211. My delegation is very glad that Mr. Pazhwak of Afghanistan is now occupying the highest office in the General Assembly, and it regards his election as a tribute to his great personal qualities. Furthermore, knowing him as we do after years of friendly relations, we are sure he is the right man to bring our deliberations to a successful conclusion. We also know that, when we come to the end of this session, his name will be added to the list of those who, like his predecessor, Mr. Fanfani, and other illustrious men, have earned our gratitude for the valuable services they have rendered to the cause of international peace and security. With these words, and with a solemn promise of our unconditional cooperation, we welcome his election.
212. Once again, the General Assembly is resuming its work in international circumstances which are overcast with ominous clouds. However regrettable it may be, we are obliged to note that potentially explosive situations remain unresolved in various parts of the world. In the southern part of Africa, the most negative forms of racial discrimination still persist, and the repeated appeals by the United Nations for the abolition of this discrimination are being blatantly ignored. In South-East Asia, the war which is tearing Viet-Nam asunder and reducing it to ashes is increasing in intensity. In various continents there are peoples who, in spite of their own unremitting struggle and our collective efforts, are still waiting for the day when they become masters of their own sovereign destinies.
213. And the developing countries like yours, Mr. President, and like mine, and like the vast majority of countries which belong to this Organization, are still struggling day after day, with stubborn perseverance, to bring nearer the day when our peoples will be able to make a substantial improvement in their standard of living, and to secure justice in the distribution of wealth, which even today a few peoples possess to excess while many peoples have too little. As we survey this discouraging scene, we should at the same time like to try to extract from the repeated postponements of our most cherished aspirations, and from our manifold frustrations, some tonic which will flourish our hopes and give us grounds for optimism.
214. The agenda for this session contains about a hundred items of a diversity and complexity which reflect the urgency of the problems that our countries are facing, both individually and in their collective efforts. I have briefly mentioned only a few of these problems, and merely by way of illustration. When in this General Assembly, or in the various Committees, we come to consider each of these items in detail, our views will differ and will frequently conflict. But that should not discourage us — and of course it does not discourage us. On the contrary, the success of this or of any other session, and also the very fate of our Organization and of its efforts to create the better world which we all desire will depend, in the last analysis, on the confrontation of our ideas and viewpoints, on the presentation in constructive dialogue of the different historical, political and philosophical interests we represent, and on our ability to strike a proper balance between our differing views.
215. A task of this magnitude is not easy, nor can we necessarily expect positive results. We are fighting against tremendous difficulties which are due, it seems, to what a famous author has described as the serious imbalance that exists in our era and in our time between the remarkable progress of science and technology — the benefits of which, I might add, are enjoyed only by a few peoples — and the slow legal, political and moral development of mankind, the slow rate of development in this case operating particularly to the disadvantage of the peoples of the developing countries.
216. For these reasons, and in these circumstances, we have an unquestionable right and an inescapable duty to combine our efforts to establish the universal rule of justice without restrictions, to safeguard and defend the dignity of every human being, to apply without restriction the principle of the sovereign equality of States, and to ensure the full enforcement and respect of international law which is continually being developed and brought into line with the realities of the present-day world.
217. I know that I am talking for a small country, and I realize that, because of this, my voice on its own is weak, as are other voices like mine in this hall. But, when weak voices join together, they become an outcry, and an outcry can be heard.
218. In the few States which possess nuclear weapons there is a concentration of terrifying potential destructive power. If one bears in mind that, ever since the day when the flames of the Second World War were extinguished, we have been living under the threat of a third conflagration which would be the final holocaust for the human race, it is easy to see why the problems relating to the proliferation of nuclear weapons must be given undisputed priority. We know, of course, that several other States have the potential resources for manufacturing these weapons, provided that they are ready to make the huge financial and other sacrifices involved and provided, of course, that they are prepared to defer other more urgent aspirations of their peoples. I must say that in this respect I was impressed by the remarks made in this hall a few days ago by Mr. Aiken, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland, when he was referring to the possibilities to which I have mentioned, and I quote:
"For their own safety and prosperity and for the peace and prosperity of the world, it would be better if the potential nuclear States firmly made up their minds to seek their security and prestige in improving the lives of their own peoples and those of their poorer neighbours throughout the world and in helping to build up reliable and effective United Nations conciliation and peace-keeping procedures." [1434th meeting, para. 5.]
219. As time is already running out, the voices of reason must speak out more forcefully to safeguard what is the common heritage of the human race. Scarcely a year ago, here before this Assembly [1347th meeting], the purest voice of all rose above our own weak voices and brought us a message of love and peace in the words of the supreme Pontiff, Pope Paul VI — words which shook the conscience of the world. For our own good, lot us bear his message in mind, and above all, let us practise his teachings.
220. With regard to efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the Latin American States, including of course my own country, are at present endeavouring to bring about the denuclearization of the region by means of a treaty. This treaty has become a reality, as we expect it will, Latin America will have given an encouraging example of what can be achieved if the collective will is placed in the service of a cause which transcends merely regional frontiers and takes on universal moaning.
221. I said earlier that the war in Viet-Nam is having an effect on this Assembly, which itself reflects the anguish of the world. There are few events which would be welcomed as much as a cessation of this bloody struggle; and the search for formulas to restore peace in the region must be continued unremittingly, even though all previous efforts have been frustrated. In this connexion, scarcely two weeks ago in this very hall [1412th meeting] the United States representative made some proposals which are designed to remove the conflict from the bloody field of battle to the bloodless level of peace negotiations. Since those proposals were put forward, we have heard several comments, many in favour, some against. Of the letter, some were designed to cast doubt on the sincerity of the proposals. We are not satisfied with judgements of this kind, because we believe that the only positive way to discover the true nature of the proposals, which we ourselves regard as sincere, is to put them to the test. Until this happens, and until those who can and should assess the proposals have dime so, there is no good reason for describing them in advance as disingenuous.
222. In the slow legal, political and moral development which I mentioned earlier, and in the efforts to accelerate it, the United Nations is playing a constant and major role in establishing legal principles governing international co-existence. Some of the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly have already become historic documents. I am thinking, to mention only two examples, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
223. More recently, during the twentieth session of the General Assembly, those important declarations were followed by another. I am referring to General Assembly resolution 2131 (XX) — that is, the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty. My delegation, which is proud to have co-sponsored the draft that the Assembly adopted as a resolution, is happy to note that our agenda includes an item dealing with the status of the implementation of this Declaration. Violations of the principles and norms contained in the Declaration should be the subject of constant consideration by the Assembly; and in this connexion the events of January 1905, which were the subject of a joint submission to the Security Council by the representatives of Latin American States, will certainly be mentioned by us during the debate on this item in the First Committee.
224. I also referred, in my brief review of problems at the beginning of my statement, to the struggles and appeals of tho developing peoples for true justice in tin distribution of wealth. In the interest of all, our world can not go on presenting tho sorry spectacle of a few peoples enjoying all its wealth while many others — tho vast majority — are struggling against poverty and often even against complete destitution. The peoples who are dependent on agricultural economies, the producers of primary commodities and raw materials — those are tho ones who are suffering all the adverse effects of the imbalance inherent in an unfair system of trade which must not be allowed to continue. From this very rostrum, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of my country said two years ago that the result of this system of trade:
"... has been and will continue to be a widening of the gap between the developed and the underdeveloped countries; and although political colonialism may be on its last legs, the economic colonialism applied to countries with an agricultural economy will remain unless the present conditions for the production and export of agricultural commodities are radically changed" [1297th meeting, para. 122].
The same is true of countries which export other raw materials.
225. I have quoted these comments, which are still relevant today, in connexion with the efforts made by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to correct this situation. The results of its efforts have so far been modest, just like the results achieved at the mid-point of the United Nations Development Decade. There will soon be a further opportunity at the Second Conference on Trade and Development, to be held in 1937 — a further opportunity for the industrialized countries as a group to pay due regard to our legitimate demands.
226. These States have an inescapable duty to help in securing justice in the distribution of wealth, not merely because right is on our side, but in order to safeguard their own interests in a world which is becoming increasingly interdependent, both economically and socially.
227. Here I should like to thank the representatives of the so-called Group of Seventy-Seven in the Trade and Development Hoard for their intense and constant efforts on behalf of all members of the Group.
228. With the same sense of appreciation, I should like to say that my country attaches great value to the manifold efforts being made by the United Nations to bring progressive industrialization to our developing countries, and I want to express our gratitude for the positive effects at the national level of UNDP projects and assistance, and for the co-operation displayed by the specialized agencies.
229. My delegation has said more than once, without boasting but and without false modesty, that we consider it an honour — and indeed a credit to our tradition in the United Nations — that in all the years of our Organization's existence, the General Assembly has never had to deal with specific items relating to problems peculiar to my country. The doors are crossed the threshold. This does not mean that we do not have problems but rather that, in accordance with our own convictions, we first try to find appropriate solutions by direct negotiation. On the other hand, in eases where questions of principle or questions of general interest, are at stake, or where the particular rights and interests coincide with the rights and interests of other Member States, we have never been, and shall never be, found wanting. We have also taken it upon ourselves to keep the General Assembly informed, year after year, about my country's constant progress and advancement.
230. We are participating with sincerity and conviction in the work leading up to the regional integration of the economies of a sizable group of countries which are united in a free trade zone, and in this we are following the line of action that leads from the national to the regional and thence to the universal. Furthermore, inside our own frontiers, we are now working on an additional task with an eye to the future.
231. Realizing that the scarcity, if not the total lack, of communication would impose restrictions on this integration effort, Paraguay, under a dynamic and enterprising Government and despite its limited financial means, has used and is using a considerable proportion of its resources for constructing and extending its roads, which already run from tho western frontier with Bolivia to the eastern frontier with Brazil and the southern frontier with Argentina. In a country which until recently did not have any paved highways, this national effort Is of considerable magnitude. As well as bringing new areas effectively into the national economy, those roads — many of which are all-weather highways — link up with the roads of our friends and neighbours. Our plan is that these roads will in the near future be like proverbial arms linking our brothers of the Pacific Coast to our brothers of the Atlantic Coast across the territory of Paraguay.
232. My country is one of the only two countries in America which have to deal not only with the problems peculiar to developing States, or countries which are in a state of relative economic development, but also with the problems arising from their position as landlocked countries. As such it has fought and is still fighting with unshakable determination to establish definitive principles of international law which will in justice and equity give all countries like mine — and like the countries of the President of the General Assembly — the right of free and unrestricted transit across tho territories of coastal States. A famous Afghan has said that the international trade problems of land-locked countries are enormous and that the fact of being land-looked never changes although the problems may differ from time to time and from region to region.
233. Furthermore, in relations between a landlocked State and a maritime neighbour, tho general rule is that the former is the weaker partner, not only because of its disadvantageous geographical position — the fact that it is far from the sea, from the resources of the sea and from the major international markets — but also in terms of the respective population figures for each country, the areas they cover and their economic and political power.
234. True to our own national destiny and to the solidarity we owe to those who are in a similar situation, we insist that these rights of transit — and particularly and especially the freedom of navigation on international rivers flowing to the sea — shall be granted without unfair restrictions.
235. In a speech delivered on 30 September 1905 to this Assembly during the twentieth regular session [1344th meeting] the Minister for Foreign Affairs of my country, Professor Radi Sapena Pastor, mentioned the obstacles to freedom of navigation on the international rivers which are Paraguay's only water link with the sea. These difficulties are the result of the fact that ships flying the Paraguayan flag are subject to discriminatory treatment which is much more onerous than the more favourable treatment accorded to powerful nations which have extensive seaboards.
236. On that occasion, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of my country recalled that on the river Parand, an international river flowing through Paraguay and constituting its only water link with the sea, ships flying the Paraguayan flag have to comply with certain requirements — through the exercise of sovereign jurisdictional power — which infringe upon the principle of freedom of navigation. Since then, bilateral and multilateral efforts have been made to regularize the commercial exploitation of international rivers.
237. The Second Special Inter-American Conference, held at Rio do Janeiro from 17 to 30 November 1965, unanimously adopted resolution 10 by which it decided to convene an inter-American conference of specialists to examine matters relating to the commercial use of international rivers and lakes, to make appropriate recommendations and possibly to sign one or several international instruments which would contain general principles on the matter. In addition, the conference was asked to examine matters relating to the use of international rivers and lakes for agricultural and industrial purposes.
238. Furthermore, in bilateral negotiations with the Argentine Republic progress has been made towards reaching an agreement which would solve the problem. We are confident that this matter will be solved very shortly in the spirit of brotherhood and co-operation which has always characterized our relations with Argentina.
239. As another example, I should like to mention a very important event in the development of our relations with our neighbour, the United States of Brazil. This began with a border problem and the tempers of both our peoples were aroused; but the episode ended happily in the spirit of goodwill and harmony which is characteristic of the bonds between us. As a consequence, results were achieved which were compatible with the interests of both nations; and the traditional friendship both brother peoples — a friendship based on mutual respect which constitutes the indestructible foundation of relations between our two countries — was reaffirmed.
240. On 21 and 22 June 1966 the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Paraguay and Brazil met at the frontier towns of Puerto Presidente Stroessner, Paraguay, and Foz do Iguayu, Brazil, to review various aspects of relations Lie tween our two countries and, in particular, those aspects on which differences of opinion had arisen.
241. As a result of these cordial talks, both Foreign Ministers declared that their respective Governments were ready to proceed, by common accord, to study and evaluate the economic potential, in particular the water resources potential, of the Salto del Guaira, or Salto Grande do las Siete Caidas, which belongs in condominium to both countries.
242. Furthermore, they agreed that henceforth any electric power produced from waterheads on the Pa rand River from and including the Salto del Guaira, or Salto Grande de las Siete Caidas, to the mouth of the Iguazu River, will be shared equally between the two countries, on the understanding that each country will have preferential rights to acquire any of the power not used to meet the consumer needs of the other country at a fair price, to be determined, as appropriate, by specialists from both countries.
243. With respect to the work of the Joint Commission on the limits and definition of the frontier between Paraguay and Brazil, both Foreign Ministers agreed that the work will tie resumed on a date to be decided by the two Governments. This, together with the Brazilian Government's decision to withdraw a Brazilian military detachment — its decision was communicated in a memorandum to which my country will reply in a note expressing its satisfaction — may serve as an example to the whole world on ways of seeking solutions to problems which arise in relations between peoples, and as a pledge of the growing and fraternal union between Paraguay and Brazil.
244. I have only a few more points to mention. First, I should like to say how glad my country is that Guyana has joined the community of free, sovereign and independent nations, and we welcome its admission to the United Nations. To its representatives in the General Assembly we would offer our frank and friendly cooperation together with our most cordial greetings. At the same time, we should like to welcome the accession to independence of two new countries in Africa, and we are glad that Indonesia has resumed full participation in our common tasks in the General Assembly.
245. In conclusion, I should like to refer to a statement made by the Secretary-General on 1 September 1966, in which he informed an astonished audience throughout the world the f he had decided not to offer his services for a second term. In the letter which I wrote to him on the same day, I told him that my country greatly appreciated his constant devotion to the ideals of the United Nations, his unremitting efforts in the cause of international peace and security and his concern for the promotion of higher standards of living for the great majority of the developing peoples, all of which — I added — had earned him admiration and respect because of his personal qualities as a world figure. Shortly afterwards, I had the privilege to be a member of the committee of representatives appointed by Latin America to request him to reconsider his decision. Now, from this rostrum, and on behalf of my country, once again and with respect, I repeat that appeal.