17
A programme for mutual assistance
Today Latin America occupies a significant place in the community of nations, and it is a matter of particular gratification that the non-aligned movement has become firmly planted in the Latin American soil. The holding of the meeting of non-aligned conference in Lima is a tribute to the important role Peru is playing in the
non-aligned movement.
We are assembled here at a point in contemporary history when both positive and negative impulses of far-reaching consequence have emerged, which could influence the future course of world events. It was fashionable in some quarters in the early years to criticize non-alignment as impracticable and even immoral. Today, there is wide-spread understanding and even acceptance of the relevance and importance of non-alignment. There is much greater perception of the positive and constructive role that Non-aligned Countries have been playing and will continue to play in working for universal peace and progress. We are faced by problems of grave dimensions in the economic sphere no less than in the political.
There still remain areas of darkness where the struggle for freedom and for the safeguarding of independence, sovereignty and progress continue to encounter forces of internal opposition and external intervention. Old crises and new tensions in different parts of the world threaten to disrupt the fragile fabric of peace. We are continuing to face many political obstacles in our efforts to build just international order, and recent economic crises of world-wide dimension have demonstrated the urgency of restructuring the world economic order based on sovereign equality of States.
This negative constellation of political and economic forces makes it imperative for us once again to assert our faith in our fundamental principles, to consolidate our unity, and to agree on lines of common action which would be of benefit not only to us but to the entire international community.