1. Mr. President, I must first of all congratulate you on your unanimous election to the office of President of the twenty-second session of the United Nations General Assembly and wish you every success in your work at this important session of the General Assembly.
2. I should like to say once again how satisfied and pleased my delegation was with the intelligent and objective way in which Mr. Pazhwak, of Afghanistan, conducted the difficult discussions in this General Assembly during its last sessions.
3. Argentina is attending this General Assembly imbued with the best spirit of collaboration and is prepared to take part in the various discussions with the firm determination to show solidarity and understanding in connexion with the various problems that, to a greater or lesser extent, are causing the Members of our Organization concern. Some of these questions are of such a serious nature that they have endangered world peace throughout the past year and are still doing so. I refer not only to the armed struggle going on in various parts of the world, but also to the incitement to violence and subversion which is trying to undermine the stability of the international order. It is true that the balance among the nations has always been precarious and unstable, but today there is more danger than ever that this precarious balance will degenerate into universal frustration.
4. I should like to speak first about the items that are of most interest to international public opinion and that are more relevant for my country's foreign policy and I shall leave the question of the Malvinas, whose importance for my Government and my people is obvious, to the last.
5. Viet-Nam has lived under the shadow of war for twenty-five years and has become a centre of confrontation of international political interests. In the present phase, this confrontation goes beyond the strict geographical and national limits within which the events are taking place and has given rise to a military conflict so serious as to endanger the peace of the world.
6. While the leaders of certain countries persist in their subversive action and incite and encourage violence, movements of force, which are no other than the defensive reaction to this attitude, will be the logical and inevitable consequence. In these circumstances, my delegation supports all the efforts designed to bring peace to the region, founded on sound political bases that will enable the peoples of South-East Asia to live free from threats.
7. The consideration of this problem by the United Nations will offer a new opportunity to find ways leading to a final settlement of this long conflict. Moreover, we think that in the present circumstances it would not be reasonable for the world Organization that was especially created to preserve international peace and security to stand aloof from what is so obviously a breakdown of peace and security. Lastly, my delegation thinks that the basic objective should be to establish a balance in South-East Asia and that to do so it is necessary to bring about a progressive limitation of the area of armed confrontation through mutual de-escalation.
8. The problem of the Middle East has caused, and still causes, the Argentine delegation much concern. The course of the discussions that took place during the recent emergency special session of the General Assembly and the scanty agreement that was reached there allows us to think that this problem is at a particularly critical stage of its evolution. It is true that all Member States, and more especially those directly concerned, are making a real effort to find an effective way of bringing the situation to an end. Such a situation not only imperils the tranquility of an extraordinarily complete geographical area but is a challenge to the ability of our Organization as an instrument for bringing about a peaceful international order, based on law and justice.
9. In short, it is a twofold problem: on the one hand, we find the Assembly sharply divided on the question and consequently going through a particularly difficult period; on the other hand, the situation in the area in which the confrontation took place is so precarious and unstable that it is not difficult to predict that at any moment there could be fresh armed clashes there.
10. The picture that I have painted is certainly gloomy and should cause pessimistic reflections. Nevertheless, we think that the geographical characteristics and the political and racial circumstances of the region must necessarily dissuade either of the parties from trying to gain supremacy and should, on the contrary, encourage them to seek a suitable system of balance of interests, which implies a balance of mutual concessions.
11. As we have already said, it would be possible to achieve peace, starting with the withdrawal of troops from the occupied zones and the termination of the state of belligerency. This is the first step on the way to final peace. We also, and consequently, think that it is necessary for the General Assembly to make a fresh study of the question, with a view to adopting effective decisions along these lines that will make it possible to bring the various interests into harmony and to lay the foundations for final peace.
12. From the moment that hostilities broke out, my country in particular, as a member of the Security Council, and the group of Latin American countries in general have been working hard to obtain a ceasefire, first of all, and then an agreement to work out a true peace. The position taken by the Latin American group was both morally and legally sound. It acted calmly and objectively and did not ask either of the parties to make any undue concessions, nor did it make any demands of them that were not consistent with the normal requirements for post-war settlements. We reaffirm once again our faith in the Latin American position and we persist in that position, because we think that through it the parties could attain the goal that they are seeking. This position was always designed to obtain reciprocal military and spiritual disarmament. And we still think that that is the only sure basis for future understanding.
13. The situation of Jerusalem is of particular concern to us, for reasons that I explained in the General Assembly at the appropriate time. The resolutions adopted by the General Assembly must be respected by Member States. We hope that Israel will repeal the measures it enacted on the status of that city and will refrain from any other action in that direction, as was asked of it in General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V) and 2254 (ES-V).
14. We also wish to express our appreciation to the Secretary-General for the assiduity with which he concerned himself, through the despatch of a special representative, with the protection, well-being and security of the inhabitants of the zones which had been the scene of military operations, as also with the scrupulous respect for the humanitarian principles governing the treatment of prisoners of war, as was requested of him in Security Council resolution 237 (1967) and in General Assembly resolution 2252 (ES-V), which my delegation had the honour to sponsor.
15. There is one problem that has existed since the end of the Second World War and that we cannot fail to mention, since it creates international tension and concerns the happiness and the future of a whole people. The division of Germany, which has not been overcome in the last two decades, has estranged the members of one and the same family and has artificially imposed a state of affairs that runs counter to the most genuine desires of a nation. It must be recognized that the Federal Republic of Germany has made every effort both to facilitate a solution to this specific problem and to diminish the general tension in the world, and in these efforts it has sacrificed doctrinary principles that up to a few years ago were the foundations of its international policy. Argentina urges the peace-loving nations to give their support in the quest for a final solution to this problem.
16. In the economic sphere, Argentina has set itself a basic objective: the establishment of an economic and social system that will stimulate and develop individual initiative, efforts and freedoms and thus promote the competence and progress of the whole community, Argentina wants to achieve an increasingly intensive development of its commercial, industrial and financial relations in an atmosphere of solidarity that will make it possible to attain the common good of all nations.
17. The resolute, lively and vigorous activity of the industrial nations from the year 1945 onwards in laying the foundations of international co-operation was undoubtedly the most outstanding feature of the post-war period. Now that this first stage of international co-operation has been completed with the recovery of the European nations that had been devastated by the war, the backward condition and increasing weakness of the countries which have become known as the developing countries has begun to acquire dramatic significance.
18. The specific object of the Development Decade proclaimed by the United Nations is to eliminate the inequality in the wealth and the rate of progress among nations. Our country has supported this movement of international solidarity with faith and enthusiasm. Nevertheless, we do not think it is going too far to say that today, when the Development Decade is entering its last stage, the gap between the industrialized countries and the developing countries, in all the matters by which economic progress is measured, is tending to increase and not to diminish. The Argentine Republic is well aware that the main effort to close this gap and to overcome backwardness must be made by the developing countries themselves. The Argentine Republic is well aware that, in the last resort, it is each State that has the major responsibility and the most specific obligation.
19. The Argentine Government has adopted a series of economic, social and educational measures designed to modernize its structures and thus to make it possible to speed up its growth rate. But within this activity my country is giving as much importance to adjusting the machinery for improving the terms of its foreign trade as to the amendment and improvement of the provisions that affect the sources of the resources that help its balance of payments, such as freightage, insurance and tourism.
20. But this national effort, which each country can and must make, needs to be supplemented by international co-operation. His Holiness Pope Paul VI rightly drew attention to this, in unequivocal terms, when he stated in the Encyclical Populorum Progressio that it is necessary to seek concrete and practical means of organization and co-operation in order to make the existing resources available to all and thus to achieve a true communion among the nations. This duty, said Pope Paul VI, concerns primarily the most privileged of the nations. And this co-operation must include, in the first place, the promotion of more equitable opportunities in order to allow of a suitable expansion of the foreign trade of the developing countries. Such expansion is a necessary condition for increasing the growth rate of those countries. The intensification of the transfer of financial and technological resources is a complementary, but very important, aspect of that co-operation.
21. The present situation shows how little has been achieved, both in the matter of trade and in financial and technical matters. Even admitting the benefits that have been received within the framework of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (QATT) through the Kennedy Round, many highly industrialized countries still have tariff walls and other qualitative restrictions which are an obstacle to the entry of raw materials from the developing countries.
22. This situation runs counter to the fundamental standards upon which the process of liberalization of trade should rest. For this purpose, the establishment of a realistic system of preferences to promote the export of manufactures and semi-manufactures from the developing countries to the consumer markets of the highly industrialized countries would be of great advantage for improving the situation of the developing countries.
23. More than three years after the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the nations are preparing to attend the second session of UNCTAD, to be held at New Delhi in 1968, where they will have an opportunity for a joint discussion of matters of economic, commercial and financial importance. Argentina hopes that on this occasion it will be possible to arrive at effective formulas or principles for the solution of various aspects of the many problems that may be included in the agenda.
24. Technological development is today perhaps the subject that is of supreme and genuine interest to the world. There can be no progress without technology. There can be no development without technology. There can be no possibility of genuine and complete well-being without technical knowledge. Scientific research and technological development are advancing at an exceptionally rapid rate these days and it is therefore necessary here and now to formulate the plans and adopt the necessary decisions to ensure that this development of science and technology is co-ordinated among the countries of different levels of living in order to prevent its becoming a new source of disputes instead of bringing welfare and progress. We consequently think that we should try to bring about the transfer of scientific knowledge in all urgency and should see that the exchange of technological knowledge is speeded up.
25. All this, however, is not enough. It is also necessary to form new nuclei of research and new centres for the promotion of technology in the areas which are becoming industrially conscious. The United Nations has a fundamental mission in this field which may be decisive. It has four instruments for the task: the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology to Development.
26. It is impossible to over-emphasize the Importance of this item today for my delegation and for all the countries in the same situation as mine. For that reason I think that it is the duty of the highly industrialized countries to make a great effort to enable those organizations to fulfil the functions that were assigned to them in the instruments setting them up.
27. Argentina is prepared to play an active part in this fundamental part of modern life. Hence it cannot agree that nuclear research, and above all the exploitation of the atom for peaceful purposes, is the exclusive right of a few countries. The Argentine Republic wishes to reaffirm once again its firm support of any instrument preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons which is properly drawn up and which reflects an acceptable balance of mutual responsibilities and obligations between nuclear and non-nuclear Powers. And on this subject I have the honour to inform the Assembly today that Argentina has adhered to the Treaty of Tlatelolco on this subject, which was signed by the Latin American nations at Mexico City. No agreement on this subject, however, can restrict the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. If our countries were to renounce this possibility, it would mean that they wore accepting a new type of dependence and subordination.
28. Lastly, I wish to refer to two items that are of special concern to my delegation and that I could not fail to mention before this Assembly. Throughout the history of its foreign policy, Argentina has been particularly emphatic in upholding the principle of nonintervention. It has supported and defended that principle vigorously and has obeyed it punctiliously. In the United Nations, my country supported and voted in favour of General Assembly resolutions 2131 (XX) and 2225 (XXI) and has complied with them.
29. To my great regret, however, I must refer today, in this Assembly, to the violations of that principle that there have been since the last session. In recent days we have witnessed specific and definite violations of this principle which, having been duly confirmed, were severely condemned at the Twelfth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organization of American States, held at Washington in June 1967. These violations consisted in the instigation and organization of subversive activities, terrorism and other forms of intervention designed to change the regime of another State by violence.
30. Argentina feels obliged to express once more the concern with which it views these violations and to draw attention vigorously to the extent to which they are disturbing the peace of America and obstructing the normal course of the tasks and activities necessary for the attainment of general well-being and the progress of its nations. Argentina has not tolerated and will not tolerate these violations and will denounce them whenever it deems necessary in the forums that it considers competent.
31. There is one objective of Argentine policy that has permanent and undisputed priority: to procure as soon as possible the full exercise of Argentine sovereignty in the Malvinas. No subject is of more importance to us, there is no objective that stirs my people more, no task that can call forth greater sacrifices from them. The unification of the territory of the Republic is a national imperative and the present Argentine Government is prepared to secure its full realization. In keeping with a tradition of our foreign policy which has never been denied, we have decided to use peaceful means to obtain the settlement of this dispute with the United Kingdom. Having brought the question before the United Nations, we have placed our faith and our hopes in its authority and its ability.
32. The process of decolonization should embrace not only the countries which were the victims of colonial policy hut also those territories which were part of other States and which were occupied by force, their population being replaced by a nucleus of settlers belonging to the occupying Power. This population, which was foreign to the territory, was a cloak for military and political objectives of the great Powers in the nineteenth century.
33. The Argentine Government will in due course provide information on the progress of the negotiations with the United Kingdom, as it told the Secretary-General in its note of 15 December 1966. In any case, Argentina will not relax its efforts until the islands are returned to it.
34. Mutual consideration and respect among States, the absence of any discrimination between men, races or nations and the full exercise of human rights — these are the very basis of peaceful and organized International coexistence and the very essence of the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter, In striving to ensure that these principles are put into effect, we are fighting not only for the life of our Organization but also for the national independence of each one of our States and for the full development of man, Argentina today proclaims these principles once again because it knows that it can only attain the great national objectives through a life of full co-operation in the international community.