1. First, let me congratulate Mrs. Pandit most cordially on her election to the high office which, to the honour of India, she is holding at this Assembly. To what other delegations have said regarding Mrs. Pandit’s outstanding qualifications and about the significance of an election which pays a due tribute to her sex, I should add that my country feels deeply gratified because of its friendly relations with hers. I must emphasize that one of the chief builders of this mutual understanding is the Indian Ambassador in Buenos Aires, whom we are glad to see once again as a member of India’s delegation to the General Assembly. Thanks to his effective work we have been the better able to appreciate and to draw closer to that great Asian land.
2. Despite the appreciable advance represented by the armistice in Korea, this eighth session faces us with the same problems and with the same uncertainty about our ability to solve them. To cite only the most fundamental, we have to consider, besides of course the Korean question, such matters as disarmament and the admission of new Members, the solution of which is primarily dependent upon agreement among the great Powers.
3. The question of Korea is at present the crux of our difficulties and also the basis for a possible agreement which, if it came into being, would make it possible to settle all other questions. In the recent debate at the seventh session of the General Assembly, we expressed our great satisfaction at the conclusion of the armistice, which ended the terrible human and material destruction undergone by the noble Korean people. And although we appreciate the reasons actuating the military action in Korea, we can never forget this fresh example of the destruction of a small country resulting from the inexorable action of the great machines of war. That is why Argentina concentrated its help, within the limits of its powers, on the needs of the population as a whole, eschewing any share in the military action as such. That, too, is why we listened with real satisfaction to the statement of the Chairman of the Canadian delegation in this general debate [441st meeting] when he said that his country’s troops would not take part in the unification of the Korean peninsula by force.
4. The convening of the political conference is beset with obstacles, and every effort must be made to remove them. The decisive factor in reaching agreement may well be the United States representative’s suggestions, which justify the belief that the question of participation will be satisfactorily settled, with special attention to the particular interest of certain Asian countries in the matter.
5. Another question which will no doubt engage our particular attention is the admission of new Members. The Special Committee set up to study ways and means of solving this problem, one of the main grounds for criticism of the United Nations, set to work during the year. If we wish to become the guardians of international peace and security, if we expect the United Nations to take steps, as it has done, to give guidance to States when their international behaviour is incompatible with the aims and purposes of the community of nations, we cannot continue to be a closed organization made up of a given number of countries. We cannot claim to guide the conduct of States when we have set up a system of inequality, a system of privilege, depending on membership or nonmembership of the United Nations. There is yet another argument which prompts my delegation to continue to urge with insistence that the doors of the United Nations should be flung wide open, and that is that the States outside it are mostly new States, which have emerged in consequence of recent changes in the political pattern of the world. These new States, which are now at the most difficult stage of their development — the winning of complete political sovereignty and economic independence — and which urgently need to be given a chance to co-operate in the international community on a footing of complete equality with the other members, are being prevented from entering on alleged procedural grounds. When the history of this period of the life of the United Nations comes to be written, it will be hard to explain why sixty nations opposed the admission of twenty others and their enjoyment of the rights and assumption of the commitments prescribed by the Charter. My delegation is ready to press again that a solution should be sought.
6. Many other countries, too, should have already been admitted, either on account of their cultural tradition in which our civilization is rooted, such as Italy, or because of their geographical situation or industrial potential, such as Japan, since their active participation is essential to solving the difficult problems of the contingents to which they belong.
7. Now permit me briefly to refer to the item proposed by Argentina [A/2415], concerning the application of the United Nations Charter. In the explanatory memorandum on that point, we make it clear that the request for the inclusion of this item in the agenda was motivated by the principle that all work done by the United Nations must conform to the provisions contained in the Charter. Some of its articles give rise to difficulties of interpretation, and this has caused a variety of interpretations to be placed on one and the same clause. A knowledge of the meaning and scope of the basic provisions of the Charter is a prerequisite for the proper functioning of the Organization.
8. This leads me to refer to the items proposed by the delegations of the Netherlands [A/2442] and Egypt [A/2466 and Add. 1], which directly concern the revision of the Charter as provided for in Article 109. Although the purpose of our proposal is not the revision of the Charter — perhaps the studies we are asking for may be even more useful if it is not amended — we recognize that there is a very close connexion between the item we have proposed and those proposed by the Netherlands and Egypt. My Government’s position on the revision of the Charter is well known. At San Francisco, the community of nations had, in the face of certain purely transitory political considerations, to yield for practical reasons on certain principles which had been regarded as basic, and which in fact are basic. Legally and institutionally, the Charter signed at San Francisco represented an appreciable retreat from the principles recognized in the League of Nations Convenant. And experience has shown that it is often a mistake to relinquish principles firmly grounded in the legal and democratic tradition of States for the sake of possible solutions of a political character which are in fact compromises leading to nothing but a system of arbitrary power and privilege.
9. The trend noticeable in United Nations practice towards an extension of the powers of some of its principal organs, which may lead to a violation of the principle of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of States, also warrants our most careful attention, whether we are considering the revision of the Charter or studying the true meaning of its text as it stands.
10. The Assembly will also have to consider various matters pertaining to dependent territories. The Argentine delegation will examine these problems in the light of its traditional position, which is that such territories should be brought into the community of independent nations as rapidly as possible and that their peoples should be allowed to shape their own destinies.
11. With respect to the colonial territories on the American continent, we shall continue to be guided by resolution XXXIII of the Bogota Conference, which states that “the historical process of the emancipation of America will not be complete so long as there remain on the continent peoples and regions subject to a colonial regime, or territories occupied by non-American countries”.
12. We also maintain that the metropolitan governments are not entitled to alter the political status of a Non-Self-Governing Territory when it is the subject of a claim or suit by another State.
13. Matters pertaining to the budget and administration of the United Nations are more important than they appear to be at first sight. That is why we welcome the Secretary-General’s efforts to effect economies in the Organization’s budget. The task is a hard one, but his acknowledged ability and experience warrant our entertaining the highest hopes that he will succeed in putting the budget in order and in establishing an administrative structure that will obviate duplication of effort and complication in the work assigned to the Secretariat.
14. As regards questions concerning the staff, we repeat that its independence does not preclude it from acting in harmony with each and every Member State, and that a single policy should be applied to the entire staff, without distinction of nationality. We also affirm that loyalty to the, Organization does not exempt officials from complying with their duties as citizens of their countries. We consider, further, that the higher posts should be equitably distributed among nationals of the different Member States.
15. In social affairs our position is as follows. The competent United Nations organs, in collaboration with the specialized agencies, have taken appropriate steps to make a complete analysis of the major social problems affecting the world, and to establish the basic principles of international action designed to contribute to their solution. Not only has full consideration been given to the close relationship between economic development and social progress, but an attempt has been made to secure a proper integration of social programmes in development plans. This has made it possible not only to aim at a rationalization of what has already been accomplished but — and this is much more important — to analyse the practical possibilities and the means available for initiating programmes commensurate with the world’s needs. Possibly the most significant result of this analysis has been the fresh evidence it has brought of the tremendous disproportion which exists between the problems and the means available for solving them. That is a painful conclusion, but instead of arousing pessimism, it should be regarded as the most powerful incentive to intensify our efforts and to develop international co-operative action to the fullest. These conclusions and this incentive must be kept in mind every time we are called on to consider problems of economic development, for a balanced economic development is the only means of obtaining the resources that are indispensable for social progress.
16. The Argentine Government takes a deep interest in this work; on the national level, it has made strenuous efforts to promote and consolidate social progress by adopting far-reaching legislation in that field and establishing appropriate institutions.
17. International economic problems play an increasingly important role in the proceedings of the United Nations, and, by the same token, the need is growing to find effective formulas to solve them. Attention must once again be drawn to the ever-widening gap between the living standards of the highly industrialized countries and the under-developed countries for it is a gap that only aggravates the problems confronting the community of nations. It has become apparent at a lime of great economic activity, when the productive resources of the most highly developed economies are fully employed. During this period, it is clear, the world has been affected by the mobilization for defence, but even so, that is no explanation of the unstable position existing at present. On the contrary, it only serves to magnify our doubts as to the stability of the present economic structure.
18. We are therefore driven to conclude that the world economic order is suffering from fundamental defects which must be rectified before we can reach the goal of an expanding economy through the intensified economic development of the under-developed countries. We shall have to revise completely the procedures and methods employed in the past, and adjust international economic policy to those requirements of economic independence and social justice which the world demands.
19. We have seen how the international bodies created to stimulate a balanced economic development in the post-war period have failed to overcome the difficulties and problems they were set up to solve. The limitations of the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and similar bodies are recognized almost universally. And the unrealistic approach made in the Havana Charter to the problems of international trade, so far as the economic development of the under-developed countries is concerned, makes it impossible to ensure the execution, on a world-wide scale, of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which was based on the concepts underlying the Havana Charter.
20. And yet we are still being pressed to accept as a panacea this same set of arrangements which has already failed. It is argued that those methods were ineffective not because of any inherent flaw in their conception but through the fault of the circumstances then obtaining; and there are some who assert that satisfactory solutions will be possible only if we rectify the circumstances. But the facts show that it is the present state of affairs that has led to the backwardness and economic under-development of large areas of the world. The division of the nations into industrialized countries and countries which are producers of raw materials has not only made the world economy extremely vulnerable, but has also kept the greater part of mankind in an impoverished and backward state. To overcome the difficulties in which we find ourselves, we must jettison the abstractions of our doctrinaire teachers, who would recommend an international division of labour on the lines I have just mentioned; the real solution, even though it may run counter to such generalizations, is to be found in the industrialization of the under-developed areas and the introduction, in those areas, of a diversified economy. A transformation of that sort will unquestionably involve great difficulties before it can be achieved. But international co-operation can be solicited to solve those difficulties, though that does not mean that the under-developed countries should expect to receive everything from foreign sources.
21. Although the principal effort must come from the under-developed countries themselves, it cannot be really fruitful unless the changes required to facilitate it are effected in the international field. Therefore all that is needed to help those countries to make a start on the road to progress, which is an urgent necessity for them, is to apply elementary standards of justice and equity which will rid the world of the evils of a defective system.
22. We therefore ascribe paramount importance to finding formulas for stabilizing the general price level of raw materials entering the international exchanges. There must be a fair and balanced relation between those prices and the prices of manufactured articles. That will help to facilitate the adoption and execution of large-scale national programmes of integrated economic development through the accumulation of domestic capital and the stabilization of revenue derived from the production of exportable raw materials. The importance of measures aiming at that end is indicated by the fact that about 60 per cent of world trade consists at present of the trade in raw materials. Within very short periods of time shrinkages and violent fluctuations cause enormous changes in the balance of payments of producer countries. It is obvious then that the stabilization of prices in the most important sector of international trade will, almost automatically, aid in solving the major part of the currency problems which are affecting world trade and world economy at the present time. The stabilization of raw-material prices under the conditions mentioned will have to be correlated with the adoption of national programmes of integrated economic development.
23. It is, of course, true that this latter problem is not subject to international action, since it concerns the domestic affairs of countries which are seeking to stimulate their production. But if it is realized in the international community that nations must achieve fully integrated economies, changes which do not involve undue hardship will presumably be permitted in the commercial and economic structure of the world. Such an understanding of these needs will lead to the adoption of a world trade policy far wider in scope than policies based on the so-called international division of labour. It is not possible, therefore, to reduce the problem to such simple terms as tariff reductions and the removal of tariff barriers on basis of reciprocity, while ignoring the fundamental differences which separate nations from each other.
24. The problems of the international financing of economic development are also closely bound up with this question. The capital needs of large sectors of the world’s economy cannot be met solely by the national resources in those sectors, owing to the slow rate of growth of those resources which, in turn, is due to under-development; and it is the lack of adequate capitalization that prevents development. To break this vicious circle believe that, in addition to the international trade measures I have mentioned, we shall have to set on foot some system of large-scale financing such as the proposed special fund for the issuance of long-term, low-interest loans, which is to be discussed by this Assembly.
25. At the same time, we consider that the international flow of private capital should be stimulated by favourable measures, so as to supplement national saving in the financing of development programmes in economically expanding countries. The advantages of that type of investment are numerous: while the investor can obtain a fair profit, the stimulus given to development is attended by fresh advantages both to the receiving country and to the world economy. Naturally, in exchange for a fair profit, investments must be guided into activities which favour the development of the receiving country. It is not out of place here to allude once again to the unfortunate results that foreign capital too often has produced when, instead of contributing to the progress of the receiving country, it has sought solely the maximum gain at the expense of progress and has ended by becoming a source of disturbance to the national economy and jeopardized the very independence of the country concerned.
26. The Argentine Congress has passed a law whose purpose is to encourage foreign investment, providing such investment is really designed to promote that sort of activity and is likely to contribute to the economic development of the country. By assuring the investor of fair treatment, the law affords him a suitable incentive.
27. One practical and immediate step for reconstructing the international economy would be the formation of regional economies to facilitate the process of integrated economic development. In that way we should obtain maximum efficiency and a certain measure of national specialization to the advantage of world productivity as a whole. Moreover, it would thus be possible to overcome the limitations imposed on a national economy in large-scale industrial planning by the small size of the home market and an inadequate domestic production of supplies of raw materials. Here, too, if it were properly understood on an international level that it was necessary to agree to certain structural changes, economic development would be speeded up.
28. Measures to ensure a more rapid improvement in the living standards of under-developed countries have been taken by the Argentine Government at the national level; the principles underlying those measures govern its policy at the international level. My country has recently completed a new stage in its efforts to attain the aims I have described by concluding treaties of economic union with the neighbouring republics of Chile and Paraguay. These important instruments guarantee effective international collaboration in the southern part of the American continent, the object being, without prejudice to the sovereignty and political independence of the countries concerned, to develop complementary economies which will allow of the maximum return for their production. Even though our efforts are necessarily limited to action within our national borders and to collaboration with our sister countries for the attainment of common objectives, they offer an example of how to set about making the structural changes to which I have referred. It is, of course, essential that the facts which I have placed before you should be fully understood by responsible governments and world public opinion. My country will resolutely pursue that policy in conjunction with all the American republics. The studies carried out by the United Nations, in particular those based on resolution 623 (VII) which was adopted by the General Assembly at the last session, will provide the necessary basic knowledge of the facts and further the adoption of appropriate measures.
29. Once this stage has been passed, international collaboration in the economic field can be guided into more effective channels. We believe that, when that happens, it will be necessary to call a world economic conference to prepare the indispensable basic agreements and to set up whatever new bodies may be suitable or make any adaptations in existing ones that may be deemed expedient. We believe that the experience of the years that have elapsed since the war is a guarantee that such a conference of that sort will represent a turning point. It should provide the basis for a progressive order, ensuring the development of equitable economic relations and the attainment of practical solutions commensurate with the character and the magnitude of contemporary problems.
30. In indicating these prospects for the future, we are confident that within a short time we shall be able to enter upon a new era of international understanding and co-operation, in which we shall succeed in finding a satisfactory solution for the most urgent problem confronting the world today, that is, how to speed up and strengthen the economic progress of the underdeveloped countries; this solution will constitute an indispensable basis for the harmony which in its turn will enable us to insure real peace among all nations.