15. Mr. President, in the tense international situation of today, your unanimous election as President of the General Assembly is a cause for great satisfaction and for hope. Your judicious and distinguished work in the United Nations has been characterized by a high sense of responsibility, impartiality, dedication to peace and to harmony among nations, a profound knowledge of the Charter and the rules of procedure and a rare gift for finding ways of promoting understanding and reconciliation in moments of stress. These qualities are a guarantee of the success of this session as we confront the grave problems which you so aptly and frankly described in your opening words. It falls to you to continue the outstanding work performed by your predecessor, who conducted our proceedings with deep wisdom and exquisite courtesy during a crisis which appeared insurmountable, thus remaining time to the fine traditions of his great country,
16. I should like to take advantage of this opportunity to pay a tribute to our Secretary-General. For five years It has fallen to him to represent in his person the spirit and the alms of this Organization, and only my respect for his personal reasons prevents me from appealing to him to continue his work at this crucial time in the history of mankind: however, I am confident that his example and counsel will help the United Nations in meeting the immense responsibilities fate has laid upon it,
17. On behalf of the Government of Peru, I should like to welcome Guyana, and I trust that It will always actively co-operate in the defence of peace and international order.
18. Distinguished speakers before me have already commented on the great world issues, and I therefore feel that, speaking for the Government of Peru, I should devote this statement to, and place special emphasis on, one particular subject—namely, the review being made at the international level of the problem of under-development, This problem is one of major interest to the Government of Peru.
19. In 1964, one year after the beginning of President Fernando Belaunde Terry's administration, we gave expression to the desire of the Peruvian people to combat, by legal and democratic means, the great and growing inequality which existed and still exists in my country between the haves and the have-nots. It was the vigorous and legitimate message of a people wishing to see democracy prevail in the economic sphere. We said then and we repeat today that there has to be a strict correspondence between legal equality and economic equality, and between needs and the satisfaction of needs. These are the objectives towards which the efforts of my Government have been directed in recent years; we have been endeavouring to ensure that the legal order in force reflects with absolute accuracy the common interests of the majority, and the steps we have taken to this end are beginning to make themselves felt. There are various ways of changing social and economic structures, and Peru has its own ancient method, borrowed from the Incas, through which we are trying to set our whole economy in motion. This powerful instrument is the general, spontaneous mobilization of the people's energies, which we can now combine with the resources mobilized by State capital within a free enterprise system.
20. It was popular co-operation that made the Empire of the Incas great, and we are drawing on it today in organizing central depots of machinery, equipment and tools which are placed in the hands of people eager for work. Both in the past and now, it is thanks to a splended collective effort that we have been able to construct local roads, aqueducts and school buildings, and to undertake many other public works. In these projects, the State provides only technical advice and materials. It would not have been possible to give so much to the community in such a short time. The record of achievements speaks for itself: of 7,000 projects begun under the programme of Popular Co-operation since 1963, more than 2,800 have been completed. The effects of the modest amounts of public funds invested in these projects have been multiplied three times and more, thanks to the voluntary efforts of the people. That is to say, an investment of only 165 million soles has made possible the completion of projects worth 500 million soles.
21. Popular co-operation still represents only a beginning in the creation of the vast machinery Peru needs for its development, but we are sure that it will gain momentum as the State gradually acquires more resources to speed the work.
22. The r-ew roads represent the first step towards bringing about the physical integration of Peru. For a long time we Peruvians were, in a sense, a people with a Mediterranean mentality. Our principal cities were established," following the Spanish conquest, in the narrow, fertile valleys lying along a desert coast. It was a peripheral country, whose people had forgotten that across the sea from its arid coast there were other peoples and continents and that behind them on the far side of the majestic range of the Andes, itself a treasury of minerals of all kinds, lay the real storehouse with which nature had so generously endowed us. Communications were needed and are still needed to give access to this area, and the Government of my country, bearing in mind the needs of the present and of the immediate future, and preparing us for the irreversible and inevitable process of Latin American integration, is giving priority attention to that matter. In the Peruvian forest region there are other, natural means of communication — the rivers of the Amazon basin — which will have to play a major part in bringing about Latin American integration.
23. Another aspect of our economic and social development to which particular importance is attached by the Government is the strengthening of the agricultural sector. Fifty-one per cent of the population of Peru is engaged in agriculture; it is a high percentage, but it contributes only 17.4 per cent to the national economy. The pressure of population growth, proceeding at an annual rate of 3.02 per cent, exceeds the 2.8 per cent increase in agricultural production. The low man-land ratio in a country with more than 12 million inhabitants and only 2,180,000 hectares of cultivated land is one of the most acute and pressing problems before us. With a view to attacking this problem at its very root and in its many facets, particularly through increasing productivity in the cultivated areas and bringing new land under cultivation, the democratic process of countrywide land reform was begun three years ago. We believe in the efficacy of the means and methods used, for they reflect a new spirit and rely on three factors; a realistic programme, the co-operation of the top strata of society, and the determination of the Peruvian people to carry out this reform. In speaking of the cooperation of the top strata of society, I would point out that the legislation in force in my country provides full guarantees for Peruvian and foreign investors. This principle is upheld today more than ever. Nevertheless, we consider that it is necessary and urgent to introduce reforms in the fields of commercial enterprise and taxation; we have begun to carry out such reforms, without any encroachment on rights or violation of principles, and the results have definitely been positive.
24. In view of the desirability and feasibility of multilateral co-operation to promote a fairer land tenure system in Latin America, the Peruvian Government has, at a number of international gatherings, supported the proposal for international underwriting of bonds issued by States as part of national land reform campaigns. We are counting on the support of other countries and trust that the international financial institutions will continue to devote attention to this proposal.
25. The policies of the Government which I represent in this world body, in promoting economic and social progress, can thus be considered satisfactory. The increase in the national income in 1965 was 8.5 per cent, placing Peru at the head of the Latin American countries. In the domestic sphere, the real gross national product increased by 4.3 per cent, and in the external sphere the foreign currency reserves rose appreciably. The increase in both public and private investment exceeded the previous year's level by 30 per cent, rising to 25 per cent of the gross national product, and the financial policy of my country achieved the objectives of maintaining and protecting the stability of the currency, creating full employment and increasing the sources of production. In spite of all this, however, where international trade is concerned we are not yet satisfied. We continue to battle against under-development, and it is clear that the functioning of our economic structure in the fields of production, exports and trade still retains the basic features of instability and dependence common to the under-developed countries of the world. In 1965, for example, the value of our exports showed an increase of only 1 per cent, less than the average rate for the period 1960-1964, mainly owing to the fall in the international prices of some of our principal export products. This is the tragedy of a mineral-producing country whose primary product economy is subject to the fluctuations of foreign prices and markets and the recurrent deterioration in the terms of trade.
26. In order to avoid such dislocations, Peru has embarked on the process of industrialization. In a free enterprise system, this process takes time, because it is conditional on the requirements and the planning of private enterprise, but in the long run it brings unquestionable rewards. Peru's industrial growth rate in 1965 was 7 per cent, or almost the same as in the two preceding years.
27. We are becoming increasingly convinced, however, that international trade will have to play a preponderant role, particularly if it is aimed at achieving an equitable distribution of the wealth created at the international level. Hence the importance of the efforts of regional organizations and, above all, of the United Nations, and of their declarations, enunciations of principles and programmes of economic, scientific and technical assistance. If, in the past, international trade brought no benefits to most of the developing countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia, it was because the highly industrialized countries converted them into mere supplies of industrial raw materials. A dispassionate analysis of the achievements during that portion of the United Nations Development Decade which has already gone by reveals very modest progress. The gap between industrialized and developing countries, or between rich and poor, continues to widen because of the delay in making trade an instrument for development, a goal proclaimed at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development held at Geneva in 1964. Under-development is still winning the battle, and the great Powers are maintaining the rate of militarization of their economies and diverting to that purpose vast resources which could be devoted to the rapid and systematic development of depressed areas. My Government believes that the World Conference to which I have just referred, besides providing the occasion for a statement of will which is reflected in the principles, declarations and resolutions adopted, was the most important event of this decade, along with the establishment of the United Nations International Development Organization. We trust that the Trade and Development Board, to which we will give our warm support, will begin its work by finding rational formulas which will help us to avoid a confrontation between want and abundance and facilitate the achievement of the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.
28. Peru's position as regards the reorganization of world trade in the interests of development is and has always been clear. It shares the aspirations of the bloc of under-developed countries of Asia and Africa, and, as to methods, it is in agreement with the other Latin American countries. The BogotSL Act, the Punta del Este Charter, the Alta Gracia Charter and the conclusions of the Ad Hoc Committee on Latin American Co-ordination, all documents in whose formulation Peru co-operated actively, reflect the goals of our endeavours at the international level in the fields of international trade and economic integration, and that is why we stress and will continue to stress the urgent need to harmonize the action of the United Nations with that of the organs of the American regional system.
29. Fully conscious of the absolute necessity for the establishment of an autonomous organ for the promotion of industrial development, my Government was one of those which fought most vigorously for the setting up of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
30. The Latin American countries took the initiative at the last session of the Assembly, and, with the support of the other developing countries and the sympathy of the industrialized countries, particularly the United States, a formula was found making possible the establishment of UNIDO, which will be one of the principal instruments of world economic development.
31. Now that five years have elapsed since the Alliance for Progress was set in motion, on the basis of the principles formulated at Punta del Este, it can be seen, from analyses and assessments emanating from various sources, that the programme begun as a result of President Kennedy's generous initiative has failed to acquire the necessary solidity, vigour, and unity of purpose and action to give Latin America that strong impetus for social and economic progress which its development requires.
32. It is argued with good reason, on the one hand, that the assistance received by the Latin American countries is not large enough nor granted under sufficiently flexible conditions taking into account the interests of the recipients. On the other hand, it is also frequently stated that there is not enough determination on the part of Latin American leaders to reform economic and social structures.
33. Without going into a detailed analysis of that last assertion, I would say that it has a very relative degree of truth and is not generally applicable; moreover, it basically begs the question, since it is quite clear that it would be difficult to make a complete transformation of structures without first having adequate assistance and, even more, without fair treatment in fields outside the competence of the Alliance for Progress which are more related to the existing terms of foreign trade in the world. These and other related matters will be dealt with at the meeting of Heads of State of the countries of the Pan-American system, which will be a meeting of the utmost significance.
34. We are aware of the limitations which the principles of the Charter impose on this Organization. The principle of sovereignty emphasizes the fact that no one is entitled to interfere in matters within the exclusive competence of States. The principle of equality rules out any type of action which might have an unfavourable effect on the international personality of any State. All this means that United Nations decisions represent positions the strength of which is the result of the weight of opinion supporting them.
35. I have therefore been charged by my Government to express to this Assembly Its renewed faith in the destinies of the United Nations and in the Principles and Purposes on which the Charter is based and which we constantly practise.
36. In the world of today there are political anxieties which are striving to find expression. They relate, primarily, to the need to defend and confirm the value of the human person at every opportunity. Towards this end there is now a juridical movement aimed at giving form and practical content to the protection of human rights. The culmination of this process will mean the settlement of an old dispute between schools of thought and the establishment of man as a social unit in his rightful place.
37. A part of this creative process has already been achieved. The Paris Declaration of 1948 was supplemented by the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man of the same year, although in fact the American document preceded the other chronologically. The States of the European union have achieved even more tangible progress with the establishment of an international protective jurisdiction. Similar progress is being made within the United Nations and the Organization of American States. All this means that we can view the future with optimism. For the time being, the stage reached in the studies and the specific projects which have been approved shows that the old idea that there were insurmountable obstacles preventing Governments from acting together in such matters, which traditionally lay within their domestic competence, has already been rejected.
38. As is well known, side by side with the formulation and reaffirmation of principles there are certain problems that Influence the behaviour of Governments and direct or determine their international conduct. What the keynote of such problems is will determine whether there will be greater or lesser understanding in the management of affairs of State. It can be said that a characteristic of our age is the threat of crisis, or the periodic crises which impair international relations and create an atmosphere of general Insecurity. If we bear in mind the interdependence of modern life, we may conclude that any threat or unlawful action in any part of the world will inevitably have an unbalancing or disturbing effect in other areas, both because of the wider dissemination of universal ideas and because of the economic consequences that result from their being put into practice.
39. At this point, therefore, I must express our most sincere hope, that the desire of the German people for unity will be realized within the legal framework established by the principle of the self-determination of peoples,
40. There are no problems of broader scope or greater urgency than those affecting peace and security. Included among them are the problems of the economic and social development of the vast under-developed areas of the world, which are the seed from which the worst conflicts spring, because collective security is made up of a whole complex of situations requiring a total solution based on a unitary concept of legal, economic and social security.
41. However, we are still far from such a concept of international order. The unitary concept of peace is jeopardized by the existence of many conflicts to which are applied partial solutions — barely satisfactory even for each specific case — without any universal criterion and without any consideration of the factors of interdependence which make the physical separation of States something relative, or a kind of provisional satisfaction of local needs.
42. I should like to say that the Peruvian Government enthusiastically weLcomed the appeal of His Holiness the Pope for the restoration of peace in Viet-Nam, an appeal which has just been repeated in a most impressive way. The Government of my country is always ready to co-operate to achieve this humanitarian goal.
43. There are still serious problems which are symptoms of the organic disturbance of our age. One of them even affects the future of the human race. I refer specifically to disarmament and the use and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This is a dilemma which is of concern to the whole civilized world. While United Nations efforts are redoubled, certain political factors continue to influence the conduct of the Governments concerned and so far have nullified any decision on nuclear disarmament. Any favourable attitude has to be political; it has to be the result, or the consequence, of an atmosphere of confidence brought about by positive steps to meet the problems dividing the great Powers.
44. My Government and people reject the use of nuclear energy for warlike purposes. This is true of all the Latin American countries which at this very moment are working to bring about an agreement, guaranteed by the major Powers concerned in the use of nuclear energy, to ensure the denuclearization of Latin America through the establishment of appropriate machinery.
45. From what I have said, it is clear that there are great dangers lying In wait for civilization and peace. To eliminate them is the most constructive thing that statesmen can do and policies should be directed toward this end if we consider that it is policies that regulate the ethics of nations. But these are not the only dangers. I am not thinking only of a mental attitude to counter those dangers which loom largest. There are other dangers which threaten nations just as much. There are Indirect factors at work creating political anarchy and subversion in areas where all efforts should be directed toward promoting work and welfare. There have recently been some painful manifestations of the dangers of subversive infiltration, particularly for the peoples of the Americas. For this reason we have defended and we shall defend the principle of non-intervention, which is not, as one writer has observed, a position of isolation but one of security. This position has been one of the great American achievements and is today the keystone of its regional system of law.
46. The American Republics therefore consider it an outstanding triumph of their legal tradition that the formula of non-intervention adopted by this Assembly last year is in line with the broader scope that they give to this principle.
47. Now that this principle is part of positive international law, the sovereignty of States can be maintained within the proper limits of authority. This means that we must recognize that the political independence of States is the first aim of international solidarity, and therefore that the primary restriction that law imposes on States is to refrain from exerting any authority in the territory of another State. It follows that military occupation may not be imposed unilaterally, by the authority of one State, on the territory of another State. All emergency international action must be strictly limited, under the authority of the competent international bodies, in both duration and scope, by the needs which gave rise to it. This concept of respect for the personality of States, and the right of States to develop freely without the intervention or control of any other State, has a special significance at present: the claim that we, the Latin American States, are making for the principle of self-determination and for the right to assistance to counter foreign political activity aimed at disrupting or disturbing the life of our peoples and their idea of competence and authority in domestic affairs.
48. This is a phenomenon which our age has developed to the full as a reflection of the crisis that exists in political and social philosophy. The danger at present resides in the struggle for zones of influence or for the development of a capricious policy of winning over States to particular political and economic doctrines. In view of the methods that are used in this matter, the Governments affected are obliged to increase their vigilance, strengthen their means of defence and, if necessary, resolutely oppose any policy of interference in their domestic affairs.
49. Peru has given its firmest support to the principle of non-intervention and will unswervingly continue to defend world legal order, based on respect for the personality of States — as formed by the self- determination of peoples — and on faithful compliance with the obligations flowing from international treaties, an unalterable legal order which is laid down in the Charter of the United Nations and supported by the Organization of American States. Peru takes pride in the fact that its territory comprises not an inch more than was included in its original Constitution, a sacred and Inviolable achievement of the emancipation movement.
50. I should like to place special emphasis on the rightful value which is now being placed in international circles on science and technology as factors with a basic effect on the progress of the developing countries.
51. I should stress the advisability of ensuring that the developing countries receive the benefits of the continued and astounding advances of science and technology, not individually but as groups of countries, associated regionally or sub-regionally, due regard being paid, in addition, to the sectoral criteria relating to their application.
52. It is obvious that, both regionally and sub- regionally, groups of countries offer the best opportunities both for the establishment of joint institutions and for the planned interchange of scientists and technicians, many of whom at present emigrate to highly developed countries. Moreover, the application of science and technology often encounters serious obstacles when methods appropriate to highly developed regions are adapted for economically and socially depressed areas.
53. In this way groups or sub-groups of countries could have vast opportunities available to them, ranging from the field of pure research — which is inseparable from balanced scientific progress — to the most specialized of technological fields.
54. All this is of particular significance for Latin America, a region in which the exploitation of natural resources offers enormous prospects but also requires a corresponding amount of properly co-ordinated effort to carry out the necessary evaluation and study of those resources.
55. I have in mind in this connexion the case of South America, which has chosen to set up its development nuclei on its periphery, still leaving the centre of the subcontinent insufficiently developed, an area which comprises most of the eastern slopes of the Andes, which has vast resources and a dry tropical climate, and which is one of the areas with the greatest future in the world.
56. There is one other thing which Is worthy of mention. The bodies of what is called the Pan-American system are always speaking In favour of the integration of the Latin American countries, a process which would require appropriate scientific and technological assistance.
57. There are two groups of countries in Latin America which are carrying out separate forms of integration, which can of course be harmonized, and both groups have attained sufficient maturity to be able to make constructive use of the scientific and technological assistance they need.
58. All the goals I have described will be achieved only to the extent that nations have enough vision and imagination to do what has to be done in close co-operation. It is to be hoped that international organizations will play the predominant role in bringing this about, particularly in the scientific and technological fields.
59. The constant growth and ever-increasing complexity of international organizations makes it advisable to review the existing means of co-ordinating their activities and thus preventing duplication of effort and the wastage of resources which are so scanty compared with the needs of a world which is overwhelmed by the problems of the developing countries.
60. There are difficult problems which require solutions proportionate to their size, such as the creation of new bodies, the increase in the activities and programmes of existing bodies, the proposed reorganization of the field services of some specialized agencies, together with the budgetary problems of regional offices and other similar problems that this entails.
61. The efficiency and the efforts of the Secretary-General and the specialized agencies in carrying out the directives of both the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council are well known, but perhaps the time has come to provide a more centralized and more comprehensive institutional framework with greater powers for the bodies which are responsible for co-ordination.
62. This should not be confined to improving coordination among the various organs and bodies of the United Nations system. It is necessary to improve co-ordination with international bodies outside the system, especially with such regional bodies as the Organization of American States.
63. In connexion with this question of co-ordination, I should like to recall the eloquent appeal made a few months ago by the Director-General of UNESCO that the assistance given by certain countries to others should be brought more into line with the programmes undertaken in similar fields by the specialized agencies of the United Nations.
64. I shall conclude by stating in this Assembly that my Government is certain that the United Nations will continue to fulfil its lofty purposes. This is the best wish that we can express. It is the hope of our peoples as expressed in the public forum of international opinion. The Government of Peru resolutely maintains its support for the Charter of the United Nations and is a standard bearer for the policy of international peace and harmony. Here, in the organs of the UnitedNations, the representatives of my country have always struck a note of solidarity and conciliation in the heated discussions. We have always supported the rule of justice, for we consider it the supreme factor in any scale of human values. Whatever crises the United Nations may have to pass through should be viewed as so many steps along the long road still to be travelled towards the distant goals which are sought for the sake of all mankind.