1. My first words are addressed to Mr. Maza, the leader of the Chilean delegation, in recognition of the high honour conferred on him and his most worthy country by his election as President of the tenth session of the 'General Assembly. His election is a tribute to the outstanding position of the Republic of Chile in the world of democracy, and is an acknowledgment of the esteem in which the world holds a country which is truly democratic; at the same time, it is a tribute to his own great qualities and the outstanding services he has rendered to the United Nations from the day it was founded. Mr. Maza’s election to this exalted office is also a singular honour for the group of Latin American States which nominated him and supported his candidacy, and a sure guarantee of the wisdom impartiality and efficiency with which lie will preside over the deliberations of the most important assembly in the world.
2. I cannot forget, of course, that we owe sincere and well-deserved congratulations to Mr. van Kleffens of the Netherlands delegation for having presided over the General Assembly’s ninth session with remarkable talent and quiet energy, as was to be expected in view of his rich experience and his wide knowledge of international problems.
3. The General Assembly is holding its tenth session barely three months after that magnificent meeting in San Francisco, at which the majority of Member States were represented by their Foreign Ministers.
4. On that occasion we were celebrating the first decade of the life of the United Nations — the first ten years of an experiment to replace relations based on force by relations based on law and reason. That commemorative meeting was the most vigorous _ expression of our common faith in the ideal of building a better world within the framework of an Organization in which States may understand each other and discuss frankly all the problems which divide them. The speeches which we heard on that memorable occasion were a dispassionate, thorough and sincere analysis of almost every aspect of the diverse and complicated work the United Nations has accomplished in this first step on the long road which all of us hope it will travel for centuries to come.
5. We left San Francisco with the impression that this international Organization was eagerly preparing to continue its role as the centre to which all interests, rivalries and plans are brought, so that they may be studied in an atmosphere of mutual understanding with a view to arriving at the best possible solution, given the capacity of the Organization and the historical and social conditions in which it is functioning,
6. Since San Francisco, our world Organization has shown greater vitality and we have the impression that the second decade of its life is beginning with greater possibilities of success in all its undertakings. It also seems that the great Powers are now pursuing new ideas of international policy and are eager that the former tension should be replaced by friendly relations between their senior representatives. Throughout the world, hope is reviving that peace and international order will be strengthened as the United Nations works in greater accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the Charter.
7. The good news that the world was entering upon a period of peace was confirmed at Geneva, where the heads of the four great Powers which hold the tremendous responsibility for the fate of mankind spoke in tones of cordiality, their words echoing the feelings of their peoples. No definite agreement was reached in Geneva, but the statesmen concerned demonstrated that it was possible to speak a common language and to pursue similar aims, despite entirely different political and economic ideals. At this first meeting, the idea of defining a new world policy was deliberately set aside, but the door was left open for the four Foreign Ministers to meet and discuss the most serious problems of our times. If the international atmosphere which was engendered at San Francisco and developed in Geneva continues until October, the United Nations may well receive assistance of inestimable value which will facilitate the great work upon which it is engaged.
8. The Ecuadorian Government’s position with regard to the United Nations was stated at San Francisco; I shall therefore confine myself today to confirming everything that the Foreign Minister of my country said on that occasion and to speaking about certain items on the agenda which, although they will be the subject of special statements in the respective Committees, call for some prior analysis from this rostrum because they give us the necessary background for the general picture of the United Nations and the present position of international relations.
9. We can never lay too much emphasis on the urgent need for our Organization to be based on the principle of universality. For this reason I believe that the first item to be considered is the one relating to the admission of new Members. It is intolerable that only 60 States should be Members of this Organization, while a large number of others remain outside it, deprived of their rights and unable to take a direct part in its complex functions or to assume the many obligations arising from the Charter. If the United Nations aspires to become a true society of States, it must lay aside this inflexible policy, which has excluded States that are the legitimate pride of our culture, like Spain, Italy and Portugal, to mention only three of those which lie closest to our hearts.
10. For the past ten years this problem has been discussed in its two aspects — legal and political — at each successive session of the General Assembly. Latin American statesmen have taken the greatest interest in the solution of the problem and have brought to bear upon it their great literary and juridical ability, their political tact and their indefatigable desire to serve the cause of a greater United Nations. I do not propose to go into a detailed examination of the provisions of the Charter which relate to this question, since the subject has been almost exhausted and all Member States have already formed their opinions on the matter. I shall refer only to the incongruities, almost absurdities, which expose our Organization to very justifiable criticism in relation to this question. Public opinion throughout the world is calling for an immediate solution of this problem and for an end to the petty quarrels and constant rivalries which have prevented a very large group of countries from becoming Members of the-United Nations. The exclusion of such countries is a real obstacle to the effective functioning of the United Nations, and is regarded as unjust discrimination against peoples who have as much right as we to participate in the joint efforts of States to build the world society which nothing can hold back in these times when, thanks to the tremendous advances in technical development, the peoples of the world are becoming increasingly interdependent.
11. Allow me to examine the facts which have led to the. present situation. The original Members of the United Nations numbered 51. Since then, 30 States have applied for membership, nine of which were admitted and are represented here today. The other 21 States which applied are still knocking at the doors of our Organization, but we have not yet found the keys, to open them, although they are close at hand.
12. At the Same time, the United Nations has developed in such a manner that it now constitutes a fundamental element of international life. As we know, any such body corporate derives its vitality from the human conscience based upon juridical standards which must be respected and understood. The efforts that have been made through the press, education, books, wireless, television, posters and so on to ensure that even in the most remote corners of the world people may know what the United Nations means and the work it is doing for the benefit of the under-developed peoples are truly admirable. It may be said that there is not a single person of average education, whatever his race or nationality, who does not know what the United Nations is, what it means and what it is doing.,
13. Under Articles 57 and 63 of the Charter, the United Nations has signed special agreements with 11 agencies dedicated to work in the most important social fields. Together with the United Nations, these specialized agencies form a social aggregate which is becoming more and more closely integrated.
14. The United Nations and its 11 specialized agencies are building this better world which we all desire, I mention this aspect because 18 of the 21 applicant States whose admission to the United Nations is being delayed because of inexplicable rivalries between the great Powers are already members of the United Nations family through their membership in these specialized agencies. Albania, the Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Ceylon, the Republic of Korea, Nepal, Viet-Nam, Libya, Cambodia, Japan and Laos are members of one or more of the specialized agencies. Furthermore, Italy is the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Italy is also the Administering Authority for the Trust Territory of Somaliland; Italy, the cradle of our legal system, a country to which, therefore, Western culture owes so much and which has signed a peace treaty entitling it to become a Member of the United Nations, is still unjustly excluded from this Organization. Several of the applicant States are members of the regional, economic commissions, by special permission of the Economic and Social Council. Some of them have shown such a lively interest in being admitted that they have appointed special permanent observers to attend meetings of particular organs, thus showing that they are well able to co-operate with us. At the request of the four Spanish-speaking members of the Economic and Social Council, Spain, that great and beloved country, has just been granted the right to attend sessions of the Economic Commission for Latin America. Spain cannot continue to be excluded from the United Nations, since the majority of the Latin American peoples, whose opinions count for much in the world Organization, are vigorously demanding its admission. If Spain, with its traditional pride, has not yet made a formal, application for membership, it is because it does not wish to suffer the undeserved rebuff which other such worthy nations are suffering.
15. At this time, when the cold war seems to have ended and international relations are developing in a less stormy atmosphere, it is urgently necessary to dispose of these problems, which may once again create misunderstanding 'between the democratic Powers and the peoples’ republics. I therefore make a respectful and friendly appeal to the members of the Security Council to try once more to find a formula which will allow the General Assembly to adopt a resolution admitting the applicant countries, thus removing one of the most serious problems which have intensified the cold war and discredited our noble institution.
16. We must admit that in many cases there may be reason to doubt whether a given State has the necessary ability and qualifications for admission to the United Nations. Yet I wonder whether many of the States represented here would have been able to join if they had been judged by the same strict standards which we are now applying to those seeking membership. I think that many of them would have to leave this nail. I consider that the most sensible plan, and the one which is most in keeping with the principles of the Charter, would be to allow the applicant State to prove the sincerity of its desire for peace within the Organization to let the General Assembly take the final decision about the admission of new Members. As a tribute to the General Assembly, the Security Council should recommend for its consideration the names of all the applicant States. It is to be hoped that during this session we shall have the pleasure and honour of seating in this hall the representatives of many States whose presence will raise the prestige of the Organization and increase its effectiveness in every sphere of its activity.
17. The agenda of the present session includes the very important item concerning the proposal to call a general conference for the purpose of reviewing the Charter by virtue of Article 109. In previous years the delegation of Ecuador has spoken of the need to revise our Charter and has gone so far as to put forward some ideas relating to certain chapters which urgently require amendment if the claim that all Member States of the United Nations are equal is to be translated into reality. The delegation of Ecuador has thus already stated that it favours the convening of a general conference to review the Charter in detail and to adapt it to the new conditions which have arisen, taking into account the experience which has been acquired in respect of many of its provisions.
18. If we are objective we must clearly recognize that the conditions which obtain today, in 1955, are completely different from those which obtained in 1945, when the Charter was signed. For our part, we are prepared to agree to new adjustments and compromises for the preservation of the Organization and, above all, of its spirit and ideals. We should subject to careful legal scrutiny each one of the various proposals which have given rise to our bitterest debates and see whether we can find solutions which, instead of dividing us, will bring us closer together and enable us to pursue our common task.
19. Many articles of the Charter should be redrafted and remodelled to meet the needs of the time, while those articles which have not proved applicable to contemporary international realities should be deleted or substantially changed. In any case, what the delegation of Ecuador wants is that we should, decide to hold the conference for studying this problem and that the question of where and when it should be held should be left open. These matters can be settled later in the light of the political considerations that are of particular concern to the great Powers.
20. I should like to put forward, however, as a simple suggestion, the idea which I have heard expressed by many delegations and which is supported by my own, that the General Assembly and its special conferences should be held not only at Headquarters, here in New York, but also in other cities of the world, a policy which would attract enormous popular support and lead to a better understanding of the United Nations. Many of us believe, for example, that it would be an excellent idea if the delegation of the Soviet Union agreed that the special conference to review the Charter, or the next regular session of the General Assembly, should be held in Moscow. That great capital has every facility for a meeting of such magnitude. Those of us who take this line are convinced that a session of the General Assembly in Moscow would be a most important step towards ending the cold war. Mr. Molotov, the Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union, who has been present here, can fully realize that the atmosphere is favourable for such a step, and it is to be hoped that he will transmit the idea to his Government, at least as a suggestion, giving it the importance it deserves.
21. Last year, at the proposal of the United States delegation, we decided that an international technical conference of Governments should be held, under the auspices of the United Nations, to explore means of developing the peaceful uses of atomic energy through international co-operation and, in particular, to study the development of atomic power and to consider other technical areas — such as biology, medicine, radiation protection and fundamental science — in which international co-operation might most effectively be accomplished. This conference was held in Geneva, with a large attendance of delegates and observers, and we may affirm that it was one of the most glorious triumphs of the United Nations. All the technical difficulties were overcome with admirable skill despite the fact that there were no precedents in our history for such a meeting, which was in every sense original. This international conference, with all its complexities, was successful only because the United Nations had the necessary means at its disposal. The Secretary-General deserves our highest praise for the skill he showed in arranging this scientific conference for the benefit of peace and human progress. As he himself states in his report on this Conference, it was “an expression in effective action of the purposes and principles of the United Nations. With this Conference the United Nations entered a new field of activity which may properly inspire great, hopes and expectations" [A/2967, para. 17].
22. The Secretary-General was assisted by the seven- Power Advisory Committee whose representatives also deserve our gratitude for having contributed, by their, talent and knowledge, to the success of the Conference. The delegation of Ecuador supports the Secretary-General’s proposal concerning the desirability of keeping this Committee in being, with its present composition and rules, so that it may continue to give valuable advice on matters relating to atomic energy with which the United Nations Secretariat may have to deal.
23. I would remind you here that in the debate in the First Committee on the draft resolution which was the origin of this scientific conference, the representative of Ecuador ventured to propose a small amendment to the effect that such scientific conferences should be held periodically [723rd meeting, para. 19]. This suggestion was, however, rejected. I now see that both Professor Bhabha, the distinguished President of the Conference and head of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, and Mr. Dulles in his speech this morning [518th meeting], expressed the hope that another scientific conference on atomic energy would be held within two or three years in order to continue the work so well begun. It would therefore be appropriate to amend the resolution, adding what has been said by the learned Indian professor and confirmed here by the United States Secretary of State.
24. Every country should, by its own efforts, reach the highest level of economic and cultural development of which it is capable, but it is extraordinarily difficult — and this we all know — for the under-developed countries, with their meagre resources, to keep abreast of those States which hold the lead in material progress. We must therefore practise international co-operation in the economic field more effectively than hitherto, since political instability will become more and more acute if the differences between the revenues of the members of the same international community continue to increase.
25. Existing credit institutions need to be supplemented by others acting in fields in which the former cannot operate. The true purpose of the United Nations should be to bring about a higher standard, of living for all peoples throughout the world and to eliminate the shameful disparities between the industrialized nations and the nations that produce raw materials, between the rich nations and the poor nations. The United Nations will not have achieved its ideal of peace and security unless men can live in full enjoyment of their elementary rights in an economic environment which enables them to enjoy honestly all the benefits of progress. If private capital cannot and should not be sacrificed for the benefit of peoples who need the investment of capital in sufficient quantities for their normal development it is for public capital, i.e., State funds, to carry out this new international task through the United Nations. Consequently, international banks and private credit institutions must be supplemented by a United Nations fund devoted exclusively to this task which has emerged from the new concept of international cooperation.
26. The Committee of Experts, working together with Mr. Raymond Scheyven, state in the report which they have submitted to the General Assembly on this point, that “it would be the function of the Special Fund to finance any investment, whether economic or social, in the under-developed countries, which was part of a coherent programme designed to attain the maximum rise in national income and which could not be fully financed by private capital, the International Bank or any other loan-making institution” [A/2906, para. 13]. This wise and succinct definition of the institution for whose creation we have been calling for the last few years makes it unnecessary for me to comment further. All the countries of Latin America urgently need the special fund, and they hope that this Assembly will be sufficiently generous and understanding to adopt the recommendation submitted to it by the Economic and Social Council on this question after careful study of the problem at its twentieth session, held in Geneva [resolution 583 (XX)].
27. Ecuador is engaged in transforming its economy, and to this end has launched a series of projects which call for a large-scale economic effort. Unfortunately, with our meagre national resources, we cannot rapidly complete the programmes which have been planned, and in spite of the enthusiasm, the conscientiousness and the vigilance which the Chief of State always devotes to the fulfilment of such projects, they are developing slowly and are not yet producing the results we hoped for, However, in the Economic Survey of Latin America, 1954, prepared by the secretariat of the Economic Commission for Latin America, we read the following with respect to my country: “Good weather conditions, the impetus of sustained external demand, and a continuing development policy, were, the factors which brought Ecuador’s agricultural production in 1954 to a level substantially greater than those of previous years. The increase was due particularly to the marked rise in the production of certain export goods...” The report goes on to say: “Banana production continued to increase; new plantations more than offset the waste caused by disease and insufficient transport. The crop of 870,000 tons exceeded that of the previous year by 37 per cent and, although exports increased to a lesser degree, Ecuador retained the position of principal world exporter gained in 1953” [E/CN.12/362/ Rev.1, p, 170],
28. As can be seen, we are struggling with tremendous difficulties in every branch of economic life, and we are not over-enthusiastic about our small successes in agriculture and in the direction of our economy. Although our Government is asking for help compatible with our credit capacity, no one listens to us and we are left to our own efforts. This complaint by Ecuador could 'be made by many other Latin American countries and countries of other continents which have always aligned themselves with the democracies in defence of those principles that now enable the victors of the last war to develop peacefully their great plans of economic and international policy. The request we now make, that the fund should be set up as quickly as possible to assist us, is fully justified.
29. In the name of the Government of Ecuador I renew, on this solemn and important occasion, our pledge of loyalty to the Organization and our hope that it may, conquering time, take root more and more deeply in the conscience of all men who desire peace, security, freedom and justice, and may be transformed into an effective instrument of concord and friendship between peoples and put an end for ever to wars of aggression and all violations of international law.