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General Assembly-c-Twenty-mmn Session-Plenary Meenags

49. But, thirdly, there must be, as between the developed world and the developing countries, whether endowed with raw materials or not, a transfer of technology to bridge that most fundamental gap which, as I said a few moments ago, remains a formidable force perpetuating the division of the world into the "haves" and "have nots" even after the end of the colonial era. The forthcoming Euro-Arab dialogue, in which my country as a member of the European Economic Community will be participating, will, I hope, among other things, lead to a beginning of such a transfer of technology in favour of one group of developing countries and could perhaps, if successful-as we hope it will be-provide a model for similar arrangements between other groups of countries. 50. But pending the development of a long-term plan comprising infer alia these elements, we must ensure as a preliminary step that there is no recurrence of the disastrous cycle of gross fluctuations in the prices of raw materials which has in the past inflicted, such misery on poor countries dependent on raw materials for their livelihood and disrupted the markets of the industrialized countries, whose stability is important to the world as a whole. 5!. In other words, the benefits gained by many poor countries as a result of the' rise in the prices of raw materials in the past couple of years must by some means be substantially guaranteed pending the development of arrangements that will assure to them a continued, steady future growth of real income from these sources. The European Community, in its negotiations with the associated African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in Jamaica two months ago, undertook some first tentative steps in this direction which will, however, need to be reinforced and to be extended much more widely if the trading gains secured by the raw-material-producing countries 'in the last couple of years are to be maintained.

52. Next, as part of the immediate programme demanded by the urgent needs of the present situation, there must be an adequate emergency fund to help those developing countries which, because of their lack of raw materials, have merely had their poverty made even more absolute by these recent price movements and have, in some instances, been threatened with actual starvation, as we have just heard in moving terms from the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The efforts to get an emergency fund of this kind off the ground have been frustratingly slow, and have hitherto evoked a somewhat uneven response from those whose means impose on them a severe responsibility in this matter. A number of countries, including those of the. European Economic Community and a number of the oil-producing countries, have tried in their different ways to give a lead in this matter, but this lead has yet to be followed on a scale large enough to offer an assurance that the action to be taken in respect of this aspect of the problem will be in any degree commensurate with the urgent need.

53. Finally, and equally urgently, effective international action is required to prevent the impact of the recent sudden deterioration in the terms of trade of the industrialized countries from precip-

itating a world recession. Almost a year has now passed since the increase in oil prices, and well over a year since some prices of raw materials started to move sharply upwards, but there still seems to be dangerous hiatus in the redirecting of surplus funds not being spent on current consumption or invest.' mentby those who have received them; these funds are not yet working their way back into the system on a scale sufficient to maintain world economic activity. Moreover, as between the countries within the industrialized group of nations, no adequate progress has yet been made with smoothing out the uneven distribution of the impact of these events on somewhat differently placed national economies nor has there been on the part of most of these coun: tries sufficient progress in tackling the inflationary impact of the sharp price increases they face, which now threaten to precipitate a dangerously sharp second-stage wage cost inflation within many of these States. 54. What I have just said concerning the need to replace a false equilibrium in the economic sphere finds its application also, I believe, in the political sphere. There was a time when the world political balance seemed to be a function almost exclusively of the relationship between two super-Powers. We see today clearly that this is no longer the case; quite apart from the new situation created by the return of China to its rightful role as an active world Power, by the emergence of Japan as one of the world's major industrial Powers, and by the coming together of nine of the countries of Western Europe in a new European community, there has been the emergence of the group of non-aligned countries. Moreover, the relationship between the two super-Powers has settled into a more stable pattern and the confrontation that existed between them has, to a degree, been replaced as a source of world tension by local conflicts in various parts of the world, some of which carry in themselves, however-as others have already pointed out in this debate-the seeds of a threat to world peace. 55. At the same time, the former simple balance of terror between the nuclear capabilities of the two super-Powers has been replaced by anew, increasingly dispersed, and therefore perhaps increasingly threatening, proliferation of nuclear weapons and of the means to create them. The dangers posed by these developments, and the need for effective action to deal with them, were rightly stressed here last Monday by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Kissinger [2238Ih meeling]. As a country which a decade ago played a constructive part in the initiation of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons [reso/lItion 2373 (XXII), annex], Ireland is particularly concerned at the recent evidence of a breakdown in the safeguards then introduced and will join in any effort to restore tight control over the spread of nuclear weapons. 56. These new problems cannot be met by old, simplistic solutions; they require a far more sophis~ ticated approach, one that will involve many nations in the exercise of statesmanship and self-restraint. What frankly is frightening is that here in the political sphere as in the economic sphere the achie vementof a new and more equitable world equilibrium, one that would be acceptable to the world's peoples

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