Mr. President, on behalf of the delegation of Costa Rica I should like to join the many speakers who have congratulated you on your election as President of this session of the General Assembly. We trust that your leadership will be as effective as that of your predecessor. It is with pride that, as a Latin American, I have herd participants at the twenty-eighth session express their approval at the extremely effective manner in which Mr. Leopoldo Benites conducted our discussions. He was always an imaginative and dispassionate President, who never displayed any fanaticism and who did not allow his ideas to divert him from the proper application of the Charter and the rules of procedure of the General Assembly.
2.	Costa Rica, a Central American country, has felt the tragedy of the sister Republic of Honduras as though it were its own. The Foreign Minister of that afflicted country, my good friend Cesar Batres, described to this Assembly on 25 September [2242nd meeting] the loss of life and the suffering that Honduras has had to endure as the result of the fury of the forces of nature. The material loss and the economic destruction have been so great that the people of Honduras by themselves could never repair the damage.
3.	That is why generous international assistance has become indispensable, and this Organization, representing the international community, and many of its Members individually have already started to give such assistance. We are thankful for this overwhelming expression of solidarity .with our brothers from Honduras, and we make an appeal for redoubled efforts in the very difficult task of rebuilding the economy- of Honduras, which Hurricane Fifi has left in such a deplorable state.
4.	Costa Rica was the first Latin American nation to recognize the State of Bangladesh. Since 1972 we have supported its admission to the United Nations. On 10 June 1974 my delegation had the pleasure of .voting at the 1776th meeting of the Security Council in favor of the draft resolution recommending the admission of Bangladesh to the Organization. Therefore, it should surprise no one that now that the representatives of that nation have taken their place in our midst, we Costa Ricans should extend our warmest welcome to them.
5.	We are pleased to note that the admission of Bangladesh is the result of the improvement brought about in the situation in the Asian subcontinent by the far-sighted and peace-promoting attitude of the three Governments involved in the 1971 war, namely, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The manner in which these Governments resolved a conflict which was as bloody as it was ancient should serve as an example to other parts of the world.
6.	The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees also deserves a tribute for having implemented with singular effectiveness the New Delhi Agreement of 28 August 1973, which provided for the repatriation of the Bengalis from Pakistan and of the Pakistanis from Bangladesh. In the introduction to his report to this session, the Secretary-General states: "More than 241,000 persons were moved across the subcontinent in that operation, which has been described as the largest airlift of human beings ever organized". [Al9601lAdd.l, p. 6]
7.	The enlightened and progressive eradication of British colonialism in the Antilles enables us today to extend a welcome also to a new American State: Grenada. We wish this new Caribbean nation every success and we hope to maintain with it very close bilateral relations, as well as warm relations within the Latin American group of States in the United Nations.
8.	The independence of Guinea-Bissau and its admission to the United Nations are of very great significance in the lengthy struggle against colonialism. It is the beginning of the end of the Portuguese colonial empire in Africa, and that is the result both of the heroic struggle of the people of Guinea-Bissau to achieve self-determination and of the revolution for liberation waged by the Portuguese people themselves. On 25 April 1974, in Portugal, a dictatorial regime which had tried to drown in blood every expression of freedom of the Portuguese in their own country, as well as of the population of the colonies, came to an end.
9.	We were very moved by the statement made in this Hall by the Foreign Minister of Portugal, Mr. Mario Soares. Among other things, he said:
. . I represent here a new Portugal which has nothing to do with the one which was so repeatedly condemned in this Organization . . .
"This new Portugal has ceased to be a hostile and silent country within the United Nations, constantly refusing to fulfill its obligations. . .
The Assembly warmly applauded Minister Soares when, with obvious sincerity, he said:
"I feel particularly honored to have participated personally in the process of the decolonization of Guinea-Bissau ... It can only be regretted and I say this with a feeling of anguish that this process of decolonization, so long delayed, has left behind it a long, useless war in which so many of the young men of both countries died or were left disabled/' [2239th meeting, paras. 95, 96 and 102]
10.	In warmly greeting the representatives of Guinea-Bissau who have taken their seat in this Hall, I express the hope that very soon, and with the co-operation of the new Portugal, the States which will emerge from what have thus far been the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique, Angola and the Cape Verde Islands will achieve independence and enter our Organization.
11.	Of course, Costa Rica does not confine its hopes to the decolonization of the Portuguese Territories. In keeping with its anti-colonialist tradition, my country will most firmly support all the efforts to achieve self-determination made by peoples still subjected to any form of colonial domination, irrespective of their geographical location.
12.	My delegation agrees with the statement made by the representative of Brazil, Mr. Antonio Azeredo da Silveira, in his opening speech in this general debate, that just as important as the support to be given to the people struggling to achieve independence is the action undertaken to induce the Governments of the metropolitan countries to abandon, as Portugal has just done, their policy of colonial domination. He went on to say:
"For the Brazilian Government, the challenge faced by those who want to rid the world of the colonial stigma is the challenge of efficacy. To blame the colonizing past is not what matters; what matters is rather to help build the future of free nations." [2238th meeting, para. 15]
13.	Costa Rica is a member of the Credentials Committee and, since certain aims have-been pursued which are not within that Committee's competence, I should like to state my delegation's understanding of its task. Rule 27 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly states:
"The credentials of representatives and the names of members of a delegation shall be submitted to the Secretary-General if possible not less than one week before the opening of the session. The credentials shall be issued either by the Head of the State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs."
14.	During the twenty-fifth session of the General Assembly a request was made to the Legal Counsel of the Organization to give an expert opinion on the scope of this article. In giving his opinion, the Legal Counsel made the following statement:
"... credentials for the General Assembly may be defined as a document issued by the Head of State or Government or by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of a State Member of the United Nations submitted to the Secretary-General designating the persons entitled to represent that Member at a given session of the General Assembly. Unlike the acceptance of credentials in bilateral relations, the question of recognition of a Government of a Member State is not involved, and substantive issues concerning the status^ Governments do not arise. . . ."
15.	My delegation shares the views expressed by the Legal Counsel. It is in keeping with the universal practice with regard to the competence of the credentials committee in any international body or conference. It is also in keeping with the competence which article 28 of the rules of procedure of the General Assembly grants the Credentials Committee, whose sole function is restricted to the almost mechanical task of determining whether the credentials with which representatives are accredited to the General Assembly have been legally issued by the Head of State or of Government or by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of that Member State.
16.	It is in no way the task of that Committee to decide whether the Government issuing the credentials is or is not the legitimate representative of the peoples of that Member State. To grant that power to the Committee by means of an interpretation would be to flout legal logic, and would, furthermore, flagrantly violate the principle of non-intervention enshrined in Article 2, paragraph 7 of the Charter of the United Nations.
17.	Not even the Assembly or the Security Council has the power to express a judgment about the Government of a Member State, be it de jure or de facto, because that would be tantamount to interference in matters which fall within the internal jurisdiction of the State itself. Representatives can imagine the chaotic situation that would prevail if we were to discuss here the legitimacy of the Governments of each one of the Member States.
18.	Still less can we adopt a procedure whereby we reject the credentials of the representative of any Member State, as a means of preventing participation in the Assembly and in other bodies of the United Nations by any Government that my not be to the liking of the majority of Members. By not permitting participation by that Government, which, although perhaps repudiated by the majority, is still the Government in power in that Member State, in fact we would be excluding that Member State from participation in the Organization.
19.	In accordance with Article 6 of the Charter, we can expel a Member State if repeated violations of the principles contained in the Charter have been proven. But this is not a decision that can be made by the Credentials Committee, either directly or indirectly. It is a most serious decision, and it can be taken only by the General Assembly by a two- thirds-majority vote of its Members, and only after such action has been recommended by the Security Council.
20.	In view of the foregoing, Costa Rica will oppose the Credentials Committee's going even one whit beyond its specific duties in examining the credentials of representatives to the General Assembly, duties that, I repeat, are solely to determine whether or not the document which informs the Secretary-General of the names of the people representing a Member State at a given session of the Assembly the document which we call the credentials has been duly issued by the Head of State , or of Government or by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of a Member of the United Nations.
21.	During the twenty-eighth session of the General Assembly [2153rd meeting], Costa Rica was elected a member of the Security Council. My country humbly accepted this high honor, and promised diligently to discharge the very delicate duty assigned to it.
22.	In presiding at the 1761st session of the Council on 17 January 1974, the first meeting of this year, we stated the views that Costa Rica holds regarding that peace-keeping organ. After 10 months of the work of the Council, experience has confirmed the statement I made, and I am now able to give a brief analysis of the important matters discussed in that body.
23.	Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations mentions the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.. Nevertheless, this equality was not maintained with regard to the formation of the Security Council, since it gave, permanent seats in the Council to the five countries that were the main Powers when the San Francisco Charter was signed. Furthermore, its important agreements required the affirmative vote of the five so-called "great Powers" before they could be considered valid.
24. This was due to the fact that the very structure of the United Nations is based on the essential political assumption of harmony and co-operation among the great Powers; and since the maintenance of peace is the main objective of the Organization, its peacemaking machinery is based on the hypothesis of joint action by the five great Powers. That is why the disagreement of one of them -namely, the veto is sufficient to paralyze this peace-making machinery.
25.	To some, the concentration of power in the permanent members implies an attempt to establish a world government of the five Powers akin to an international oligarchy. To others, this preeminence of the great Powers is a fair price which the medium- sized and small countries must pay to obtain the co-operation of the more powerful nations in the United Nations. The veto is a safety valve to ensure that the United Nations does not exceed itself in accepting certain unrealistic commitments which may be beyond its power.
26.	Costa Rica has always felt that, irrespective of the thesis accepted as the ideal, the United Nations was so conceived that effective action for the maintenance of international peace and security is possible, as we have said, only with the assistance of the great Powers. In order to change that situation, we should not only have to create a new organization -a very unlikely eventuality - but further, it would be indispensable to change the thinking of the main protagonists of the world, an even more unlikely eventuality.
27.	In realistic terms, we are convinced that we cannot achieve that goal at this time. It cannot even be said with certainty that it is the most suitable goal. That is why it is better to base our action on what can be reasonably hoped for from the foreign policy of States. Otherwise, as we have already stated, we run the risk of drawing up catalogs of what is desirable rather than building on what is possible.
28.	The Security Council was given immense power by the Charter. That power derives from the authority which it has to impose coercive measures and other measures which involve certain punitive elements, agreed upon in the name of the entire international community.
29.	The compulsory and binding decisions of the Council along these lines become a kind of legal sentence. But they should not lead us to consider the Council as a law enforcement body whose decisions should be free from all the incidental elements characteristic of political decisions.
30.	Far from hurting the Council, its political structure is the element which gives it its strength. Its decisions are not backed up by the impartiality of judges. The States of which it is composed are committed to finding viable formulas to harmonize differing and often opposing political ideas.
31.	For that reason, the very strength of the Security Council becomes fully evident only when it makes decisions. Its function acquires true meaning and value to the extent that it ensures international peace and security under the Charter and, since decisions require first and foremost the agreement of the five great Powers, the validity of our premise is confirmed: peace-making by the Security Council is possible only when there exists harmony and cooperation among the great Powers.
32.	Thus, when disagreement among the permanent members prevents the Council from reaching decisions in situations which threaten international peace and security, the Council's very existence as a peacemaking organ is deeply affected. The nature of international disputes which the Security Council must deal with is a matter of such high priority that the absence of a decision is as harmful as a delayed decision. Any delay in implementing possible solutions undermines the international standing of the Council and cruelly harms the cause of peace.
33.	In the Security Council the delegation of Costa Rica has constantly pleaded for immediate action in the face of situations which might affect international peace and security. Regardless of the political interests of the States which make up the Council, we have always maintained that peace is the highest priority and that there is no justification for putting off matters so closely tied to the vital interests of mankind -namely, those concerning war and peace. We must find a consensus, in order to be able to work on the basis of agreement, negotiation and compromise.
34.	To those who tell us that it is immoral to com-promise with an ideological adversary, we reply that the problems of war and peace involve the highest of all moral values, namely, respect for human life. Therefore, we have always maintained in the Council that more immoral than negotiating with those having different ideologies is closing the door to dialog, because, when it means the indiscriminate and large-scale destruction of human life, war is the greatest immorality of all.
35.	When, because of disagreements that have emerged between permanent members, decisions have been delayed that called for urgent and immediate action on the part of the Council, we have seen that the further development of the conflict has made it even more difficult for the Security Council to find solutions.
36.	In the various situations in which peace-promoting activity has thus been paralyzed, my delegation has always expressed its concern, because each time it has become more firmly convinced that the Council's decisions can have their desired effect only if the action it has decided on is promptly and swiftly carried out. Experience shows that any delay inevitably widens the gulf between the uncontrolled forces at war with each other and unleashes new elements that increase the danger of the conflict.
37.	Year after year, the crisis in the Middle East has occupied a preponderant place in the debates of this Assembly, indicating the great importance the international community attaches to the problem and also its inability to resolve it.
38.	The fourth Arab-Israeli war broke out in October 1973 -that is, at the beginning of the twenty- eighth session of the General Assembly. Thanks to the combined efforts of bilateral diplomacy and the collective action of this Organization, it was possible to ensure that the conflict did not unleash a new, and last, world war. It was also possible to put an end to armed conflict between the Israeli, Egyptian and Syrian combatants.
39.	Security Council resolution 338 (1973), which called for a cease-fire and the initiation of peace talks between the parties, was not implemented immediately. That was one more example of failure to comply with decisions of the Security Council, which unfortunately occurs frequently these days. Hostilities ceased only when, thanks to the action of the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Kissinger, on 19 January 1974, Israel and Egypt, and, on 31 May 1974, Israel and Syria, signed cease-fire agreements.
40.	Those agreements were important because they constituted the first direct contact between the warring forces. If they are diligently maintained, they may open the way for successful peaceful negotiation of all the problems separating the Arabs and the Israelis.
41.	At the beginning of the general debate, the Secretary of State, Mr. Kissinger, told this Assembly:
"[These agreements] were achieved, above all, because of the wisdom of the leaders of the Middle East who decided that there had been enough stalemate and war, that more might be gained by testing each other in negotiation than by testing each other on the battlefield." [2238th meeting, para. 59]
42.	Nevertheless, earlier on, the Secretary of State had said that although the cease-fire and the two agreements for separating the forces had provided a breathing space, the shadow of war was still there. He said;,
"The legacy of hatred and suffering, the sense of irreconcilability have begun to yield -however haltingly- to the process of negotiation. But we still have a long road ahead.
"One side seeks the recovery of territory and justice for a displaced people. The other side seeks security and recognition by its neighbors of its legitimacy as a nation^ In the end, the common goal of peace surely is "broad enough to embrace all these aspirations." [Ibid, para. 56 and 57]
43.	The general framework for the establishment of peace in that region was laid down by Security Council resolution 338 (1973), as a result of which the Peace Conference on the Middle East started its work in Geneva in December 1973; the Conference has since .then not made much progress. However, it is heartening to recall that all parties have recognized that the problems to be dealt with are complex, and for that reason one must be patient and try to dissipate doubts before making commitments in any new initiative.
44.	The international community can, however, facilitate those very difficult negotiations by creating the right atmosphere for reconciliation. Mutual recriminations expressed in this forum undoubtedly do not help to achieve that purpose. We must strive to maintain the progress made before the signing of the agreement on the separation of forces. We must struggle to see to it that the hunger for peace and the desire to And lasting solutions that emerged as the result of the devastation caused by the last war in the Middle East are not weakened by sterile discussion or the bitterness that grows from the lack of speedy and positive solutions.
45.	The international community could take the initiative in seeking ways to make the warring parties and their allies moderate their mutual verbal attacks. The mass communications media of some of the Arab States and their allies are very effective in presenting Israel as the hated enemy which has no right whatsoever to be located in former Palestine. That kind of propaganda can boomerang against those very leaders who might otherwise be prepared to negotiate a just peace, because their peoples, encouraged by the constant publicity campaign of the mass media, may resist accepting whatever their leaders have in good faith succeeded in working out.
46.	Thus there seems to be a marked contrast between the slow progress towards the achievement of peace that has been made this year -progress which must be maintained and protected at all costs- and the policy of open enmity between the parties that is made public even in these halls. Costa Rica hopes that the sense of the responsibility we share in resolving the problems of the Middle East will serve to moderate written and oral statements of aggression here and help the Assembly to co-operate in the creation of a less hostile atmosphere between Arab and Israeli that, unfortunately, I do not think will be favored by the inclusion in the agenda of the item on the question of Palestine as an issue separate from the Middle East, which was adopted at the 2236th meeting. This, however, does not mean that Costa Rica is indifferent to the destiny of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees seeking a permanent home. In this connexion, I would recall what was said by the Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Mr. Juan Carlos Blanco, on thiL problem [2240th meeting].
47.	The United Nations is familiar indeed with the problems of Cyprus, problems that have existed since the moment when Cyprus attained its independence. The fight between the two communities on the island, Greek and Turkish, has been followed with close attention by the international community. For more than 10 years a United Nations Peacekeeping Force has been stationed in Cyprus. Our awareness of the problems of that island made us even more grief-stricken at the tragic events which broke the precarious peace at the beginning of August of this year.
48.	In the Security Council Costa Rica has followed the events in Cyprus very closely. At the beginning of the crisis, when the peace was disturbed on Cyprus, we noted a lack of decision on the part of some of the permanent members. An opportunity was lost to take effective peace-making action in time and thus prevent further hostilities.
49.	Costa Rica shared the pain of that small nation which was powerless to stop a dispute involving other nations and other interests. We were greatly moved when we heard the news of the coup that had overthrown the constitutional President of Cyprus and learned that Cypriot soil was being trampled upon by foreign troop.
50.	The delegation of Costa Rica severely criticized the badly timed and short-sighted attempt of th? Greek military dictatorship -which, as we now know, did not represent th? Greek people- to overthrow a legitimate Government. For my country could never accept any change in the structure of an independent and sovereign nation brought about by foreign intervention.
51.	At the initial stages of the Cyprus conflict we were told that this was an internal matter, which meant that the Security Council could not take action on it. Costa Rica opposed that view. We stated that the removal of President Makarios had been planned and carried out by Greek military agents responding to the reckless ambitions of the military dictatorship that had done so much to that country, the cradle of Western civilization.
52.	Costa Rica stated that the Security Council must not allow itself to be paralyzed in cases where the "... danger or threat no longer takes place on a battlefield but is surreptitiously displaced to a country and slyly disguises itself as an internal affair . . .".
53.	Subsequently, when the Turkish invasion took place, because of the vacuum left by the lack of action by the Security Council, the fatal failure of the Security Council to act decisively in time became very obvious. When finally the Council decided to acknowledge that peace was being threatened, resolution 353 (1974) was adopted calling for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Cyprus.
54.	Our delegation has followed with attention the subsequent developments in Cyprus. We regret that the cease-fire resolution was not immediately implemented and, furthermore, that the part of the resolution regarding the withdrawal of all foreign troops has still not been put into effect.
55.	Costa Rica wishes to state for the record that it approves the efforts made by the Secretary-General to restore constitutional order and peace to the afflicted Cypriot nation, and we will do our utmost to help find a formula under which the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus can be maintained because of the successful coexistence of the communities of Greek and Turkish origins.
56.	In the year which has elapsed since the last session of the General Assembly, Argentina -and indeed Latin America as a whole- has suffered the loss of a great leader: President Juan Domingo Peron. I take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the memory of that statesman. His people will be guided by their memories of him in their search for justice, economic development and the reaffirmation of national sovereignty.
57.	As was so well stated by the Argentine Foreign Minister, Mr. Alberto Vignes, great statesmen such as Peron will live beyond their lifetimes because "their principles and objectives remain in force" [ibid., para. 60]. And all of us here must agree with the eloquent and moving statement by Foreign Minister Vignes, on 24 September last, that "[Peron's] prophetic ideas transformed him into the precursor of universalism and of a 'third-world position" which are today recognized as being essential means for international coexistence" [ibid. ].
58.	Costa Rica continues to have faith in the United Nations. We believe that, even though the Charter contains provisions which it would be desirable to. amend, the greatest Effectiveness of the Organization depends not on its legal foundations but rather on the political will of its Member States to live in accordance with its principles and to abide by the resolutions of the appropriate bodies and organs. For that reason my country, small as it is, wishes to preach by example. Costa Rica practices an international policy consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and it has never been remiss in shouldering responsibilities flowing from the activities of the organs of the international community.


Mr. President, the honor conferred on Ecuador when I was elected President of the twenty-eighth session of this Assembly had the disadvantage of preventing me, for almost one year, from exercising the exclusive representation of my people; nor, during that time, when I served my country at a high international level, was I able to serve it in other forums.
40.	On returning to ground level with a clear conscience from having done my duty and resuming the full and exclusive representation of Ecuador, it is a great pleasure for me that my first duty is to congratulate you, on behalf of the people and Government of Ecuador, on your accession to the Presidency of the General Assembly. These grave moments of conflict in international life demand the clairvoyance of the statesman and the tough energy of the fighter, two qualities that are combined in your personality, which was formed in the fight for independence for your country and then in your continuous efforts undertaken in your exalted capacity as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria to liberate the peoples of the world and to create a new order.
41.	It also gives me great pleasure that one of my first duties is to greet, on behalf of the people and Government of Ecuador, the three new Members of the Organization, each from a different continent: Grenada, our sister by geography but above all by history, which since the history of the Iberian-Indian-African peoples of Latin America began in the Caribbean, has been a melting-pot of peoples and a matrix of nations; Bangladesh, set at the heart of a millenary culture; and Guinea-Bissau, which won its independence in an unflagging battle, to whose heroes and martyrs I wish to pay tribute in the noble and austere person of Amilcar Cabral.
42.	Having fulfilled those pleasant duties, I must now refer to an event that has plunged my people into mourning: the tragedy of Honduras. Hurricane winds, torrential rains and high tides transformed the beautiful tropical country of Honduras into an enormous devastated area under whose mud 10,000 human beings are buried. Those who survived were attacked by maddened vipers, and, in the midst of the desolation, the specter of famine, disease and misery was raised.
43.	I do not wish to make of my statement to the General Assembly a kind of broadened agenda or an advance sample of the agenda items which we shall have an opportunity to deal with in the respective Main Committees or in plenary meetings when items are assigned to them. I shall now refer only to those matters which, although they do not yet appear specifically on our agenda, are implicit in many of the questions we are to debate.
44.	It may seem to be a time-worn cliche if I say what I have been repeating in my latest statements and reaffirm today -namely, that we are in an era of transition which we can face only if we have a clear and accurate awareness of the change. Twenty-nine years ago, an historic event occurred: the organization of the international community for the noble purposes of living together in peace as good neighbors, prohibiting the use and even the mere threat of force, advocating respect for the dignity of free man without discrimination and enshrining the right of peoples to decide on their own forms of government.
45.	We know that since the United Nations came into being there have been flagrant violations of its principles and purposes -for example, war as a means of expanding frontiers; the occupation of territories by force; the refusal to grant peoples their right to self-determination; the monstrous injustice of apartheid in South Africa and Rhodesia; the artificial division of peoples having ancient homogeneous cultures; the mass devastation of lands by barbarous methods of chemical warfare; and the use of hunger as a weapon. All that is true. But it is also true that the organization of the international community which the United Nations represents has created an international public opinion the obvious pressure of which has prevented the outbreak of a world war and the hegemony of a dominant Power and has made possible the liberation of colonial peoples which are today full-fledged States. The clearest expression of that to be found at this time is Portugal's break with an obsolete idea of domination, a break it has begun with the applause and sympathy of all the peoples of the world. Our civilization, which has successively been Mediterranean and Atlantic and has extended to every ocean, has come to be the civilization of the globe, of man, of all men, of all the peoples of a planet which, small and inadequate though it has become, is the only one we have to live for.
46.	I would not wish to evoke poetic images of facile rhetoric. Instead, I shall refer to the image used by an economist with a cool and clear mind, Mr. Robert McNamara, who, at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm in 1972, said we are passengers on a spaceship on which one fourth of the people travels comfortably while three fourths travel in conditions of hunger, disease and destitution.
47.	After the successive failures of the efforts of the first United Nations Development Decade, the crisis in raw materials compelled us to hold the sixth special session of the General Assembly on the noble and, I would venture to say, bold initiative of President Boumediene of Algeria. The special session drew attention to the vital fact that the international community requires measures other than partial steps; it requires a new international economic order. In my opinion, this is the beginning of the second great era of the United Nations since it was established as the expression of the world community.
48.	I must with alarm confess that, instead of an atmosphere of co-operation, interrelationship and confidence which the establishment of a new international economic order requires, this session of the General Assembly has begun in an atmosphere of suspicion and threat. That is terribly negative because threats' and recriminations usually rebound against those who launch them, like a boomerang thrown by an inexpert hand.
49.	In the first place, it is not true -and I would say it is hardly loyal to say that it is- that the economic deterioration and paralysis in development of those countries described as most seriously affected is due exclusively to the rise in petroleum prices. Before oil prices were raised, there was an increase of up to 400 per cent in the cost of food-stuffs such as wheat and sugar, building materials such as steel and cement, agricultural machinery, and products derived from hydrocarbons, such as acrylics and fertilizers. But in those cases the victims were not the industrialized countries which process raw materials; the. victims were the weak peoples of the developing world, which in silence suffered the effects upon their balances of payments.
50.	Nor can runaway inflation be attributed solely to the so-called energy crisis. Inflation arises when more money is minted than is justified by the production of goods and therefore the vast increase in military expenditure and wars of political hegemony have generated inflation that has inevitably been exported to the economically weaker countries. Furthermore, the system established at Bretton Woods has led to an unequal development which has further enriched the rich and impoverished the poor.
51.	Finally, the rise in prices of oil and its derivatives has not affected developed countries that lack those products or have a deficit in their production such as the European countries and Japan in the same way as it has affected the United States, which depends on foreign oil imports for only about 12 per cent of its needs and whose oil companies, in the midst of the crisis, made profits of up to 800 per cent.
52.	Lastly, I should like to point out that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] is not a political organization, since its members comprise countries with different systems of government and differing social goals; nor is it an ethnic organization, since in it are represented Arabs, Africans, Iranians, Asians and Latin Americans; nor is it an organization of petroleum producers, since it represents only 85 per cent of the producers; nor is it a mutual aid society, because I know of no decision which commits the wealthier among its members to render assistance to the poorer. It is simply an organization of exporters whose essential purpose is to defend prices that for many years bore no relation to the rising prices of other products while companies amassed wealth by exploiting a non-renewable resource.
53.	In his message addressed to President Ford of the United States on the occasion of his statement at the beginning of the present session of the Assembly, as published in The New York Times on 25 September 1974, that great statesman who governs the destinies of Venezuela, Mr. Carlos Andres Perez, said:
"Venturing to interpret the policy of OPEC, I would assure you that it is the hope of our petroleum-producing countries that an agreement between the countries producing raw materials and the industrialized countries which will be equitable and bring international justice can be reached, through a world body such as the United Nations, with a view to striking a proper and acceptable balance between the prices paid to us for the labor of the men and women of our poverty-stricken countries and those paid by our economies for the imports we require."
54.	Within OPEC there are different degrees of development, ranging from that of countries which can produce 8 million barrels daily, to that of countries, such as Ecuador, with a maximum output of 230,000 barrels daily; and from that of countries which process their hycro-carbons to countries, such as Ecuador, which have a very weak processing industry, and are therefore exporters of crude and importers of the derivatives of the refined product for which they are paying prices higher than their profits, with serious damage resulting to their balance of payments.
55.	In this respect I should like to reaffirm the statement made not long ago by my Government in a communication addressed to the Secretary-General to the effect that Ecuador, with a low average production of crude, without a petrochemical industry and with a very small processing industry, is not in a position to be a capital donor merely because it is a member of OPEC. Ecuador, on the contrary, is a developing country which requires economic assistance in the form of soft loans and substantial assistance with regard to the transfer of technology.
56.	Yet, there is one obvious fact that nobody can honestly deny, and that is that the rise in oil prices has had a serious impact on the world economy, not merely on small producers that export ail their crude and purchase the derivatives at high prices and on countries that have strong processing industries hut lack oil, but on all the countries of the world, and particularly on those which have no oil, whose balances of payments have been shattered, whose production has been cut because of a lack of fuel and fertilizers and whose inflation has been accelerated. Those are the countries that have "been described as the ones most seriously affected. On the other hand, the investment of the profits obtained, as a result of the rise in the price of oil, in shares -including bank shares- in multinational companies and real estate in the developed countries has added to an inflation already seriously accelerated by the arms race and the acquisition of arms by countries which previously did not have the means to acquire them. The total figure for investment in military expenditure in the world has risen to $207,405 million, at a time when mankind faces an imminent and so far inevitable threat of tragic world-wide famine.
57.	To deal with this threatening problem -the approach of famine- two international conferences have been held, under the auspices of the United Nations yet in complete autonomy, and another will be held shortly, also under United Nations auspices. I shall refer to them briefly.
58.	People are forgetting that the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, the first stage of which was held at Caracas this summer, had as its origin the need for the sea-bed and the ocean floor beyond the limits of national jurisdiction and the subsoil thereof to be used for peaceful purposes and to be exploited for the benefit of mankind, so as to promote the development of the weakest countries and avert the dangers of economic imbalances arising out of the illicit, one-sided enrichment of those nations that are technically and financially most powerful. This implies that the sea-bed under national jurisdiction is for the use and benefit of the coastal State and that the work of the Conference had chiefly to concentrate on the establishment of a legal regime and an administrative mechanism applicable to the exploitation of the vast wealth of the high seas for the benefit of mankind.
59.	Yet so far interest has centered mainly on determining the extent of national jurisdiction rather than on the kinds of rights which the coastal State should exercise over its adjacent sea and the rights of mankind on the high seas. This is due to the unyielding action of countries with large fishing fleets, which desire to engage freely in their predatory activities.
60.	In Caracas three positions emerged in regard to the extent of jurisdiction. The most restrictive accepts a maximum of 12 miles of territorial sea. The second position, which emerged in 1972, accepts as a compromise a territorial sea of 12 miles over which full sovereignty would be exercised and an adjacent zone of up to 200 miles that is, 188 miles more without any agreement so far as to the kinds of rights which would be exercised over the adjacent zone. The only agreement is that these would not be sovereign rights, which could be exercised over the territorial sea alone. The last position -which my country maintains and which I defended on its behalf from 1955 to 1972- is based on the right of the coastal State to extend its complete sovereignty over the adjacent sea, in accordance with the geographical, geological and ecological characteristics of the coast and the economic needs of its population for up to 200 miles from the base line.
61.	The expression "200-mile sea" lacks meaning so long as it is not known what kinds of rights can be exercised over that zone, and to prevent such confusion, Ecuador has maintained and incorporated in its laws that its territorial sea extends for 200 miles and that over that zone it exercises full sovereignty, from which it should be understood that we cannot admit of a 200-mile sea without full sovereignty, as would be the case with the exclusive economic zone or the patrimonial sea.
62.	The head of State of Ecuador, General Guillermo Rodriguez Lara, in a statement of which an extract was published in the Quito newspaper El Comercio on 26 July of this year, emphasized the importance of the 200-mile territorial sea -embodied in the territorial laws of Ecuador- and affirmed that the sovereign entity of Ecuador "is prepared to stop piracy by the powerful and fully implement our laws in regard to maritime jurisdiction.
63.	The second United Nations conference held this year was the World Population Conference held at Bucharest. In our opinion, its special importance lies in the fact that it has drawn attention to the problem of the population explosion, but has left each State free to seek its own solutions. Quite obviously, a major population explosion occurring simultaneously with a reduction in food production and an increase in the cost of building materials represents a dramatic threat. The key to the problem, therefore, must be to meet the overall needs of development.
64.	The sixth special session of the General Assembly, in putting forward the need for a new international economic order, set immediate and long-term targets with which the present session of the General Assembly must deal. The immediate objectives were entrusted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who was asked to organize, as the first measure of the Special Program established by resolution 3202 (S-VI), an emergency operation to assist the most seriously affected countries. The long- term goals were entrusted to the Ad Hoc Committee on the Special Program, which has to submit to the Economic and Social Council recommendations on the machinery and scope of the Special Fund, also established by the same resolution, which would meet the urgent needs of the most seriously affected countries but whose ultimate purpose would be to meet the overall needs of development.
65.	Wherever we turn, the problem of development confronts us. Its challenge is imperative and urgent, and given this challenge we cannot play with words as children play with colored balloons. "Coexistence", "co-operation", "interdependence" are not mere words: they are calls to action. The simple rite of shifting our blame to a scapegoat and getting rid of it is a subterfuge: it does not really free our conscience.
66.	The inexorable fact we must face is that the sixth special session charged us irrevocably with creating a new international economic order: not any order, but a just, co-ordinated and interdependent order. We know that the developed and highly industrialized countries are going through a crisis. We understand that countries which have made enormous profits from raising oil prices are entitled to do this because they were formerly exploited and impoverished. But we know that if both could agree on prudent and well-planned investments, particularly in infrastructure, in the less fortunate or less developed countries, they might dispel the threat of hunger which looms over an anxious mankind and could thus give a successful start to the new international economic order.
67.	To say that the new order must be based on inter-dependence is to state the obvious, but it is also an evident truth. Interdependence means that the powerful industrial countries must learn to depend on those which they formerly exploited and that those which were formerly dependent wish to replace dependence by interdependence. The new economic order must basically be a new Order in reciprocal economic dependence.
68.	Since the Industrial Revolution, the economic order has been based on the idea of empire and therefore on the colonial relationship of the extraction of cheap raw materials and the creation of expensive manufactured goods- that is, a situation of dependence. The new order must be based as far as possible on giving the previously exploited peoples the means to process their own raw materials and progressively to alter their feudal or colonial structures by increased development and better use of the riches of their soil and subsoil and of their adjacent sea.
69.	Because of what I have said previously, I believe that the role of the present Assembly is of vital importance. Instead of wasting itself in sterile rhetoric or fruitless struggles, this Assembly should devote every effort of reason, imagination and, I venture to say, intuition to creating a new international economic order which will make it possible for a threatened mankind to enjoy a dignified and secure existence.
70.	In concluding, may I be permitted to inject a personal note and to express my gratitude to all who have spoken so generously of my work as President of the twenty-eighth session and the sixth special session of the General Assembly.
71.	On the decision of my Government this will be the last time that I shall speak in a general debate of the General Assembly as the representative of Ecuador. I shall, of course, continue to exercise my functions until the end of the present session. During 18 previous sessions I have shared unforgettable days in the struggle for decolonization, against racism, for the strengthening of international security, against aggression, and in favor of non-intervention. From the Assembly I have received for my country and for myself honors which had never before been conferred on citizens of my country, such as the successive chairmanship of the Special Political Committee and of the First Committee, apart from the high honor of being the first citizen of Ecuador to have been President of the General Assembly. So that I am not speaking "with a pained voice and looking at my shadow", as Don Francisco de Quevedo, the Spanish poet, said. I am speaking with a feeling in which humility is mixed with pride but a feeling above all of gratitude to all of you as well as hope for your future action. I believe and have often said that every man has within himself a spark of life and hope which, like a torch that has been lit, must be handed on. I place my torch here with a living flame at a time when I feel that all my vital forces are undiminished. I do so with the clear faith that I have had and still have in the destiny of an international community organized to achieve the lofty purposes which the United Nations represents.


Mr. President, it would be ungracious of the representative of Algeria not to associate himself with all the compliments which have been paid to you, and perhaps he is best placed to estimate how much those compliments were justified and to what extent they were personally merited. Perhaps it will suffice to say how honored we feel, as Algerians and Africans, and to express our assurance that, under your enlightened guidance, the work of the twenty-ninth session will indeed be crowned with success.
90.	We would also like to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Leopoldo Benites and assure him of our admiration and friendship for having presided so competently and with such courtesy over the twenty-eighth session and the sixth special session of the General Assembly.
91.	It is a formidable task for me to speak at the end of the general debate, after everything has already been said by distinguished previous speakers, and at best my statement could be only a pale reflection of what the Assembly has already heard. The problems have been posed and analyzed, suggestions have been put forward, advice has been given and solutions proposed. I hope, therefore, that no one is expecting from me an originality to which I cannot lay claim nor any infallible recipe for solving our difficulties. However, I must stress the feeling of concern in the face of the serious dangers threatening the world which marked most statements. These dangers arise not so much from the actual problems faced by the international community problems which it can now clearly see and of which it is now keenly aware as the fact that it has so far found it impossible to produce a satisfactory and lasting solution to them.
92.	The striking contrast between this tragic impotence and the prodigious development of the powers of man and his mastery of his environment is, I believe, a paradox typical of our times, when the disparities by which our world is torn stand out more starkly than ever under the glare of powerful lights.
93.	There is no doubt that, a quarter century after the Second World War, we are entering an era where not only the international order which has hitherto prevailed, but also the principles which are its very foundation and the philosophy from which it derives its very essence, are now being challenged. In terms of people, the challenge was expressed by the wave of protests which stirred the younger generations throughout the world. It is no doubt to the credit of the old order that it has at least forged the new framework of international society; but this very evolution dooms this old order to oblivion unless it is able to adapt itself rapidly.
94.	This new world is supposed to be, above all, a world of mature and responsible people, free from all tutelage and rejecting all paternalism. The rules of the game can no longer be those that decree that only the
most powerful can play. The lesson we can learn from history is that nothing lasting can be built against the will of the people. This lesson has never been better illustrated than in our times, which have in addition
confirmed that this will of the people is as sacred and as invincible whatever the latitude or continent.
95.	It is against this background that we should assess the changes that have occurred in international relations. While we would not dream of diminishing the importance of detente between the great Powers, we cannot, however, be more keenly aware of how much further we have to go before we can bring international morality into line with the new structure of our society.
96. The claims of all these young countries which have just made their entry into the international arena and have suddenly become aware of their responsibilities cannot be met indefinitely by the prohibitions of an obsolete order, an order which they are all the less inclined to honor precisely because it was that order which permitted their enslavement, the plundering of their resources and the destruction of their identity. Obviously, one cannot build any new order without first attempting to wipe away all wrongs and to restore rights which have been disregarded or suppressed.
97.	Whether it be a political or an economic crisis, the situation is in fact the same. There is the same conflict between outmoded concepts and the exigencies of the modern world. Decolonization, for example, fits precisely into this context and, at the same time, is an inevitable stage on the road towards that society of free and sovereign peoples that will be the international community of tomorrow.
98.	Progress achieved in the process of independence for the Portuguese colonies gives us a rare occasion for satisfaction within the present world context. While we were happy to welcome here the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, we also greeted with relief the substantial changes which have occurred in Portugal itself and which, H they have to prove something, at least demonstrate that the freedom of the Portuguese people is intimately connected with that of the African peoples which, like it, have been subjected to the domination of the same regime, Fascist at home and colonialist ".broad. A very valuable lesson must be learned from the Portuguese experience which shows that one cannot destroy the freedom of others without affecting one's own freedom. Other countries besides Portugal have also had occasion to learn this lesson, to their cost. If this lesson were digested properly, humanity would, I am sure, find itseW free of the threats to its tranquility.
99.	These victories in the anti-colonialist struggle should not conceal from us everything that still remains to be done not only to complete the liberation of colonial territories, but also and above all to put an end to the attacks on human dignity and human values, constituted by the policy of apartheid of South Africa and the racist minority regime of Rhodes^. This year the General Assembly has once again rejected by a larger majority than ever the credentials of the South African delegation, thus reflecting international public opinion, which is unanimous in its repugnance of apartheid. The Assembly wanted to make its condemnation more effective by asking the Security Council to review the relations between the United Nations and South Africa. But no one should be deluded by this. It is above all a test, a test of the determination of our community to impose respect for its principles, bu: a test also of the sincerity of its Members, particularly the most powerful, in their attachment to these principles.
100.	Since I am talking about African problems and decolonization, I should in my turn say a few words about the Sahara under Spanish domination. The Assembly has long been familiar with this problem and is aware of the interest attached by Algeria to all problems of liberation, an interest all the greater when there are involved as is the case here obvious geopolitical considerations, and when the desire of the peoples of this region for unity is founded on so many links of all kinds which have always existed among them despite the vicissitudes of time and history.
101.	Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania have long been calling upon Spain to decolonize this Territory and allow its population to exercise its right to self-determination. For many years, in fact, these three sister States have co-ordinated their efforts towards this end in the OAU, in the non-aligned group and in particular at the United Nations.
102.	The General Assembly has always supported this action and, in resolutions adopted at the last few sessions, it has constantly called upon the administering Power to organize, in agreement with the countries concerned, a referendum of self-determination, under the control of and guaranteed by our Organization. While affirming its attachment to the principle of the self-determination of peoples, the Spanish Government has, however, embarked upon a course of procrastination which has given rise to doubts as to the sincerity of its intentions and has even gradually led to a highly regrettable deterioration of the situation.
103.	Although the international community has noted the most recent statements of the Madrid Government, whereby it has undertaken to implement the decisions of the General Assembly, the concerted and common position o* Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania has been clearly express throughout these years, and it cannot be the subject of any misunderstanding: as to the natural interest of these three countries in a peaceful, satisfactory and lasting solution of this problem; as to the need to permit the Sahrawi people to exercise their self-determination and, finally, as to their wish to prevent this problem from degenerating into a source of insecurity in a particularly sensitive area. Stated thus, this position can accommodate any suggestion which would respect its principal elements.
104.	Morocco has just expressed its wish to place this matter before the International Court of Justice. Mauritania, to our pleasure, has agreed to this procedure. Algeria can see nothing but advantage in an arrangement which has been agreed upon by its brothers and allies, a procedure which would clarify the juridical and historical aspects of the problem by means of an opinion of the Court. That procedure will, of course, facilitate the search for a final agreement and will show the way to it. In any case, it goes without saying that the opinion of the population directly concerned will always be the most important element and the decisive factor in any settlement. Algeria's interest would be entirely satisfied if the decolonization of Sahara were to be achieved rapidly, thus enabling all the peoples of the region to strengthen and to promote their ties of co-operation, brotherhood and good neighborliness.
105.	The Palestinian problem, which this year is on the agenda of our session, may seem somewhat strange because of some of its features and the emotional nature of its content. It belongs, in fact, by its origin, its nature and its ramifications, to the same category of problems which we have already mentioned, and which can be defined in simple terms: denial of justice and infringement of the freedom of peoples and their most sacred rights.
106.	The rights of the Palestinian people, its legitimate claims to justice, are being thwarted by a situation of fait accompli, based not on law but on force, a situation which is being perpetrated thanks to uninterrupted aggression and the benevolent complicity of the inter-national community. Ever since this people was driven out of its country, denied its land, stripped of its goods, regrouped in refugee camps or dispersed all over the world, attempts have been made, wittingly or unwittingly, to deprive it of its identity, to deny it its national character and to reduce the scale of its tragedy to the eking out of a wretched daily existence.
107.	How can we be surprised, therefore, that the situation created in this way in Palestine has been rapidly transformed into the Middle East crisis we know, which a quarter of a century of effort has not been able to settle, and which is now attaining such gravity that it is directly threatening peace in Europe and in the world? It is not enough to say in explanation that it is a complicated problem, nor is it enough to seek in history, religion or sociology reasons for the failure in the Middle East of methods of settlement which have proved their worth elsewhere.
108.	It is becoming increasingly obvious now that the problem has only appeared insoluble because no one wanted to understand the central fact, its very core, which is the situation of the Palestinian people. We could even say that the Middle East crisis is the Palestinian problem, because that problem is the source of the crisis, and will determine its outcome. It is time for the United Nations and international public opinion as a whole to recognize at last something we have ceaselessly represented here as axiomatic. The Organization must understand that its duty is not so much to provide humanitarian relief for a people it has allowed to be struck down and dismembered, but to help it to preserve its identity, regain its homeland, and recover from a disaster which almost wiped it off the map.
109.	In approving the inclusion on its agenda of the question of Palestine, the Assembly has taken the first step in that direction, and the debate that is to be held on this subject will, we are sure, make it possible now to deal with the problem of the Middle East within a realistic context, with full awareness of how much clear thinking, courage and sacrifice will be required for a true settlement. But this result will be possible only through a broad and sincere discussion which would involve all interested parties and, of course, first and foremost the Palestinians, through their authentic and best qualified representatives. Thus conceived and carried out, that debate will without doubt represent the most substantial progress that has been achieved since an attempt was first made to seek a solution which would be one in more than name.
110.	The crisis that broke out last July in Cyprus and has since then undergone some dangerous developments is one more of the problems engendered by the Middle East situation. This is a serious crisis, because it affects the independence of a non-aligned country, threatens its sovereignty, and is destroying its national unity. It is also complex because of its international ramifications and the strategic consideration^ involved. I believe that this is not the time for apportioning blame for the events in Cyprus that eventually led to the present situation. There .are more important things to do at this time: firstly, to relieve all the sufferings that have been inflicted upon the people, to contain the conflict and prevent it from worsening, and to explore ways and means of achieving a progressive settlement which would respect the independence of the island and its sovereignty, and create conditions for a restoration of confidence between the two communities on the island.
111.	Initially peaceful coexistence and later, we hope, fraternal coexistence between the Greek and Turkish communities of Cyprus that, when all is said and done, is the essential objective of any attempt to find a true solution. It is only by eventually sharing the same national feelings, by coming to consider themselves the children of the same motherland and placing their loyalty to that motherland above all other allegiances, that the Cypriots will really be able to exercise their sovereignty and spare their country of all threats of division. This, of course, is something that will take a long time to learn, and it is only possible if all sides demonstrate the same sincere will to succeed. Yet the strongest nations have been forged in misfortune and division, and there is no reason to rule out optimism with regard to the communities of Cyprus.
112.	We feel, too, that the contacts taking place between their representatives will be able to overcome present reservations, remedy the errors of the past, and pave the way for the reconciliation of tomorrow. For this it is essential to free Cyprus from its involvement in international strategies and to put an end to foreign intervention from whatever quarter. All foreign troops must be withdrawn and military bases dismantled, in spite of the humanitarian role that they can play in situations like those in which the Cypriot people has just found itself.
113.	Once those initial conditions have been met it will be the task of the two communities to determine what system seems to them the best to guarantee the equality of rights at the present time and to promote the gradual forging of those communities into a single nation. The United Nations has spared no efforts to achieve that result and will undoubtedly have a role of primary importance to play in the restoration of confidence and the encouragement of progress towards a fruitful dialog.
114.	I am sure no one will be surprised at the extreme interest in the situation in Cyprus of the non-aligned group of countries, which could not possibly reconcile themselves to seeing the very existence of one of their members being threatened. The attacks against Cyprus, against its sovereignty and its national unity, is felt by the entire group as an attack against all the non-aligned countries and as jeopardizing the very policy of non-alignment. That is why the non-aligned group has been following so closely the development of the crisis and why it would like to assure the Cypriot people of its total solidarity. It is ready to do anything which would permit the rapid restoration of peace on the island and facilitate agreement between the two communities.
115.	The current disturbances in international economic relations are the best illustration of what I described at the beginning of my statement as a confrontation between an old order clinging desperately to its privileges and a new order wishing to demolish the obsolete structures of the past and establish a scale of values more in keeping with the principles which should govern the modern world. It is there, fundamentally, that lies what some have called "a world economic crisis" and which others would like to limit to what they misleadingly describe as "an energy crisis".
116.	The international economic order which has prevailed hitherto has made possible the extraordinary rise of the industrialized world, facilitated primarily by the availability of raw materials and cheap labor in colonial territories and in the third world generally speaking. That system, originally based upon a similarly serious imbalance in the distribution of wealth, could not but facilitate the enrichment of the most highly developed countries to the detriment of the poorer countries. When the poor countries finally awoken the abuse and, taking their own destinies in hand; wanted to make up their economic lag, under development it began to appear to be a threat to world peace, and world public opinion began suddenly to understand the seriousness of the situation.
117.	To remedy that situation, no doubt important changes should have been made in the international economic system which, by reducing to reasonable limits the advantages of the industrialized countries, would have established a greater measure of justice in the world and given the under-developed countries an opportunity to restore their economies. But that was not the course followed. The rich countries preferred, while preserving their privileges, to respond to the claims of the third world by the granting of aid in various forms.
118.	I shall not dwell on the serious shortcomings of such assistance, which in any case was not always understood or presented as a duty towards those who had been exploited, and which if it had been left to the initiative of individual countries would never have exceeded an extremely low percentage of the national income of the developed countries. The result was that not only was the economic lag of the under-developed countries not reduced but also that their situation became more desperate with each year. To that should be added the difficulties which the economic system of the developed world had begun to experience, difficulties which derived primarily from an unbridled rate of growth in the industrial field, unprecedented waste and fabulous expenditures entailed in the pursuit of imperialist policies.
119.	The world economic crisis in the result of a combination of two phenomena: inflation in industrialized countries, under-development in the rest of the world. The energy crisis has only made more apparent the cracks in the system, but the dimensions of the evil far transcend the mere consequences of a rise in the price of oil.
120.	What is the meaning, then, of all the fuss about the price of oil, to which people are attempting to attribute their current difficulties and on the basis of which a solution is sought? I shall not revert to arguments already put forward here by which it has been amply demonstrated that such assertions are inane. The most dangerous aspect of this maneuver against the petroleum-producing countries is that it attempts, first, to introduce division into the ranks of the countries producing raw materials and, secondly, to discourage any attempts to readjust the prices of r w materials by tying them, particularly, to the prices of industrial products. The surprising insistence on the tragic situation of the poorest countries, and the sympathy which is suddenly being lavished upon them cannot conceal from us the deep-seated motivations which are, in any case, fundamentally selfish, and which underlie this approach.
121.	The seriousness of the troubles today is such that it should encourage all of us to face up to our responsibilities and not to seek a scapegoat for our sins. It we are convinced that it is only by joint efforts that we can rectify the situation, why, then, issue such incongruous warnings and threats and thus make even more difficult any attempt at understanding and co-operation.
122.	It must be that it is easier to find wisdom among the humblest, for it was precisely in the hope of finally seeing the international community embarking upon a course of co-operation that we called for the convening of the special session of the General Assembly on raw materials and development. The primary objective of this meeting was to be, in our view, that of stressing the extent to which the world economic crisis had highlighted the solidarity of the industrialized and the underdeveloped worlds, and the extent to which the prosperity of the rich countries was vulnerable if it remained limited to those countries. Secondly, the debate was intended to bring out the real causes of the crisis and thus to define the precise perspective in which the energy crisis itself should be placed. This was thus a unique opportunity for the third world countries to set forth their problems, claims and suggestions in a new context, and for developed countries, rendered by the trials they themselves were undergoing more sensitive to and more heedful of these complaints, an opportunity to become more keenly alerted to the dangers of underdevelopment.
123.	The work of resolving the crisis could not be confined to finding partial solutions, which, by not calling into question fundamentally the inequalities and disparities inherent in this system, would have only allowed a postponement of the consequences and would have left the situation to get even worse. Courage and clear sightedness demanded that we get to the bottom of things and discover that the roots of the crisis lay in the economic order itself, and that it was by working on the economic order itself that one could really expect to obtain positive results.
124.	This is, in fact, what happened, not without difficulties in the attempt to establish an open and sincere dialog between the developed and the underdeveloped countries, and also not without reservations on the part of the industrialized countries. How-ever that may be, and whatever may be said of this result, it could reasonably be considered as a point of departure along a path which had already been traced, along which there was some ground for hoping that we could make even more progress.
125.	The trends that have recently emerged and that would have us focus all our attention on the energy crisis and on the petroleum-producing countries, are aiming in fact at destroying everything which had been so arduously achieved at the last special session. We do not think that such initiatives, by disturbing the harmony which had begun to establish itself between developed and underdeveloped countries and by propelling them towards a confrontation which would be harmful to the interests of everyone, can really help us to get closer to a rapid, satisfactory solution of the economic crisis. We feel, rather, that we must continue to act within the framework laid down at the special session in the Declaration and the Program of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, and attempt to increase what common ground there is, to overcome differences and to prepare practical measures for the application of that Declaration and Program.
126.	Since the end of the Second World War the world has undergone profound changes in its structure, in its potential and in its environment. What for so long appeared as a remote ideal difficult of attainment is now within our grasp and can be achieved, if only we want to achieve it and are prepared to pay the price. We could then build an entirely new world based upon principles which have, so far, constantly been proclaimed, but which today must be applied and respected. The years we are now passing through are crucial in this process of metamorphosis, in which we see the strengthening and acceleration of trends towards change and renewal. It is no surprise to see the parallel and contrasting development of forces of resistance to this trend which are attempting to preserve and prolong the old order and of the revolutionary forces which want to force the pace of change.
127.	It is up to us, the international community as a whole, whether we want the new world society to be born without confrontation and without violence. It is up to us whether we do not wish it to give way to resentment and rancor which arouse feelings of vengeance and the desire for revenge. To be frank, that has been said by all previous speakers in the general debate, and I cannot better conclude my statement than with the consoling observation that such unanimity represents a hope for the whole of mankind.