Among the developing countries we have today resources, expertise, know-how, skilled labour, etc., and it should not be an impossible task for them to share these to their mutual benefit. The first step in this direction was taken at a meeting sponsored by the non-aligned countries, held in Dakar, Senegal. Years of colonial history have connected developing countries, sometimes of the same region, through a developed centre. ‘This trend has to be reversed, so that the goals we set for ourselves can be reached, with the developed countries, if possible, but without them, if necessary.

The Foreign Ministers of non-aligned countries at Lima agreed to examine and implement comprehensive and specific measures of co-operation among developing countries in the fields of trade, finance and technology, among others. Even while the international community as a whole deliberates on globally agreed solutions, developing countries must accelerate their efforts at mutual assistance and co-operation. Within the existing reservoir and potential of natural resources, technology and human skills, there is a vast area of complementarity, and we would want the active assistance and support of the developed countries and international organisations in forging new links between the developing and developed countries, and the United Nations system.