Hopeful Developments
I have referred to matters that are at present the focus of international tension where critical situations prevail. Certain hopeful developments in Europe may also be noted. We welcome the signature of 135 Governments in Helsinki of the Final act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, which establishes the basis for the preservation of peace and further co-operation in that continent.
Since Europe has been the historical spawning ground for world wars in the past, this agreement has great significance. However, detente in Europe can have real meaning for the rest of the world only if this process is extended to other continents and particularly to the crisis situations of today.
The full potential of detente cannot be realised until there is a transfer of real resources from military expenditure to areas that are of vital concern for the General well-being of mankind. The very first resolution adopted by the first General Assembly of the U.N. concerned disarmament. That was only natural as the question of disarmament was an important preoccupation of the League of Nations and it was inevitable that its successor, the United Nations, established in the wake of the last world war, should as a matter of first priority concern itself with disarmament.
In the thirty years following the creation of this organisation and despite the regular and annual appeals for disarmament, especially nuclear disarmament, there has been virtually no progress. Instead we have been witness to an incredible arms race involving the stockpiling of nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction on the scale that brings into question the sanity of such measures.
The global expenditure on the arms race is of the order of $ 300,000 million per annum, when the world is crying out for resources to relieve hunger, poverty and social injustice. We are nowhere near even considering any serious measures concerning nuclear disarmament, which clearly deserve the highest priority.
Peace is the foundation for progress. At the same time, an enduring, peace cannot be achieved until the growing economic disparities in the world are checked and removed. The Seventh Special Session of the U.N. has made a serious attempt to identify problems, in detail, to locate some available resources, to pursue further studies of important questions and, above all, to engage in negotiations, with a view to exploring whether a meeting of minds is possible. The achievements of that session should neither be overestimated nor underestimated. Developing countries cannot look upon the final document of the Seventh Special Session with unmixed satisfaction. However, it is an opening and if the decisions are implemented in good faith and speedily, further fruitful dialogue can be continued on the outstanding issues so that the world economic imbalance can be redressed and the terms of trade for developing countries are really improved. The status quo should change in the direction of a new and equitable economic order, and proof of this has surely to come from the concrete actions of the developed countries.
The problem of under-development is as important in the economic and social field as de-colonisation in the political field. It constitutes a challenge facing the U.N. The United Nations is a unique instrument for fostering co-operation based to be adapted, with wisdom and vision, to meet the unprecedented challenge of the future.