Mr. President, the profound satisfaction felt by your friends from South America on your election to the Presidency of the General Assembly at its eighteenth session is explained and justified by the fund of experience you have acquired during five consecutive years of active participation in the work of the United Nations, in its Committees and other organs, and as Chairman of the Latin American group. I am convinced that you will bring to your new and highly responsible office the knowledge, wisdom, objectivity and impartiality, accompanied by courtesy and a rare distinction, which have so happily characterized your career as a diplomat.
2. The international scene, prior to the opening of this session, has been marked by events of many kinds. Following them on a map of the world, we can journey, as it were, at little cost, through almost every continent, merely by reading the enlightening comments which are provided daily by the Press of the free world. Whether we like it or not, these great events, no matter where they may break out or become apparent, cannot fail to affect us. The world is no longer what it used to be. The expressions "old continent" and "new continent", which used to indicate everything that separated the men of two civilizations, are obsolete formulas which have gone out of use.
3. The isolationism of the period of Monroe, Adams, Grant and Polk is now merely a page of ancient history which it may be useful to read again for spiritual satisfaction and enjoyment, but which the demands of science and politics with their implications and consequences, relegated long since to its rightful place in the great museums which form the treasure houses of this century and where the ancient divinities of a time long past also have their place.
4. The world now forms a single entity and, whatever may be our status in this great universe, we are but part of that same whole. As a result of the tremendous new developments which can put an end to man's existence yet symbolize his material power, peoples and continents now form but one great family. For that reason anything that disturbs or upsets anyone of us, or even merely alters our way of life, cannot be regarded by the others as an ordinary occurrence which can soon be forgotten as our lives go on.
5. It is therefore our duty to study such occurrences, to try to understand them and to sift the facts. I realize that it is not always an easy task to interpret, not the thoughts, but the feelings of others, for feelings are not unaffected by subtle remnants of hereditary and ancestral legacies which reflect the very depths of the human soul and the profound differences between races.
6. The great tragedy of human misunderstanding is that the achievement of greater mutual comprehension and knowledge remains the most difficult of human problems, notwithstanding the great mingling of peoples which is taking place at the United Nations. The philosopher's well-known saying "know thyself" is as valid as ever when we try to find an explanation for the evasions of some and the differences in the points of view of others.
7. Yet, sharing as we do in the great reforms which ideas are bringing to our way of life, we suffer or accept, as the case may be, the effects of a joint liability which, depending on circumstances, makes each one of us the servant, the defender or the grave-digger of this civilization.
8. For all these reasons, the momentous events on the international scene are just as significant for us as the everyday incidents which occur within our frontiers. If they are to be properly understood, however, they must be analysed in the light of the physical and human environment which shaped them. Such analysis, which is a particularly gratifying pursuit, enables us to follow the important developments on the screen of international life, not as dilettantes, but rather as scientists, driven by that curiosity which characterizes the human spirit.
9. Striking opportunities for such analysis were provided by the Nassau talks of December 1962, which were of such vital interest to us all; the creation of a multilateral force, which also gave rise to the legitimate but belated desire for a national deterrent; the differences caused by the closed-door policy of the European Economic Community; and, finally, that great European event, the Franco-German Treaty.
10. In Africa, in the Middle East and in Asia, events of equal importance have been taking place.
11. In the case of Africa, a part from the changes being made in the structure of many Governments in order better to adapt them to human environmental conditions, I shall refer only to the most important international event, the signature of the association agreement linking eighteen French-speaking African States with the Common Market. The economic significance of that event cannot be over-emphasized. We wish that experiment every success, for it is our firm belief that the agreement carries within it a new seed of fruitful co-operation between industrial and agricultural countries, which we should like to see used as a model by other nations.
12. The most important event, however, which indicated a realization of the role which the black continent is called upon to play in international affairs, was the success of the Addis Ababa Conference, which produced the Charter of the Organization of African Unity signed by thirty-two Heads of State of the black continent,
13. The Conference held at San José, Costa Rica, in March 1963 was also one which was much talked about, but the veil of oblivion soon relegated it to the shadows when, to the great surprise of many, it was eclipsed shortly afterwards by sudden changes of Government and the grave events which threatened to spark the powder keg which some are seeking to make of the Caribbean.
14. In the United States of America the question of racial segregation has developed all the aspects of a thorny social problem, causing the United States leaders real concern. It must be recognized, however, that it is a problem which they are boldly seeking to remedy. In the country which the great Abraham Lincoln wished to present to the world as a model of liberty and equality for all, regardless of colour, the black American has shown, in his peaceful yet tenacious struggle to put an end to ancient and degrading prejudices, a sense of the great virtues of moderation and dignity which do credit to the human race.
15. The Middle East, too, has shown its vitality in the dynamic action of its worthy sons, seeking, with that faith which moves mountains, to realize their dream of building a united Arab world,
16. In Asia, family quarrels still leave the painful impression of an eternally disputed inheritance, aggravated by the existence of different political and social beliefs and recently made even more serious by new and deep divergencies which relate to a purely dogmatic controversy.
17. All these events led to intense diplomatic activity in the great political capitals, where official visits, conferences and meetings of the most important international personalities took place. More often than we would have wished, the Security Council, which is entrusted with the maintenance of peace, had to meet and consider, with all the firm authority delegated to it, the problems which were placed before it.
18. Dominating all these chapters in the history of the world of today, a disturbed and anxious world as these burning issues clearly show, a great figure of Christendom, His Holiness John XXIII, addressed to the world his encyclical Pacem in Terris, that great message of Christian faith carrying a warmth of human feeling that penetrated the conscience of all mankind. On his bed of pain, he offered his life that a greater spirit of understanding and tolerance should reign among men. Then, one morning in June 1963, he made the great Journey, to take to the Almighty the message of supplication of men of goodwill that peace might finally reign on earth. Speaking as I am to men who carry within them that miraculous spiritual leaven of faith, I cannot ignore this strange coincidence or fail to associate the present great relaxation of international tension with the promise of the aged and illustrious Vatican leader that he would always be our advocate in the other world in pleading for peace to be made a reality here on earth.
19. In this Organization we have all been working for that for years, but, in all honesty, have we ever felt that our efforts have achieved anything? Have we ever been satisfied with all these summit and lower-level conferences? Of course, there have been times when the horizon seemed a little more serene, but alas, it was soon piled with the heavy clouds which are the forerunners of a storm.
20. The Moscow Treaty is certainly the outcome of the efforts made by our envoys in Geneva, but, because of the new spirit of understanding with which it is imbued, it is also the embodiment of something higher, which some find puzzling but which those who believe in spiritual values feel to be more strongly tinged with spirituality, an expression of the mystery surrounding everything which confounds our logic. Of course, at the diplomatic level and in the field of international law, the Moscow Treaty is just another instrument, as fragile and subject to the imponderables of life as any other. Nevertheless, it is permeated by a new spirit, which is shown, not by the eagerness with which nearly all States —a hundred already— have acceded to it, but by the encouraging changes we can see in the new political trend. The scepticism which is so often cherished in the hearts of men will for some time to come take the form of mistrust, expressed in catchwords about "responsibility" and "sovereignty", but that cannot blind us to the rapprochements which are taking place, for the light of human reason is prevailing more and more over vanity and pride.
21. As has been said before, the spirit of Moscow is the expression of a desire not to stop half-way, a desire to continue the dialogue so that a moral disarmament may finally induce men to repair their past errors. Never, since the San Francisco Conference, have we felt so strongly as now that the ship of mankind is sailing on an ocean with the barometer at "set fair". This is clear from the tone of the different speakers. Only recently we heard President Kennedy [1209th meeting], in a speech from this rostrum in which the purity and elegance of style were matched by the depth of thought, give quite an optimistic outline of his Government's views. Mr. Gromyko, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist republics, in his closely reasoned statement [1208th meeting], also spoke with the voice of lucidity and reason, rising above the old dissensions of other days.
22. How, then, can we doubt that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development will open under happy auspices if we persevere on the right road of moral disarmament? It is high time to give the grave problems of international trade the serious attention they deserve. We have been hypnotized and disquieted for too long by the fearful destructive power of nuclear weapons which, together with radio-active fallout, have appeared to be our only major anxieties for the time being. Thus, we have failed to see that underdevelopment kills nearly as many people as would a hurricane moving through the Caribbean, Central America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. This simple illustration, based on statistics, shows that two thirds of the world suffer from the most horrible disease there is, the cruellest that can trouble our consciences —poverty, with all its concomitant privations— in a world in which the standard of comfort has risen so high.
23. Poverty has its causes, of course, but when they are scrutinized under the microscope, they are seen to come to a surprising extent from outside and are the disastrous consequences of economic factors. That is why, paradoxically enough, the regions strongly affected by this frightful evil of our century comprise countries which, to use economic terms, are potentially rich in human and natural resources, possessing the principal factors which help to create wealth: nature and man.
24. It can be said that, to some extent, the primary factors which produce wealth have been distributed fairly equitably, on the basis of a division of labour, a sort of specialization based on the economic vocation of each country. In this order, laid down, as it were, by destiny, the countries of the world are divided into countries with an essentially agricultural vocation and countries with an essentially industrial vocation, but there are no grounds in assuming that one group is entitled to exploit the other. The role of international trade is to enable each country to develop and follow its economic vocation in an atmosphere of freedom and mutual aid by linking employment, production and consumption, with the certainty that their growth will mean more employment opportunities, the production of much more wealth, the availability of many more consumer goods. In reality, the world is suffering not so much from a lack of resources as from man's failure to make full use of his productive potential with the result that capital is only partly applied to the development of natural resources. The economic stagnation with which many countries are plagued, and which is the cause of the crisis, is nothing but the result of this lack of co-operation between the possessors of the different means and factors of production. Hence the economic system, whose organs must function normally if it is to be healthy, is also afflicted by disease, caused by the restrictions we have mentioned, which occur when moral principle gives way to selfishness. That is why some people maintain that man originally came into a world rich in potentialities —with slight differences of degree, of course— and that poverty and misery, which are often United with the invisible and maleficent workings of economic factors, are the outcome of human actions, the real causes of which are external rather than internal.
25. All the restrictions imposed on international trade by the policy of the protectionists, who have used every weapon in their power, from dumping, through preferential tariffs, to exchange control and policy, have therefore helped to constrict the flow of trade. And so the whole system of price, profit and production has been thrown out of kilter. It is paradoxical that the depression in the agricultural sector is all the more striking in comparison with the soaring prices in the industrial sector. The price curve gives the clear impression that constant expansion is imposed on industry by an inflationary economic policy, whereas agriculture is struggling in the grip of deflation. Industry seems to be functioning under the conditions of a war economy —with high salaries and high prices— and agriculture under the conditions of a peace economy —with diminishing or stationary incomes and prices. When trade is carried on in such circumstances, that is to say, buying at high prices and selling at low ones, it is almost inevitable that such an imbalance will result in a depletion of the foreign exchange reserves and a balance of payments deficit in the countries which are forced to buy their supplies at high prices.
26. From the point of view of pure economic theory, however, there should be no such paradox, if we recall the working of economic laws. Indeed, the depression in agriculture should normally affect the industrial sector also, and progressively drag it downwards. If one works for the other the shrinkage of demand in the agricultural sector, caused by the collapse of the prices of primary products, should stop expansion in the other.
27. Since, however, what is happening is the contrary, we are faced with a fact that apparently invalidates all the laws of economics. This paradox is explained by the fact that the sharp rise in prices in the industrial sector is partly and indirectly supported by the armaments race and its economic repercussions. As we all know, year in, year out, the world spends about $120,000 million on keeping its arsenal of destruction weapons up to date. In this sector of industry, which is one of the most powerful, the prices are monopoly prices. There is no bargaining, partly because the State is always a most generous customer, but mainly because the question of the relation of the purchasing price to the selling price does not arise. In this field no one is seeking profit, no one is worried about expense; it will all come out of the taxes. In the industrial sector, therefore, it is the constantly heavy demand for raw materials and labour —a demand supported by the armaments race— that determines the prices on the market, and all those who buy from this source must follow these prices, because of the single price system, which the trade unions have every reason to defend.
28. These are the reasons for this paradox in our economy which causes the collapse in the prices of coffee, cotton, sisal, citrus fruit and all primary products, while there is a steady and sharp rise in the prices of manufactured products. It is not surprising therefore, that when there is such a fundamental distortion of the problem, technical and financial assistance produces much less than the results expected of it. For what, we may ask, is the good of making an effort when it is not justly rewarded? And how can the producer be justly rewarded when prices are so low? In our system, no one is interested in production when there is no profit to be made. Where incomes are low, there can be no capital formation; as a result, there is little or no Investment and no social progress, any population Increase becomes an evil and the economy lapses into a deplorable state of stagnation.
29. Let me ask any man or woman among my listeners who has chosen the fine and noble profession of forming public opinion the following question: when the real causes of poverty are clearly stated like this, can we take it lightly, or should we not rather take it as an occasion for searching our souls? Let me put another question to the great and powerful of this world, who have never been more conscious of their noble duty to help others or more anxious to fulfil it: will your help reflect just a passing impulse of sympathy, or will it rise to nobler heights and become an alliance for progress, designed to restore the dignity of man by restoring the value of his goods and services? We cannot develop and stabilize the economy any more than we can cure the social evil just by feeding a few more poor people; the only solution is to enable men to improve their lot by their own efforts and in a way which is consonant with human dignity, that is to say, by paying them a fair price for their goods and services, and thus ultimately ensuring the repayment of any credit facilities that may be extended to them.
30. The reason that I have devoted the major part of my statement to this question is that I have been thinking of all those who are facing these terrible problems. It is only natural that the picture of my own poor country, Haiti, which has been constantly before my eyes while I have been saying all this, has given me the voice of my countrymen, who are grieved at being so deeply misunderstood. While outlining all these difficulties and disappointments and unfulfilled expectations, I have had my finger on the pulse of the Haitian. I know of no misfortunes more moving than his; no one has greater courage in adversity; nor do I know of any people so dogged by misfortune, for now, on top of all their other bad luck, they have had a frightful disaster, which has destroyed their crops, devastated their towns and villages, ruined what was already a poor agricultural economy and spread sorrow and desolation throughout a country already beset with evils. From this rostrum, I should like, first of all, to thank U Thant, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the many friendly delegations who in these painful circumstances have expressed their profound sympathy to the Haiti an people and Government and to their representative to the United Nations.
31. This is for us —I cannot find strong enough words to express it— a terrible disaster and a new ordeal, but it will not prevent us from raising our voice in the United Nations whenever there is an injustice to be remedied or a principle to be defended. We shall therefore press more strongly than ever this year for an increase in the number of seats in the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, so as to enable the young States of Africa and Asia to take an active part in the discussion of the big political and economic problems. There is an atmosphere of great enthusiasm and if this is not entirely illusory we should be able to decide unanimously to review the Charter, with a view to meeting the legitimate desire of the African peoples for representation on both Councils.
32. The world is certainly on the right road now. We feel, too, that the questions of Portugal and of South Africa will be solved before long in accordance with the principles of self-determination and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
33. We have outlined the major problems facing the United Nations and we have greater confidence than ever in the Organization, as also in the man who is directing it with such a sure hand. Much has already been achieved under his administration, and I should be doing less than my duty if I did not mention, besides the crisis in the Caribbean, the question of the unity of the Congo, which bears the stamp of his wisdom and handiwork. He has done well, and he cannot escape the congratulations he deserves.