147. It is an honour and a pleasure for the Argentine delegation to offer its congratulations to the President on his appointment to preside over the General Assembly, from which mankind is anxiously awaiting constructive decisions in the interests of peace. We are delighted that the Assembly has once again made a wise choice. It has elected a President who, like his predecessors, is a model of intelligence, experience, diplomatic wisdom and militancy in the cause of freedom. I have no doubt, however, that the Assembly also wished to give this leading place in the international community to his country, Italy — a country so dear to all Argentinians — and to Western Europe, whose historic influence upon the world is constantly being added to as a result of the individuality of its nations and the maturity of its peoples.
148. We cordially welcome into the international family the Gambia, Singapore and the Maldive Islands, countries which, having won the independence to which they are entitled, are honouring us by joining the United Nations. Their arrival among us is a heartwarming event in a world which abounds in
injustices. For we should recognize that, while independence achieved without war is a national triumph, it is also a victory for the universal movement in favour of freedom. The power of justice often brings such victories, and we must strengthen it in order to win many other victories which have long been awaited. For this reason, we regret that the emancipating force of justice has not yet reached certain American lands where the colonial system still anachronistically survives.
149. Even in Latin America there are territories which have been subjected by foreign Powers to colonial régimes and which are consequently the subject of study by the Committee of Twenty-Four under General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV).
150. In the Organization of American States, a fundamental distinction has been made with regard to these territories. During the discussion of the admission of new members at the First Special Inter-American Conference, resolution I, entitled the "Act of Washington", was adopted; that resolution opens the doors to new States which attain their independence but expressly lays down in operative paragraph 3:
"That the Council of the Organization shall not take any decisions with respect to a request for admission on the part of a political entity whose territory, in whole or in part, is subject, prior to the date of this resolution, to litigation or claim between an extra-continental country and one or more member states of the Organization of American States, until the dispute has been ended by some peaceful procedure."
151. As the United Nations is well aware, this is the case of our Malvinas Islands. There, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is illegally administering an integral part of our national territory, which it occupied by violence after it had evicted the Argentine authorities peacefully exercising the right of sovereignty there as the indisputable heirs to the territorial rights of the Spanish mother country.
152. In other words, the Malvinas Islands never formed part of the territory of the United Kingdom. Nor can they ever have constituted a colony, in the conventional sense of the term, since no legal rights could be created which would give validity to occupation of the Islands or affect Argentina's right to the restoration of its territorial integrity.
153. In these circumstances, there is no legal basis for speaking of self-determination; Argentina has always recognized that all the peoples of the world have that right, but it is a pre-condition of self- determination that it takes place in one's own territory and not in territory obtained by dispossessing others. To allow the future of the Malvinas archipelago to be decided by those occupying it would mean leaving it in the hands of people who were placed there by the United Kingdom. It would mean leaving it exclusively to the United Kingdom to resolve the problem. It would be as if one were to allow a person who had dispossessed another to confirm his own rights of ownership. For, clearly, the settlers are representatives of British power. Why so? Simply because Britain drove out the original population, replaced it and isolated the Islands. It fenced them off from the world. It placed them out of bounds, behind a British padlock.
154. The Committee of Twenty-Four duly considered the problem and, after hearing the parties, recognized the existence of a dispute. Sub-paragraph (c) of its recommendations to the General Assembly reads:
"The Special Committee notes the existence of a dispute between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island and that of Argentina concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)".
Sub-paragraph (d) adds:
"The Special Committee invites the Governments of the United Kingdom and Argentina to enter into negotiations with a view to finding a peaceful solution to this problem …”.
155. Argentina hopes to provide the Assembly with all the evidence required to prove the soundness of this recommendation and the validity of our claim. It will do so at the appropriate time before the Committee concerned. However, in conformity with the spirit of the recommendation and with its traditional belief in the peaceful solution of problems, Argentina has invited the United Kingdom to enter into conversations aimed at settling the dispute. It hopes that the United Kingdom is in agreement with this approach.
156. The Argentine Government is ready to continue to co-operate fully in fulfilling the noble purpose of the United Nations and implementing its decisions. We believe that the United Nations is the essential and the most suitable instrument for bringing about an international legal order regulated by justice and strengthened by security and by mutual respect among all nations.
157. We do not deny the difficulties. It will not mean simply reaching agreement among a few countries, but regulating a world in which there are a multitude of nations, of needs and of aspirations. It was formerly thought that all problems should be resolved at the national level. Consequently the thing most prized and protected by the international organization of the time was sovereignty. How, however, national objectives cannot be achieved within the boundaries of nations and are pursued in a wider context at the regional or world level. Consequently, without prejudice to sovereignty, the object which we are seeking and which constitutes a necessity at the international level is collective security.
158. It is no simple task, of course, to harmonize as rapidly as we would wish all the varied nationals, social and human demands which characterize the modern world. It is all the mere difficult when, despite its claims to universality, the United Nations does not encompass the whole earth. I drew attention last year to the fact that, even though we are building for peace and leaving the past behind, countries as important as the Federal Republic of Germany are not Members of the Organization. Other countries, both large and small, are also outside the membership. The universality of the United Nations requires us to ensure that it includes all countries, provided they are ready, as we who belong to it are ready, to accept its goals, to respect its decisions and to shoulder their responsibilities. The United Nations should avoid a situation in which a rival to it would be set up, for there is no doubt that the world would then be fatally split asunder.
159. Nor is it easy to unify our world while there remain in the Charter certain privileges that violate the principle of the legal equality of Member States.
160. In spite of all these difficulties and frustrations, Argentina has faith in the United Nations. For it has faith in justice, in morality, in friendship and in mutual respect among nations. We need to show patience and tolerance. God made man, but man made the world with its varied opportunities, inclinations and potentialities. To unite all this, we need the faith which God implanted in us.
161. We should all welcome the success of the United Nations in bringing about an agreement to halt the tragic confrontation of two proud nations, India and Pakistan, and the conciliatory and respectful willingness shown by the Governments of those two countries to reach a provisional solution. My Government has no doubt that this same goodwill and desire for peace will be helpful in the quest for a permanent solution. It warmly congratulates the Organization and is confident that the Governments of Pakistan and India will do their best to comply with the cease-fire decision.
162. Argentina, which has co-operated in the past in peace operations, has placed ten officers at the disposal of the Organization to assist in supervising the cease-fire in Kashmir, and it has made the necessary arrangements for them to travel to their duty station as soon as possible.
163. If the United Nations is to achieve its purposes, a definitive solution to the problem of the financing of its peace-keeping operations must be found. We hope that the goodwill shown by all countries in finding an emergency solution, which has made it possible for us to consider in this Assembly fundamental issues of world concern, will continue to be forthcoming so that this problem may be entirely resolved.
164. We consider that the United Nations should make proper use of regional organizations. The universal scope of the Organization's Jurisdiction is very clearly affirmed by both the letter and the spirit of the Charter. Moreover, the unity of the world, the inter-relation between its problems and the fact that events occurring anywhere have repercussions throughout the globe make such universality essential.
165. The Charter has also provided, however, for the regional distribution of responsibility, perhaps because it was rightly thought that problems could thus be resolved more rapidly and less publicly. For it is undeniable that a problem seems to assume greater gravity once it comes before the United Nations. The fact that the United Nations is in the public eye attracts attention to the problem and, because of this, the positions of the parties harden. In a regional organization, on the other hand, there is a more intimate atmosphere, in which tensions are eased. There is also another element, the existence of a regional consciousness, which facilitates the search for a solution. This circumstance coincides, on a broader plane, with the movement towards regional integration which is taking place and which should be aided and encouraged; the Argentine Government is working confidently to promote such integration.
166. For all these reasons, we believe that we should not speak of conflicts of competence or priorities of competence, but should try to devise procedures which will enable the purposes of the Charter to be achieved efficiently and rapidly.
167. There cannot be jurisdictional jealousies within the United Nations, for it represents the entire world. Consequently, the Argentine Government would never advocate no join in an attempt to oppose a regional competence to that of the Organization. It believes, however, that conflicts can be solved more rapidly, and in a context more free from the effects of the cold war, by regional bodies in the first instance. Naturally, we regard the regional approach not as a goal but as a stage. We know that the world is one, but just as there are independent and sovereign nations within the world so we must recognize also that there are regions anxious to preserve their own characters.
168. On analysing the international situation objectively, we find that, alongside other factors which are sufficiently well known and accepted, there are ‘three main sources of threats to and breaches of the peace. Thus our first conclusion is; we must not suppose that there is only one single cause or that we are faced with a simple conflict between good and evil. For this reason, we feel that to place all the fault on one side is to approach the solution wrongly.
169. As a tactic, it may seem good to lay the blame always on the same party, but if we are to treat the problem honestly we must recognize that all of us bear our share of responsibility although, of course, some bear a heavier responsibility and have less excuse than others, for in some cases it may be a question of mistakes or negligence and in other cases of deliberate aggressiveness.
170. The three principal sources of disturbance of peace, which may exist together or separately, are subversive aggression or revolutionary war, failure to refer conflicts to appropriate machinery in order to resolve them by peaceful means, and the underdevelopment of a large part of the world. For example, Viet-Nam, that noble and brave nation, is suffering the combined effects of these three causes of disturbance, because the conditions of a profound state of under-development, subversive aggression and the failure to refer the conflict to appropriate machinery are all undoubtedly present. It is highly unfortunate that account is not taken of the fact that conflicts spread, and that if the dangerous factors are not removed immediately the world may find itself involved in a tragic situation. Our naivety or apathy may lead us to believe that we are far away from the danger, but the aggressors know well that we are all within their reach.
171. In historic circumstances, in which the peoples, with their own ideals and motivations, have decided to bring about their emancipation and their political, economic and social transformation, subversive aggression is taking advantage of authentic national movements in order to infect revolutions with the ideological ingredients and alien impulses of revolutionary war. Revolution is national or it is not revolution. A so-called international revolution is no more than a foreign invasion carried out by political means, which may or may not be assisted by military means.
172. As has been pointed out on many occasions, this type of war is not waged in the conventional manner of open warfare with flags unfurled. It is waged in more subtle ways and with all the variety of methods which modern political, military and social techniques make possible. It is waged not by warfare as such but by revolution. It is waged not through invasion by foreign armies but through the organization of armies within nations. It is waged not by attacking the nation as a state, but by attacking, undermining and sabotaging the nation as a system, as an organization, as an institutional order and as an organized community.
173. People desiring to carry out their own revolution must therefore either refrain from doing so in order to prevent intervention by foreign forces or carry it out in a manner acceptable to foreigners. This shows the extremely reactionary effect of subversive aggression, since it tends to frustrate the true revolutionary impulse of peoples and to impose political forms and institutions not chosen by them.
174. Furthermore, revolutionary war inevitably provokes war itself. Thus far it has been conventional warfare, but no one can say what it will be tomorrow. What is always certain, however, is that it leads to one kind of warfare or another. But if it is clear that no one has the right to carry revolution to another country, then it must be equally clear that no one has the right to prevent a national revolution from being carried out. If one is tantamount to aggressive intervention that unleashes an international war, the other is an illegal intervention that provokes national rebellion.
175. Only the United Nations or the regional bodies are competent to assess the situation and to decide what action should be taken. Any unilateral intervention, no matter how well-intentioned, would run counter to the principles and guarantees essential to international security.
176. We have already said, and we reiterate, that Argentina believes in peaceful coexistence. But such coexistence is a deceit if it is accompanied by subversive aggression. In other words, coexistence must be based on an identity of views and must not be one-sided. To maintain that coexistence will follow the armed struggle — or to use the former to bring about the latter — is to show in advance that one believes neither in coexistence nor in peace. We are unfortunately witnessing a division of the world into those who wish to respect one another and those who wish to impose their will.
177. The Argentine nation coexists peacefully within its national borders. Views are respected and beliefs are freely professed. Although over 90 per cent of the population is Catholic, there are churches of a great variety of faiths. Our nationality has been woven from the threads of all races, who have found respect, security and equality in our country. All human rights are fully respected in Argentina.
178. We are therefore ready for friendly international coexistence, but we are also prepared to defend our way of life, to improve it and to affirm our national sovereignty with firmness and determination. We have no enemies. We do not wish to have any. We expect friendship from everyone, or at least respect for our independence and respect for the sovereignty of others.
179. This question of the historical vocation of the Americas, and consequently of Argentina, leads me to the subject of the peaceful settlement of conflicts. At the nineteenth session of the General Assembly [1292nd meeting] I spoke of the compelling and urgent need for machinery which, improving on that established by Chapter VI of the Charter, would make it possible to find a peaceful solution for all latent or actual disputes between nations.
180. I should like to repeat the proposal my delegation made at the nineteenth session of the General Assembly. We recognize that some problems are political while others are legal; but if they cause international conflicts, then they must all come under some jurisdiction which may be distributed among the political and judicial organs of the United Nations or of the regional organizations.
181. In our view, the problems facing the world today arise from the need to adapt the United Nations to the new situation which prevails, a situation that differs greatly from that envisaged when the Charter was signed at San Francisco. We endorsed the requirement that the United Nations should be universal in character. We are equally convinced that the Charter should be amended in order to adapt it to this new situation. In the meantime, however, we feel that it is imperative that all necessary steps be taken to prevent the uncontrolled action of disturbing forces from shattering the precarious and fragile balance of peace and security that has thus far been achieved and maintained with so much difficulty. To that end, we propose that all conflicts should be subject to an international jurisdiction which may be either political or juridical.
182. For this, it will obviously be necessary to set up a highly flexible system which will be adaptable to circumstances. For example, with regard to Argentina, the first steps towards a settlement of its dispute with the United Kingdom over the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) are being taken in the Committee of Twenty-Four.
183. Sovereignty should have less to fear from law than from force, from the international community than from international disorder, particularly in a society where there is an individualistic distribution of power. How then can a settlement with the strong be reached? Peaceful settlement is not only a means of protecting the weak, it is also a practical means of placing on an equal footing nations that are unequal in power.
184. Accordingly, we consider it desirable to make a specific proposal concerning judicial jurisdiction. Under Article 93, paragraph 1, of the Charter, "all Members of the United Nations are ipso facto parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice". However, of the large number of Member States, as of 16 June 1964 — when the latest Yearbook of the Court was published — only thirty-eight had recognized as compulsory the jurisdiction of the Court. In addition, only thirty-eight cases were submitted to the Court between 1946 and 1964.
185. There is obviously a reluctance to submit disputes to the International Court. The Organization cannot, however, allow such a situation to continue. Therefore, my Government is proposing a treaty that will deal with certain reservations expressed by States in accepting as compulsory the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 36, paragraph 2, of the Statue. This was the method adopted in the proposals put forward by New Zealand and Venezuela at the United Nations Conference on International Organization, held at San Francisco in 1945.
186. The draft treaty could be prepared on the following lines: the States parties to the treaty would recognize as compulsory the jurisdiction of the Court in all legal disputes concerning:
(a) The interpretation of a treaty;
(b) Any question of international law;
(c) The existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation;
(d) The nature of extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation.
187. Unless expressly recognized by the parties in respect of each dispute, such jurisdiction would not be exercised in the following cases:
(1) Disputes concerning questions which, in accordance with international law, come within the domestic jurisdiction of States.
(2) Disputes where the parties have agreed or are about to agree to have recourse to one or other of the means of peaceful settlement provided for in Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations.
(3) Disputes in respect of which the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations is exercising the functions provided for in the Charter.
(4) Disputes arising prior to the signing of the treaty or those relating to facts or situations antedating the treaty.
188. For this reason, we warmly welcomed the United Kingdom's request [A/5964] this year for the inclusion in the agenda of an item entitled "Peaceful settlement of disputes", calling for abroad study of the problem,, whose programme should be established in the light of the discussion of the item by the General Assembly.
189. Once again the attention of the Assembly is drawn to economic problems. In spite of all hopes and efforts, we have not made much progress in the economic development of countries, which has been described as one of the most urgent and fundamental objectives. This leads to the belief that there is still some lack of interest in the development of countries and that attention has been concentrated instead on the prevention of military conflicts. In other words, it would appear that some are of the opinion that under-development is not an active factor that can lead to aggression and breach of the peace, although it is well known that it is.
190. We are concerned at the continuing economic and social imbalances in vast areas of the world, but we are even more concerned at the fact that in recent years these differences have become more marked in both absolute and relative terms. This trend can be seen in the evolution of international and national events and is substantiated by statistics, although the latter must of necessity be incomplete since they refer to a very recent period. There are of course some happy exceptions. Argentina may be one of them, but my Government does not view the problem selfishly from the standpoint of its own interests but rather with concern for the interests of all.
191. As I said, the problem of development has become more serious. I would be remiss in performing my duty arising from my Government concern for peace and justice in the world if I failed to assure the General Assembly of the Argentine people's solidarity with those peoples and to appeal to the Organization to redouble its efforts of national and international co-operation in the economic and social fields.
192. Let us look at the figures and compare the situation of the developing countries during the first five years of the United Nations Development Decade with the 1950-1960 decade and with the developed countries’ figures. As regards production, in terms of the rate of increase in gross product, per capita, the outlook is even more unfavourable owing to the growth of population of the developing countries. Between 1955 and 1960, the demographic growth rate was 2.3 per cent, but in the last few years the figure has risen to 2.5 per cent. In the developed countries, on the other hand, the figure has remained constant at 1.3 per cent. In other words, whereas during the second half of the 1950-1960 decade the rate of increase in gross product per capita in both groups of countries was 2 per cent, it has recently risen to 3 per cent in the developed countries, while it has dropped to 1.5 per cent in the developing countries.
193. As regards agricultural production, in the case of the developing countries the increase was less in the first half of the present decade than in the second half of the 1950-1960 decade, despite a slight improvement in 1963-1964. There is thus an increasing discrepancy between the world's food needs — which increase as the population increases — and its food production.
194. I would remind you that when the post-war international system was being planned, the first meeting to be held, on the original initiative of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was the one which met in May 1943, at Hot Springs, to establish the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), because of the importance which the President of the United States attached to food production.
195. The World Food Programme clearly has not solved any of the outstanding problems. The conclusions of FAO as published in a recent report may be summarized as follows:
(a) Within a few years, a large section of mankind will lack adequate nutrition;
(b) An increasing amount of the world’s food production will not be distributed through normal channels, owing to insufficient purchasing power in the developing countries;
(c) For essentially technological reasons and as a result of economic under-development, the domestic production of a large number of developing countries will be incapable of meeting those needs which will increase considerably, owing to population growth; it is estimated that the population of those countries will have increased by 56 per cent by the end of 1980.
196. All those considerations have led the Argentine Government to reorient its policies. In recent years, Argentina, an efficient food-producing country, has constantly had to face protectionism, subsidies and unfair competition from other countries. It has therefore been fully justified in calling upon all concerned, and the developed countries in particular, at every possible opportunity, to take steps to ensure that their agricultural policies do not impede the expansion of the agricultural production of the temperate-zone countries. It does so not only because it knows that such methods are incompatible with the principles of international trade so frequently cited in GATT, but also because of its concern that the continuation of such practices will discourage an expansion of the agricultural economies of the temperate-zone countries, for that will lead, sooner or later, to a reduction in the world's supply of essential foodstuffs.
197. While continuing to uphold these views, the Argentine Government put forward at the Alta Gracia meeting convened in March 1964 by the Inter- American Economic and Social Council, and again at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, a proposal for a world food fund to replace the World Food Programme. This proposal is intended primarily to solve the problem of hunger that affects countless millions of human beings. The basic principles of the fund would be as follows:
(a) The activities undertaken would be multilateral in character. The fund would assume the responsibilities now borne by those countries granting bilateral food aid. Any continuing bilateral aid would have to be co-ordinated with the fund’s activities.
(b) Participation in the fund would be universal. For this purpose, the participating countries would be divided into four groups: first, developing countries that lack adequate food supplies and have inadequate purchasing power; secondly, developing countries able to export foodstuffs; thirdly, industrial countries with food surpluses; and fourthly, industrial countries which import food.
(c) The resources of the fund would consist of contributions in cash or kind, depending on the group to which the country in question belonged.
(d) To achieve its aim of large-scale operations, the fund would be considerably larger than the present Programme.
(e) The fund’s activities on behalf of a recipient country would come to an end when the country's level of economic development allowed it to satisfy its needs by market means.
(f) The system would be reviewed in five-years' time.
198. Turning to other comparative data, I might mention that in industrial production a more marked advance has taken place in the developing countries, compensation for the agricultural situation. At the same time it should be noted that while a growth rate of 8.1 per cent was recorded in the second half of the 1950-1960 decade, the corresponding figure for the period 1960-1964 was only 7 per cent. Meanwhile, the advanced countries have shown an increase in both fields by comparison with the figures for the previous decade.
199. The trade picture is no brighter. The total value of exports from the developing countries rose from $27,400 million in 1960 to $34,000 million in 1964 — a growth rate of 5.6 per cent, which is almost double the rate for the period 1955-1960. However, during the same period, the developed market economy countries showed a growth rate of 8.3 per cent, while the countries with planned economies achieved a rate of 7.5 per cent.
200. The developed market economy countries increased their trade from $82,800 million in 1960 to $113,000 million in 1964 while the planned economies increased theirs from $15,000 million to $20,000 million during the same period. Thus in world trade the growth of the developing countries fell below the average for other areas, and their share in over-all trade declined from 26 per cent in 1955 to 22 per cent in 1960, and to a bare 20 per cent in 1964.
201. With regard to financial assistance, according to information supplied by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the flow of long-term private capital to the developing countries had flowed down by the end of the 1950-1960 decade in relation to the early post-war years. Although such assistance picked up a little in 1964, it is still considerably below the 1961 level.
202. The flow of public capital increased from an average of $1,900 million during the period 1950-1955 to $2,800 million in 1956 and to over $5,600 million in 1961. Since then, however, the figure has levelled off and even declined. Although, according to the same source, contributions from the international financial organizations help to improve this situation, since their disbursements exceed the contributions received from the developed countries, it should also be pointed out that the flow in the opposite direction has increased more rapidly as a result of the growing rate of payment on bilateral and multilateral debts.
203. It should be noted that the total servicing of public and private foreign debts, together with other private capital earnings but excluding capital exported by nationals of the developing countries, accounts for one-third of the financial resources transferred to those countries. It may also be worth pointing out that capital exports by nationals of the developing countries are currently estimated to amount to one quarter of the new investment funds received.
204. Furthermore, in view of the fact that the economy of the advanced countries has constantly expanded, the flow of public capital from them to the developing countries has declined in relation to their gross national product from 0.75 per cent in 1961 to 0.59 per cent in 1964; in other words, it is moving further and further away from the 1 per cent goal set for the decade.
205. From the institutional standpoint, it may be said that, in the last few years—despite the progress which has been made and the untiring efforts of Mr. Prebish, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development — the hopes of the developing countries have not been realized.
206. A new approach to trade and development, consisting of a minimum adaptation of GATT to the needs of the developing countries, was approved by that body and has now been submitted for ratification by the parliaments of Member States. The "Kennedy Hound", on the other hand, is progressing extremely slowly. In agricultural production, the industrial countries, and particularly the members of the European Economic Community, have not changed their attitude towards protectionism, which is unjust and harmful to the legitimate interests of the efficient food-producing countries. In the industrial field it is still not clear whether the developing countries will receive preferential treatment in accordance with the Principles approved by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
207. The fact that the institutions approved at the last session of the General Assembly, following the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, are not progressing as rapidly as had been hoped, has given rise to concern. Greater co-operation is needed from the advanced countries. We were greatly encouraged by the remarks made by the Secretary-General, U Thant, at the opening of the second session of the Trade and Development Board.
208. The meetings so far held of the Special Committee on Preferences, the Committee on Commodities, and the expert groups on trade in commodities and manufactures have had little practical effect in view of the continuing apathy of the developed countries.
209. The Argentine Government considers that in order to make their work more practical and to prepare more efficiently for the next Conference, the Trade and Development Board and its Committees should, during 1966, prepare a draft trade and development charter to fill the vacuum left in international economic co-operation since the Havana Charter was virtually abandoned. The new charter should, logically, take into account the latest ideas on which a fairer system of economic co-operation between all countries of the world must be based.
210. However, while it is essential to bring about a more equitable distribution of world income and a better system of international trade, it is no less important to revise the monetary system in order to take due account of the pathetic realities of underdevelopment.
211. Consequently, if the monetary system is to be revised, both the views of the advanced countries and those of the developing countries must be taken into consideration. It would be a grave mistake to attempt to dictate monetary laws for the entire world from within a small group of countries. It would be even more misguided to think that the developing economies should obey monetary doctrines which the advanced economies did; not follow in their own initial stages. It should also be borne in mind that the developing countries are not so much concerned with deciding which should be the reserve currencies as with their own ability to obtain them at any time. Obviously if non-liquidity is maintained for this purpose, the question of which reserve instruments are used is of no account.
212. The situation I have outlined clearly shows that not only have living conditions for more than 1,500 million human beings afflicted with poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy not improved; they have in fact further deteriorated. Furthermore, this social situation clearly gives rise to a political insecurity which is spreading throughout the world. Thus the efforts made to secure international and regional military protection against aggression will prove inadequate unless we also make a resolute attempt to ensure the economic and social security of each national community.
213. As President Illia stated when he took over the reins of government, in order to universalize peace we must universalize development. Under-development is to subversion, whether internal or external, as fuel is to flames. This is why the Argentine Government has suggested the institutionalization, on an American regional basis of economic and social security. We believe that the United Nations can make a world-wide and regional contribution to this end.
214. We regard economic security as that combination of policies, actions and measures which will bring about conditions for the free economic development of the State. That security is based on such factors as a sustained increase in the gross national product, national capital formation, an adequate level of exports, a flow of public and private capital to complement national savings, the development of basic industries and an economic infra-structure, and access to the latest advances in science and technology.
215. When, for reasons unrelated to the national effort, all or some of these factors are affected in such a way as to endanger conditions for the free development of a State’s economy, its economic security would be regarded as threatened and it would be entitled to ask for collective assistance from the appropriate regional body.
216. All Member States would undertake to grant the assistance required of them and to comply with the decisions adopted by the competent body. They would also undertake not to adopt policies which might jeopardize the economic security of other Member States.
217. With the active sense of responsibility of a country committed to the cause of democracy, to the cause of its continent and to the cause of the world, my Government wishes, through me to voice its concern. At the same time it has sought to cooperate with the United Nations in the search for ways to solve all our problems. We have made certain suggestions, but I emphasize our readiness to serve the United Nations in any other way.
218. We have been told that in dealing with the troubled situation confronting us at the present session we shall be assisted by the devout and unprecedented presence in our midst of His Holiness Pope Paul VI. With the enlightenment of his faith, the experience of his sanctity and the authority of his Oecumenical Pontificate, we shall be strengthened invincibly in our work, which he will surely bless and for whose ultimate triumph he will intercede with God.