7. Partners in Development
THE FIRST YEAR of the Second Development Decade is already virtually behind us; and even in this world of change, the year that is now coming to a close has been truly remarkable for the sweep and character of the changes it has witnessed. The United Nations is now able to claim for the first time the most populous country in the world as its legitimate and full-fledged member. In Europe, the community of six seems set on a course when it would soon be a community of nine or ten and even more. The Soviet Union and the other socialist countries, the United States of America and Japan are all in their individual way engaged in a new search for normalising their relations with the rest of the world and for strengthening friendly ties where such ties have already existed over a number of years. In the developing world, our own elections and the political developments in many other countries have shown that there has been a dramatic upsurge in popular sentiment for greater equality and social justice. The tragic events on our eastern borders have their real roots in the desire of 75 million people to carve out a new destiny for themselves based on democracy, social and religious harmony, friendship and cooperation with neighbouring countries and an end to the social and economic neglect of the past few decades.
Events have moved so rapidly over the past few months almost everywhere in the world that we cannot but stop and wonder whether our efforts for creating a world partnership since the end of the Second World War have been really adequate and whether we do not need to build anew in many directions. Indeed, if the past few months have witnessed dramatic changes all over the world, they have also shown how inadequate the international machinery that we have set up has been to deal with the most pressing problems of the day. One has only to remember the recent international monetary crisis, the present uncertainties surrounding foreign aid and liberalisation of international trade, the helplessness of our international institutions in resolving the basic issues underlying the present political crisis in the Middle-East or East Bengal, to appreciate that the present is indeed the time for a thorough stock-taking of the international development which ultimately will affect international cooperation for economic development.