Government of the Soviet Union in proposing as an item for this session the "Non-use of force in international relations and permanent prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons" [A/8793]. We consider that an agreement on this subject, together with the convening of a World Disarmament Conference and the adoption of concrete measures to implement the Declaration on the Strengthening of International Security [resolution 2734 (XXV)], will be positive contributions to the cause of world peace.
146.	We oppose all nuclear tests, in whatever environment they are carried out. Chile witnessed with particular concern the continuation of the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in the Pacific Ocean.
147.	The delegation of Chile has already had occasion to make substantive comments at the 1451st meeting of the Second Committee on the economic and social situation in the world and particularly on the external economic and financial relations of our country. Nevertheless, we consider it necessary to say, from this lofty rostrum, something about the principal aspects of our thinking with respect to these matters.
148.	It is clear that the new manifestations of a relaxation of political tension also involve positive prospects for trade and economic relations at the world level. Nevertheless, it would be a bad mistake if these hopeful prospects were to reduce the deep concern over the world's plight brought about by the tragic economic and social conditions in which a large proportion of mankind lives.
149.	We are witnessing events which are so dismaying to the third world that perhaps instinctively we tend to repose tremendous hopes in any positive sign offered to us. Our enthusiasm is great when there is some progress in the ruinous arms race, even though military expenditures continue to remain on the order of $200,000 million a year. We hear expressions of satisfaction at the steps taken to overcome the crisis threatening the world monetary system, although we are aware that this progress is very precarious and that it suffers from the fundamental shortcoming that in the formulation of the reform, which is under way, there is no part being played by the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the People's Republic of China. It pointed out as an encouraging sign that in the last three years the per capita increase in production has reached a higher rate in the less developed countries than that recorded in the countries of the industrialized world, even though this fact clearly contradicts the projections of present trends, which show that there will be a continued increase, at an accelerated pace, of the widening gap between the standard of living of the third world and the standard enjoyed by the great capitalist, economic and financial Powers, which have already accumulated a disturbing proportion of the world's wealth.
150.	Without doubt, one of the great problems of our time and the most critical and serious one which should be at the very forefront of the minds of world leaders is that created by the unjust international division of labour and the unjust distribution of income and the technological gap. Various studies have shown that if present trends continue, within 25 years the developed countries will be enjoying an income of more than $8,000 per capita per annum, while the impoverished masses-who by that date will number more than 2,250 million persons—will be earning on the average less than $200 per capita annually, and 800 million people will have an income of less than $100 a year. This is a problem which affects individual lives as well as the peace of the entire world.
151.	The crisis of international economic co-operation is so acute that it would appear that some political leaders of the great Western Powers would prefer in fact to overlook the problem notwithstanding their many statements at meetings of international bodies.
152.	With regard to trade, some important countries show no sign whatsoever of keeping the undertakings formally made with regard to the application of a general system of preferences. In the area of international financing we do not see here either any compliance with the principle of transferring at least the equivalent of 1 per cent of the gross national product to the developing countries. And in important cases we even witness significant reductions in the indicators of transfer, particularly with regard to public financial co-operation. This is happening while conditions in which international financing is granted are becoming ever less favorable and hence are leading to an accelerated increase in the servicing of the external debt of the developing countries. These payments are at the present time exerting almost intolerable pressure on the balance of payments of many of our countries.
153.	Therefore my delegation considers that we should continue using and strengthening the instruments of international co-operation, particularly UNCTAD, whose third session we had the honor of playing host to in Santiago. In our view, this session, which was attended by more than 140 States, had the virtue of examining in depth the great problems of development and it proposed solutions which will be effective if the countries of the third world press for them in all international forums.
154.	It was gratifying to our delegation, after having submitted to the Second Committee the evaluation and program of action prepared by the member countries of the Special Committee on Latin American Co-ordination, to see that this evaluation and the statements made from this rostrum by the Foreign Ministers of Western European countries were very largely in agreement.
155.	However, within this overall framework, which is in itself disheartening, there are particular circumstances which make more acute the problems of the external economic and financial relations of the developing countries. Chile in the last two years has had consistently to, confront these circumstances and for this reason we want to lay special stress on them on this solemn occasion. I am referring to new threats to the development and sovereignty of peoples first constituted by foreign attempts at economic coercion, aided and abetted by multinational corporations which operate beyond anyone's control and exert pressure to produce political decisions in behalf of the greatest world capitalist Power and which, in their desire to exploit the developing countries, carry out all kinds of illicit actions whenever the developing countries decide to recover their natural resources or those sectors of their economic activity which are of fundamental importance for the well being of their peoples.
156.	The Government of Chile has carried out the nationalization of its principal resource, copper, with the unanimous support of the country, keeping strictly within the framework of our domestic legislation in accordance with the principles of international law emanating from resolutions adopted by the United Nations. Chile has acted in all its relations with external private interests in strict compliance with equitable and non-discriminatory juridical norms.
157.	Nevertheless we have been faced with brutal financial and economic pressure, pressure exerted by some of the corporations affected by the sovereign decisions of the people of Chile. In various international forums, particularly at the third session of UNCTAD and at the last session of the Economic and Social Council, we have denounced the actions of which we have been the victim. We have indicated that the International Telephone and Telegraph Company (ITT), even before President Allende came to power, initiated contacts with the Government of the United States and proposed various measures for intervention in our country, including the launching literally of a plan for a campaign of economic terror. This same international corporation, the ITT, subsequently, while rejecting a formal offer from the Chilean Government, which was known to the Government of the United States, to the effect that its investments in the telephone company of our country would be compensated in accordance with international standards, presented to high officials of the United States Government an action plan which involved the economic and financial strangulation of Chile and the overthrow of the Government democratically elected by the people of my country.
158.	Recently, another multinational corporation, the Kennecott Copper Corporation, after being engaged in litigation for about a year with the Chilean State before the competent tribunal and because this tribunal did not grant its claims, initiated a campaign designed to obstruct free trade in Chilean copper in various markets, by means of public threats against purchasers of our copper and pressure exerted on commodity markets and brokers trading in this metal.
159.	That was an attempt to prevent the people and Government of Chile from marketing its principal export product. Such actions violate the most elementary principles of international coexistence and, if not stopped immediately and responsibly by the Governments in question, will tend to create a climate incompatible with the kind of relations based on positive dialog which the Government of Chile wishes to maintain with the United States. Since over the past few days these reprehensible actions have been assuming even graver proportions, my Government reserves its right to raise these matters again in the General Assembly in the manner and at the time it deems appropriate.
160.	We believe that there is an increasing awareness of the many serious problems arising both internally and in the sphere of international relations because of the actions of those large international corporations. Consequently, as we pointed out in our statement in the Second Committee, we hope that the Secretary-General of the United Nations will shortly, or in any event before the end of this session, report to us on steps already taken by the study group set up by resolution 1721 (LIII) of the Economic and Social Council, adopted by consensus, to study the role of multinational corporations and their impact on the development process, and also their implications for international relations, and to submit recommendations for appropriate international action.
161.	The Government and people of Chile hope that the United Nations will soon set in train the appropriate measures to deal with the actions of the multinational businesses of which developing countries are the victims, and of which my country has been the principal victim without the international community having done anything so far to prevent such odious aggressive maneuvers. For its part my Government, in all international forums, will bring to the attention of the world, and will denounce, the attacks and subversive actions aimed at Chilean democracy perpetrated by those powerful imperialist interests.
162.	Last week the representative of Chile at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, stressed that international finance organizations should not be the instruments of the bilateral policy of any member country of those institutions. We mentioned there that it was a well-known fact that there existed differences between the views of my own country and those of the United States Government with regard to the process of nationalizing our basic resources. We added that, although this was a fact, it did not authorize the United States to exert its powerful influence in the World Bank to get that agency of the United Nations to join in what was being done to put financial pressure on Chile by suspending its loans to our country.
163.	Within the discouraging framework of international financing for developing countries, perhaps one of the few positive signs over the past few years has been the strengthening of multilateral approaches and the expansion of the operations of international financing agencies for development, such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Nevertheless, today the persistent efforts of many countries to strengthen the multilateral approach of those institutions are very likely to be thwarted by the actions of one Government which is bent on utilizing those agencies as instruments of its own bilateral international policy. It is unacceptable that people should try to justify a reduction in that Government's bilateral public aid to the developing countries by arguing that it is due to a desire to channel as high a proportion of resources as possible through multilateral organs, and at the same time should try to impose on each allocation of resources to those organizations restrictions and conditions which prejudice their independence and actually undermine their multilateral nature.
164.	Since the coming to power of the Government of President Salvador Allende, Chile has received no new loans from the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank, agencies which up to that point had been granting an annual amount of financing to Chile on the order of $100 million. Clearly, this was not due to technical considerations, but to the decision made public by the United States to prevent such bodies from extending financial support to our country as a result of the differences of view existing between Chile and the United States over the nationalization of our basic resources.
165.	For that reason we made the point at the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that if some Governments were not capable of understanding the need to preserve the multilateral nature of international financing bodies it would be necessary to study new ways and means for them to acquire their resources: through compulsory contributions established according to the level of the gross national product of each country, or some other, similar scheme, in order to prevent a situation in which we find in each of the laws for the allocation of resources certain restrictions and conditions which in the final analysis only negate the international nature of those very organizations. We believe that here the United Nations also has an important role to play- particularly the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council.
166.	If we consider that there was an abrupt suspension of the foreign aid which Chile had been receiving during the 1960s from both public and private sources in the United States, as well as from international agencies of which Chile is a full-fledged member with all rights implicit therein; and at the same time, if we analyze the actions taken against our country by large international consortia, we cannot fail to recognize that Chile has been the victim of real economic aggression, which although it is less tangible than physical aggression, is no less reprehensible.
167.	The balance of payments of Chile has been in a very difficult situation recently. This is due to the suspension of financing from certain external sources which have been traditionally available to Chile, and to a sharp drop in the price of copper and an increase in the imports which have been occasioned by great industrial activity and an increase in internal demand. Apart from this, another factor in our balance-of-payments position has been the increase in the international prices of products imported by Chile.
168.	In the face of this situation, our Government, in order to maintain the normal functioning of the economy and, at the same time, to ensure payments for the servicing of the external debt to all our creditors, in accordance with the actual resources and possibilities of the country, decided at the end of last year to proceed to a renegotiation of this debt. The servicing of the external debt represented in 1972 an amount higher than 30 per cent of the value of the country's imports.
169.	We should like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Government of France for the important task that country has been carrying out as coordinator of the so-called Paris Club, through which last April a general agreement was reached to renegotiate the servicing of the debt for this year. Similarly, we are pleased to say that bilateral agreements have been reached with most of Chile's creditor countries, in accordance with the terms laid down in the general agreement of the Paris Club. At the same time, may we say that it is our desire to sign bilateral agreements as soon as possible with the other countries with whom we are at present negotiating. We hope, furthermore, that in the bilateral talks with our principal creditor country there will be no attempt to bring up issues which have nothing to do with the nature of those financial transactions, since this would only serve to hold up the settlement we all desire.
170.	As the beginning of a new spirit in international relations is now perceptible we believe that the United Nations should be considered to be on the threshold of a new period of history. It must therefore be made a more dynamic instrument capable of meeting die needs of today's world. My delegation would like to stress that a real threat hangs over our Organization: people are trying to destroy its power, to drown it in fictions and deprive it of the authority which it must have in order to speed up the liberation and progress of the peoples of the third world.
171.	No one can ignore the work done by the United Nations, but we should not underestimate the impatience and the skepticism of vast sectors of world public opinion over the passivity and ineffectiveness which the United Nations sometimes displays in its handling of the urgent and burning issues facing mankind.
172.	But since the United Nations is not a super-national organization, nor does it have any autonomous powers which it can assume outside the body of States which compose it, its full authority can only be brought to bear through the determination of all its Members to respect common obligations and to take collective action, by taking up within it the tragic problems afflicting mankind, by making its working methods more flexible, by increasing its financing capacities and by broadening its power and action.
173.	The United Nations has made progress with regard to the matter of universality, particularly with the inclusion of the People's Republic of China something which was so indispensable for our Organization but there still remain nations and peoples which should come into the United Nations as soon as possible. My delegation would like to mention particularly the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. Both German States are indispensable components of a system of European security. Their scientific and technological achievement are extraordinary and their participation in the United Nations would be a powerful shot in the arm. We should also like to mention Bangladesh, divided States like Korea and VietNam, and peoples who possess a national identity, but have not succeeded in becoming nations or States due to their subjugation to the colonial yoke.
174. Thanks in large measure to the action of progressive farces, the United Nations has succeeded in containing many crises; it has contributed to the independence of many peoples; it has promoted juridical, economic and social progress. But now more than ever we have the duty of strengthening the United Nations until responsible international conduct becomes the norm, until selfish interests ire set aside, until neo-colonialism and imperialism are done away with, until, in a word, a new form of international law which is at once more just and more effective is enshrined.
175. The Government of Chile expresses its confidence that this session of the General Assembly will work in a spirit of understanding, with a firm and renewed will to reach agreements which will actually be carried out and make a genuine contribution to the struggle of peoples to enjoy full justice, peace and human dignity.


My first words are to congratulate you, Mr. President, most warmly on behalf of my Government and my delegation on having been unanimously elected President of the General Assembly, one of the most honored and responsible posts in the United Nations. Your past activities and your guidance of this debate, as well as the very thought-provoking speech you delivered immediately after your election to the post, indicate most emphatically and objectively that this year we have a firm and widely experienced guide with an open, understanding mind capable of sorting out the difficulties and problems which loom over the present session of the General Assembly.
98.	In years past my Government has defined its position with regard to many concrete problems of international politics. Hardly any of the matters which arouse interest, debate and even passions have been omitted from our analysis. Since my Government maintains an unaltered position on the items which appear on our agenda in one session after another, we need not this year reiterate those points of view and approaches which we have sufficiently explained and reasoned out. That silence, however, in no way lessens the due consideration which my Government gives to the many items on the approved agenda in plenary meetings and in meetings of the main Committees. We shall have the time and opportunity to define the points of view of El Salvador regarding the new circumstances and the process of evolution of the old problems.
99.	Unlike individuals, international organizations have no definite coming of age. It can be affirmed that the United Nations was born big, developed vigorous, as measured both by the Charter and by its numerous world-spanning technical services. And yet, the sum of experience is important to guide, reorient and sometimes readjust the programs and policies which carry out these objectives, particularly in international organizations. In fact, while international organizations maintain the objectives which have been set, it is necessary to promote an adjustment to circumstances and to re-evaluate the complex set of initiatives and means of implementation and, in general, of executive policies. While the Charter is set and crystallized, the means to apply it and, more importantly, to make its purpose a reality are open to inventiveness, determination and the sense of responsibility of governments.
100.	The United Nations came into being at a time when the need to rationalize international relations was obvious, and to some extent it responded to that idea so far as international peace and security were concerned. It was conceived, thought out, structured and endowed so that, on the basis of certain assumptions, which have frequently been lacking, it would guard world peace and security.
101.	As intermediate activities which condition peace and security, the Charter listed the promotion of development, the observance of fundamental human rights, the reassessment of international relations by means of standards of justice. Withal, in the terms of the Charter, these objectives jointly condition and consolidate peace and security, which constitute the reason for the existence of the Organization.
102.	On the basis of the Charter itself more emphasis could be placed on the aspects in which the United Nations could be more meaningful, since it is a matter of common knowledge that the basis of its incomparable strength in regard to peace and security has been weakened by antagonisms in the Security Council. Therefore we could reassess international relations from the point of view of justice and from that approach consider the problems of under-development and their solutions, the terms of trade, the transfer of technology and regional integration.
103.	Although some problems can be solved if treated in bits and pieces very pragmatically, it would seem appropriate to undertake an overall study, at least' at certain moments in the life of an international organization. That overall review would make it possible not only to reconsider program priorities in connexion with the four or five basic objectives of the United Nations but also to analyze the viability of the policies adopted, the solutions applied and, in general, the whole structure, activity and internal and external co-ordination of the system.
104.	That something has to be done to give strength and vigor to the United Nations seems clear; that the United Nations is undergoing a crisis of credibility in public opinion is recognized in official and private circles in many countries. But that the Governments which sustain this Organization have the firm and urgent duty to analyze the course traversed and assess the degree of fulfillment of the Charter and in particular to examine the distance between the objectives collectively agreed to and the political events of recent years seems a measure of prudent governing. From being very pragmatic we are becoming immersed in detail; from being very positive, we lose sight of reality; from being so aware of the immediate problem we are forgetting that what is immediate is part of a lengthy process. If in national States we think for several years ahead, it is strange that international organizations should live from day to day and draft their agenda year by year with frequent repetitions and without defining the major goals which would make it possible to assess and evaluate administrative activities, technical assistance and political achievements.
105.	The United Nations Charter registers the objectives and principles of conduct which are compatible with the survival of national States; but it is not a program, nor does it present a strategy, and it is precisely there, in the program and the strategy, that the executive powers have much to do. Through the global strategy and the programs, the purposes of the Charter can be reconditioned and, by their interaction, we can reassess international relations on the criterion of justice. That reassessment on the criterion of justice, although veiled, is in the Charter; through the strategy and the program we can make explicit what is implicit in the Charter and transform into reality what is now but a seed.
106.	The two world systems of organization so far known that of the League of Nations and that of the United Nations came into being immediately after catastrophic wars and reflected the conditions prevailing at the time. Since every written regime becomes crystallized, the Charter has constituted a recourse for those who want to give a summary, scanty, restricted interpretation of the obligations contracted; but from the same instrument one can adopt an executive, broad, dynamic and even ambitious meaning, for which what is required is neither more nor less than a genuine political will. There would be an opportunity within a global, largely political, review of the existing system, and we urge that the will to do this be aroused among all so that they may agree on a global and dynamic plan of action.
107.	Every agreement that is written into norms is a novelty at the time of its creation, but its later effectiveness depends on the way in which it is managed; then it becomes a force of containment, instead of being used as an instrument of progress. At the international level, in order to keep pace with the accelerating forces of change, proposals are frequently made to revise legal instruments, and then renegotiation is barred by fear sometimes, indeed, by terror at innovations, and in the present case with mistrust among the centers of power, which within the established system, represent the vested interests. Thus we observe the fate meted out here to the very praiseworthy proposal to amend the Charter; it is shrouded in purely procedural resolutions, with nobody so far, being openly opposed.
108.	Parallel with the reform of the Charter, and without constituting either an obstacle or a proposed substitute, one can consider the bringing up to date of the United Nations system by an overall review of intermediate objectives and purposes, programs and services, and ultimate goals. The activities of the General Assembly are scattered and unconnected in annual programs which meet episodic and passing circumstances. The agenda could contain the basic items of the strategy for the implementation of the Charter. For 27 years the United Nations has avoided an overall review of its activities and has refrained from drawing up a strategy which combines a sense of timeliness with the major objectives of the Charter: peace and security, international justice, development, human rights, regional co-operation.
109.	The United Nations cannot attain its full relevance without a new disposition of power politics, not only in the strictly political field but also in the economic field. Otherwise it will continue to be the stage for the balance of the great Powers, with of course all the splendor required by the technological era. If there is a real desire to attain the ends, the proper means must be supplied, otherwise to desire the ends becomes a romantic or political recourse. The seriousness of declared purposes is measured by the adequacy of the means supplied.
110.	It has been said that if the United Nations did not exist it would be necessary to invent it, which implies that without it the contemporary international community would be inconceivable. But we would add that were it to be re-created at this time perhaps it would be built with so much caution, so much mistrust, such a sense of rivalry, that its powers might be diminished. We agree completely with the proposals to amend the Charter. Such amendments must pursue a fundamental objective-namely, that of raising international justice to the level of a primary objective of the Charter with a status equal to that of peace and security.
111.	We believe that this effort, although it is not destined to immediate triumph, will in time bring about results. The worst attitude would be one of conformity, that of giving in to an overwhelming, asphyxiating reality without a future, which tends to convert the mechanisms of the international community into a repetition of those which caused so much sorrow and so many irrational situations in the past. Knowing that in this case there is no immediate and definite expectation, we can only cross swords for what Should be, for that which is in line with a constructive collaboration between States, for that which leads to a new world order based on collective security, and on relations measured by justice, for that which leads to an international social policy. It is a matter of urgency to reassess internal relations by criteria of justice, that is to say, to transfer to the international level, mutatis mutandis, the sense of justice with which national contemporary States have readjusted and carried out their functions and consequently changed their image, structure and significance.
112.	Within this reassessment one would have to rethink completely and from the very beginning-the problems of development and under-development on a world-wide scale, because it must be recognized that all the efforts and programs, which are good in themselves, have fallen short of expectations and that all policies of technical assistance, trade, transfer of economic and technological resources, investments and loans, and so on have proved to be insufficient although we do recognize that had such programs and policies been lacking the gap between the two groups of countries into which the international community is divided would have been far greater.
113.	Since development became a conscious and rational objective of the international community and it started with the United Nations system and the specialized agencies several means of development have been attempted, among which it is worth while to recall the following: first, multilateral technical assistance, the most outstanding exponents of which are the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research; second, financial assistance through banks and funds on a world-wide, regional and even subregional basis; third, the mass transfer of science and technology; fourth, private and public investments; fifth, world-wide trade arrangements by way of UNCTAD, which is one of the most valuable forums for developing countries. Today we are being sold another means, birth control, which some countries refuse to buy.
114.	Without prejudice to the validity of what has been done and said, thought and planned, the fact is that the gap between the developed and the developing countries is widening, and this indicates that the means chosen have been inadequate as compared with the objectives, probably because those means have fallen short of the needs. The problem of development has never won complete and unwavering understanding among the developed countries; and so when after laborious negotiations what is deemed appropriate is obtained, it is already insufficient. That is what happened, for example, with the famous 1 per cent transfer of the gross national product of the industrialized countries. Tilings have their time and their reason, and postponements make inadequate that which was calculated for circumstances which have since been superseded.
115.	Some Latin American politicians, intellectuals and technicians have sponsored and disseminated a scheme for vertical regional development, which would mean that a group of industrialized countries would take charge of a group of under-developed countries so that both groups would be connected between themselves by means of exclusive tariff preferences and other benefits. This scheme, which would divide the world into vertical zones of close association between developed and under-developed countries, is conceived of as an alternative to find a way out of the deadlock in which this major question is being debated and in regard to which the development strategy of the United Nations has proved to be powerless. Within that theory a world-wide approach would be to some measure replaced by a regional approach.
116.	This scheme has attractive points, but it is delineated within "the means which have already been abundantly used to promote development and there is nothing to guarantee that if these means have been ineffective on a world-wide scale they would not be equally so on a regional scale. Furthermore, the distribution of the world into north-south sectors would increase the political dependence of the corresponding under-developed countries. The scheme could be freed from its political ambiguities if it were to go hand in hand with a profound revision of the machinery and habits of the exercise of power.
117.	In the great world-wide interplay of interests the under-developed countries benefit from the existence of several power centers, with which they can alternately negotiate and in respect of which they will in some measure learn to benefit from their competition, not to say their dissensions. The bipolar structure of the last 20 years has offered less margin for negotiation than the quadri-polar structure, which seems to be what is going to happen in the last decades of the twentieth century.
118.	The disorderly and irrational use of technology requires that we think of the destiny of man on his planet. The world of the future must be international and to a large degree transnational; but as long as there is no basic revision of the mechanisms of world power, the under-developed countries will have to use legal and political methods which have been somewhat superseded by time but which constitute their means of defense. Thus, despite growing interdependence, they will have to work with national States, sovereignty, the legal equality of States and the host of principles and doctrines which represent the international strength of national States.
119.	During this general debate the Assembly has heard the suggestion made at the 2050th meeting by the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Mr. Emilio Rabasa, that the underdeveloped world have a permanent seat on the Security Council, with the rights and the obligations provided for in the Charter. This idea should be retained and explored. Indeed, the under-developed world as a whole constitutes a considerable political force; its presence on the Council, with legal equality with the five great Powers, would introduce a healthy political balance in the United Nations. Some special rules could be examined: for example, the rotation of the countries designated, relatively lengthy periods of the exercise of that lofty position, and agreement on rules and criteria whereby the State representing the developing countries would make use of the prerogatives inherent in a permanent seat on the Security Council.
120.	It is maintained today that we have to conceive of another model of development, very appropriate to the under-developed countries and different from that of the industrialized countries. This idea must be managed very cautiously because, while it might respond to the principle of being adjusted to the circumstances of time and place, which is very valuable socially, it could lead to the prolonged condemnation of a sector of mankind in regard to the advantages of the use of technology and deprive that sector of an active contribution to the great process of mastering nature and fully developing the potential capabilities of man.
121.	Much may be said, but the fact is that the industrialized countries are only half convinced that the development of the less developed countries will objectively be of benefit to them. For i.hat very reason the industrialized countries have not come to consider that problem as their problem. Of course this attitude is consistent with the division of the world into national States, and perhaps it can be penetrated with a new alignment of States in the regions which are integrated. Part of the assistance pro-grammes has been subscribed to and maintained by not only political but also cultural and technical prestige and influence.
122.	Growing interdependence is one of the dynamic characteristics of the contemporary international community, and some problems go completely beyond the capacity for decision and the power of national States, even of the strongest. One cannot create barriers and believe that indifference to what happens outside is in the national interest. There are no islands of prosperity, because problems transcend separatist and separating barriers and render any convenient indifference impossible.
123.	A few hours' flight south of the megalopolis of New York, the political center of the world because it is the location of United Nations Headquarters, under-development begins, with its entourage of frustrations and insecurities. It extends south on the American continent, and continues in Africa, Asia and Oceania. The causes of this phenomenon are not well determined and must remain a subject for studies on sociology, history, economics and politics. But as for its lasting character, one of the factors at stake though not the only one is the overwhelming attraction exerted by the great industrial cordon of the Northern Hemisphere, which, independent of the wishes and purposes of peoples and governments, increases and, within the law of social forces, is unfavorable to the weaker areas. Only an international social policy based on the sociology of the international community and directed by criteria of justice could reverse that trend.
124.	World trade unduly reflects power relations, and the imbalance in the terms of trade is a consequence of those relations. It is therefore quite normal, indeed, necessary, for the under-developed countries to strengthen their negotiating capacity by means of consultations and agreements so as to present a united front to the industrialized countries. Thus, the meetings of the Special Committee on Latin American Co-ordination, better known as CECLA, the prior meetings of the under-developed countries in UNCTAD, the meetings of countries exporting coffee and other products are all meetings which, like those on coffee, are devoid of any character of conspiracy and are alien to the purpose of organizing cartels. Nor do they intend to distribute markets among themselves or to exercise pressure on them. Their role is to bring about order and to defend themselves, and definitely tends to compensate for the negotiating weakness of one of the parties in order to restore balance of treatment in dealing with the industrialized countries, which daily raise the prices for their technology, machinery and services, but are alarmed when there is an increase of a few cents in the prices of the commodities they purchase from the under-developed countries. It can be demonstrated that over a 15-year period those few cents, which are very uncertain because they fluctuate, creating illusion and despair, are very much lower than rises sustained without any known decline in the cost of industrial products and technological services.
125.	Furthermore, one must seriously consider an international division of labor and therefore the complementary character of regions so that each country will efficiently produce that which it is best fitted to produce. It should be left entirely to the under-developed countries to perform the economic activities for which their conditions are the best. Thus sugar and cotton, which some developed countries produce, paying subsidies to do so, and which they use to keep world market prices artificially low, should be the first products to be completely in the hands of the under-developed countries.
126.	International assistance for development has had a series of achievements, but also a number of deficiencies and gaps which it is time to evaluate. There has been insufficient emphasis on the human side that is to say, on education and training. Europe was able to recover rapidly after the Second World War because it had highly qualified human resources. The Marshall Plan was a success in Europe because of that human base. The United Nations and the specialized agencies, while they have worked to that end and for that purpose, have created important services, but could place even more emphasis on, and devote more resources and efforts to, education and training. It is well known that administrative and management skills are lacking in the under-developed countries.
127.	The under-developed countries do not know how to utilize their most valuable resources human resources, which are undervalued today because of unemployment and low levels of knowledge and skill. Underemployment sometimes amounts to 50 per cent of the potentially usable labor force. That valuable resource, which is wasted in under-development, could to some extent be used in self-help programs.
128.	Local training in administrative and managerial skills on a scale suitable to raise efficiency levels in all public and private activities in the under-developed countries combined with self-help programs, whose techniques would have to be disseminated on a broad scale, and with the assistance of the discovery and application of a methodology to provide incentives and motivation for the people, could generate the internal forces of development at an accelerated rate.
129.	In the international community, which is ever smaller measured in relative terms because of faster communications, a phenomenon similar to development in national States occurs: absorbent areas make prosperity a privilege, even though it may be an undesired privilege, while at its expense the rest of the provinces vegetate. The provinces which vegetate continue to maintain the prosperity of the large cities and industrial centers, and the rural population, which traditionally lags behind industrial interests, pays its quota of sacrifices to maintain the cities. The underdeveloped areas of the world pay their quota in maintaining the high standard of living of the developed countries, even though that is not the result of deliberate policies or of any thought-out intention. Thus it is well-known that, among other things, the under-developed countries, with their squalid economies, help to pay for the unbridled and uncontrollable inflation of the industrialized countries; that monetary operations carried out without their knowledge or participation cause them serious disturbances; and that the policy of low prices for their export goods is one of the causes of their indebtedness, since they cannot maintain their programs with their exports, in other words, with the fruits of their labor.
130.	With the case presented thus, it is apparent that under-development is not a problem which can be dealt with entirely at the national level, and that an international approach becomes indispensable. Under-development, influenced by the combined presence of different, closely linked economies, is a world-wide problem—one for the United Nations and the specialized agencies. What is more, as some countries evolve from one category to another, the situation for the remainder will become even more difficult, and the need for a world-wide policy will be pressing. If matters are governed merely by social and political mechanics, in all likelihood under-development will become the mandatory fate of a large part of mankind and the euphemism of new models will then be sought.
131.	Trade will have to remain the major source of development-financing. This is definitely an improvement on indebtedness. This is not the case in unbalanced international trade, in which the unbridled inflation of the industrialized countries, which in some measure reflects higher salaries and better living conditions, has no appropriate counterpart. Therefore, it is really frustrating that, even if viewed with understanding, and although targets and wills were renewed, the third session of UNCTAD was little short of a failure.
132.	It is time we gave thought to other ways of solving this world-wide problem by removing its causes and dealing with them and their consequences. I have in mind something which at this time of exacerbated pragmatism may appear to be purely Utopian, but of which much will be said in the future: international taxes. It may be predicted that one day such taxes will be paid on carefully selected productive activities, which will most patently show that many countries contribute to them, either by titular right, as in the case of the resources of the international sea-bed, or when businesses prosper and profits are earned with the contributions of many countries, as in the case of multi-national companies. When we speak of marine resources we refer not only to those of the international sea-bed, but also to biological resources. And since we have to start somewhere, the sea appears to be the most appropriate object of taxation.
133.	In opposing international taxes, arguments similar to those against national taxes will be used: it will be said that they raise costs, discourage production, etc., but the fact of the matter is that national taxes do exist. They will also have to exist in the international community, even though they may now appear to be shrouded in clouds of Utopia.
134.	Some of the most acute conflicts of interest in the new regime of the seas could be attenuated if a really operative means of generalized co-participation could be devised in regard to these artificially distributed riches, since water, fish, plankton, tides, etc. recognize no boundaries. As the ocean is the main reserve of mankind, a coastal band could be drawn for the exclusive use of the coastal country, with some commitment to contribute voluntarily to an international development fund. There would then be an additional band for the exploitation of which a small mandatory contribution would be set, to be agreed upon between the coastal State and the international community. Finally, on what is called the high seas-which would cease to be the privileged possession of the first comer or of the strongest-a more complex regime of international co-participation would be established, and contributory levies would be set up by general agreement among all States.
135.	Since no world government exists, such a regime would function on the basis of treaties and, hence, through the centers which create international agreements, namely States; but as for management and administration, unless stagnation is the plan, a careful system of majority decision would have to be established-of course, without the right of veto-but by a well distributed and balanced majority.
136.	These ideas are expressed within the framework of interdependence of interests and are therefore totally devoid of the concept of any gift. If it is really intended to organize the international community, one must observe the realities on which it is patterned. It is a matter of emphasizing education, training and skilled know-how, of studying motivation and incentive techniques, and of finding a reasonable international division of labour.
137.	Even the best technical and human plans will be relegated to the sphere of speculation if the international community fails to establish a minimum of security. Principles and rules for peaceful coexistence among States have been agreed to; but now groups outside the context of States, but whose conduct influences inter-State relations, are making their own law: the law of indiscriminate and irrational violence. The international community must defend itself from terrorism, which is poisoning international relations and wants to substitute the pressure of fear for the persuasion of reason; threats for negotiation; and desperate, passionate and insensate acts for the evolutionary process of institutions.
138.	The United Nations is a world forum of great resonance; but it is also, and should continue to be, an organizing brain and, in some areas, an arm to give force to the Charter, which, to a large extent, is a set of goals and a handful of contractual obligations to ensure co-operation.
139.	The United Nations has its intrinsic limitations; therefore its negotiations require two elements: time and patience. Without these two elements, one of which is objective and the other mental, the complex negotiations which it undertakes would lack maturity. In the negotiating process haste sometimes means delay, and the distances covered are not measured by a dose of impatience nor by improvisations.
140.	Essentially the United Nations is a great instrument for co-operation in fact, the most complex and extensive which is compatible with the survival of national States. For the present there is nothing in the international community that can replace it. We are firmly in favor of strengthening the United Nations at the political, economic and legal levels. We enthusiastically participate in its work and in its programs, and we realize that after several centuries of international relations governed by the law of force the process of institutionalizing the international community has to be comparatively slow. As Members of the United Nations, we take criticisms of the United Nations as criticisms of ourselves. The United Nations will go only as far as its Members really wish it to go. We are committed to a common task, called upon to influence decisively the lives of each and every one of its peoples.
That is why we reiterate our determination to work loyally and most actively for the attainment of the purposes of the United Nations. We do so in our desire for peace, motivated by our law-abiding spirit and our feeling of solidarity for and understanding of the problems and aspirations of the members of the international community.


Permit me to offer my sincere congratulations and good wishes to the President of the Assembly and to the Vice-Presidents who have been elected to guide the activities of the twenty-seventh session of the Assembly. With their experience and reputation for wise counsel, I have no doubt that this session will prove as fruitful and beneficial as the others.
157.	Permit me also to express my delegation's gratitude to the outgoing President, Mr. Adam Malik, for the efficiency and diligence he has shown in executing his functions at the past session.
158.	One could, with much justification, assert that the last session was characterized by a general determination to clear the air to clear the air not only in terms of the environment but also in terms of major issues of vital interest to the developing countries. I refer to the problems arising from the structure of international trade, the law of the sea-about which we shall no doubt be hearing more this session the admission of certain countries to the United Nations, the Rhodesian question and the situation in the Middle East.
159.	We have followed very closely the proceedings of the First All-African Seminar on the Human Environment, held at Addis-Ababa from 23 to 28 August 1971, as well as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in June 1972, which, in our opinion, constitutes a landmark in the history of post-industrial civilization and in the continuous efforts of man not only to conquer nature through science and technology but also to place science in perspective by critically evaluating its ethical and aesthetic aspects and directing science, not toward that uncertain progress that leads to alienation, destruction and meaninglessness, but towards the service of man and his environment. By so doing science would be not, as is commonly supposed, the antithesis of nature, but the mediator between man and nature. We believe that science and technology, when properly controlled and applied, can be of immense value in the rehabilitation of man-both industrial and developing man in the integration of the alienated individual into society, and in the search for new moral and aesthetic concepts, in keeping with a rapidly changing world.
160.	Naturally, we, the developing countries, were at first wary of the alarm sounded by the industrialized countries at the serious environmental problems that resulted from rapid and haphazard industrialization and urbanization, seeing it, perhaps wrongly, in terms of the rich having the leisure to tell the poor how to keep their gardens neat and trim. My Government has gradually come to the view, particularly after the Stockholm Conference, which laid down certain conditions of development, that there is much value and merit in the argument of the environmentalist movement.
161.	As a developing country, it is our intention to avoid as many of the pitfalls and frustrations of development as possible. My Government has therefore taken steps, in co-operation with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), to prevent pollution of our beaches by crude oil. and the dumping of oil in Gambian waters. Many of our beaches were polluted by crude oil last August, at the rate of one cubic foot per yard. We are in the process of becoming a party to international conventions relating to oil pollution damage and to the conservation of natural resources. We therefore welcome the proposed United Nations environment secretariat, and we hope that as many countries as possible will avail themselves of its services. The Gambia Government has also taken steps to seek advice from UNESCO on appropriate legislative measures for the protection and preservation of historic sites and monuments, and the machinery for the administration of these sites and monuments will soon be established. Planning and drainage problems of the urban areas have also engaged our attention, and it is envisaged that significant progress in these directions will be made in the next few years.
162.	My Government, however, feels that, in view, of the possible conflict of interests between the claims of rapid agro-industrial development designed to raise the income and living standards of the population, and the equally valid claims of the people for the enjoyment of adequate social and physical facilities, the developing countries will require the financial and technical assistance of the United Nations agencies and other international bodies and the cooperation of foreign businesses and international corporations in the difficult but rewarding exercise of relating the pace of economic development to the preservation and control of the human and physical environment and reducing the mental-health and nutritional hazards connected with rapid change. We are therefore encouraged by the positive approach the Stockholm Conference has taken towards the problem of pollution and the human environment. That approach, in our view, has correctly identified the major environmental problems and outlined an integrated strategy involving population control, nutrition, education, drainage and sewerage, physical planning and natural resource management for the solution of these problems. Our only reservation, which, I believe, we share with some other countries, is that instead of creating a United Nations super-agency for the environment, we propose an environmental policy and co-ordinating unit within the United Nations Secretariat, responsible to a governing council which in turn would be responsible to the General Assembly. The specialized agencies, UNDP and the World Bank would continue the work of environmental control and the injection of environmental questions into development plans and surveys.
163.	There is another type of pollution, however, which is far more dangerous and difficult to control or eliminate. This is the pollution of racism and apartheid. It is a pollution both of the mind and of the body and, more significantly, it threatens to pollute the conduct of international relations. It is a pollutant the removal of which has persistently dogged the efforts of this Assembly and all the devices known to civilized state-manship.
164.	We spoke a few minutes ago of the policies and programs proposed by the international community to mediate the conflict between man and nature. The Stockholm Conference quite rightly drew the world's attention to the ravages which man's arrogance and steam-engine intellect have perpetrated on nature, with the resulting physical, aesthetic and psychological damage. Nevertheless, no damage can be greater or more dangerous than that caused by man's inhumanity to man, particularly when that inhumanity is based on economic deprivation, political oppression and a morally reprehensible and intellectually indefensible system of government. The racist minority regimes of Pretoria and Salisbury and their silent backers in the West-have, in defiance of all the appeals and resolutions of this Assembly and the Security Council, and in defiance of civilized opinion throughout the world, persistently and with mechanical monotony paraded before this Assembly the tragicomedy of civitas diaboli masquerading as civitas dei. We therefore propose that this Assembly should consider amending the Declaration of the Stockholm Conference to include world-wide economic and educational measures against racism and apartheid
165.	Matters arising from concerted international action against racism bring to mind the problem of Rhodesia. Sufficient time has now elapsed for all Member States to reach their conclusions on the findings of the Pearce Commission report on the so-called Anglo-Rhodesian proposals for a settlement. Before stating my Government's attitude to this new development, I should like to join my African colleagues in congratulating Lord Pearce and his Commissioners for their objectivity and their painstaking efforts in ascertaining the views of the majority of the Rhodesian population under very difficult and trying conditions. My Government is also pleased to note the United Kingdom Government's willingness to accept the necessity of this Commission in the first place, and for the
moral courage it has displayed in accepting the conclusions the inevitable conclusions of the Pearce Commission.
166.	The Peace Commission report has not only underlined the unequivocal rejection of the so-called settlement proposals, but has also exposed the pretentions of the illegal Smith regime to represent the wishes of the majority in Rhodesia. The report has also made it clear that there should be no illusions about the achievement of majority rule in the near future. My Government has always held the view that the Anglo-Rhodesian proposals constituted a deliberate departure from the five principles of the United Kingdom Government. We are happy that this conviction has been vindicated by an impartial body. We are also pleased to note the United Kingdom Government's continuing commitment to sanctions as long as no reasonable prospect of an equitable settlement is in sight. While we support the United Kingdom Government's proposal for a "time for reflection" and for more time so that all parties to the Rhodesian conflict would, hopefully, be able to create the conditions for a modus vivendi, we are somewhat apprehensive that the political time-scale that may be envisaged by the United Kingdom Government could further contribute to the preservation of the status quo in Rhodesia. We believe that the United Kingdom Government, as the responsible Power, should take the initiative, at the earliest opportunity, in convening a meeting of the representatives of all shades of opinion in Rhodesia including the leaders of the banned African political parties to review the 1969 Constitution and to propose amendments or alternatives to that Constitution, with a view to establishing democratic political processes and a genuine multiracial society as a basis for the independence of Rhodesia.
167.	Time is useful for those who believe in the peaceful and democratic resolution of conflicts. It is, however, a serious error of judgment to allow dictators and racists too much time to spread their totalitarian tentacles further. It is precisely the political dividends of time, and therefore of growing confidence abroad, that the racists of southern Africa hope to reap. For this reason, we, the African countries, through the Organization of African Unity, have called upon the United Kingdom Government to convene a constitutional conference, guarantee the free expression of political opinion in Rhodesia, and provide the granting of universal adult suffrage by secret ballot for the population of Rhodesia as a whole.
168.	Having outlined our position on Rhodesia, I now move from the local politics of inequality to the international economics, and politics, of inequality. Even before its meeting in Santiago in the spring of 1972, the third session of UNCTAD, was viewed with some justified pessimism by the developing countries. If its task was, in the words of its Secretary-General, Mr. Perez Guerrero, "to bring about a reversal of prevailing tendencies in international decision-making and to translate the awareness of the development problem the central issue of our time- into convergent policies concerning trade, aid and related areas,"  then in our view, this was not accomplished at Santiago. It could not be, particularly as certain countries chose to make it their duty to give us lessons in the efficient management of our resources, some going so far as to question the necessity of international commodity agreements. Internationally, therefore, we are still in the age of charity.
169.	We do, however, share the concern expressed at UNCTAD's third session over the question of linking special drawing rights to additional development assistance. As a developing country, we are also concerned with increased freight rates and maritime transport costs, as well as with comprehensive international agreements on primary commodities. Our continued development to a large extent depends on the efforts of the international community to reach agreement on equitable solutions to these development difficulties that have engaged the attention of the UNCTAD secretariat. In this connexion, my Government also welcomes the forthright manner in which the importance of expanding trade links among the developing countries was pointed out in Santiago. We believe that the lessons learned from successive UNCTAD conferences since 1964 ought to lead to the inescapable conclusion that whatever UNCTAD may achieve, whatever breaches the developing countries may succeed in making in the protectionist wall of the rich nations, in the final analysis the problem of the economic emancipation of the developing countries is a problem only they can solve through their own united efforts and strategic economic choices. The salvation of the developing countries, we believe, cannot but be most materially assisted by the developing countries themselves and by economic methods and choices peculiarly suited to the realities of the developing world.
170.	I have done no more than provide a summary of my Government's policy on various issues of the day. AS a developing country and as an African country, Gambia's major concerns are trade and development, the effective prosecution of the struggle against racism and apartheid, the equitable sharing of the resources of the sea in the light of the special needs of the developing countries, the improvement and control of the human environment without prejudice to the rapid economic development of the non-European countries, and international security. These issues will no doubt engage the attention of this Assembly, and it is my Government's hope that our deliberations here will result in collective action and in the harmonization of views and policies for the resolution of these problems in the interests of mankind and in the cause of peace.