YouSaid · the spoken record

Talboys

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS TALBOYS

lines on the record

57

first

1977-09-24

most recent

1981-09-24

sittings or episodes

2

sources

un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “We are therefore well placed to understand the far greater difficulties of the oil-deficient developing countries. We claim no special sympathy for New Zealand because we are well placed by comparison with most of the world's population. But our difficulties stem from causes similar to some of those which frustrate the developing world: declining terms of trade for countries which export agricultural goods and Increasing protectionism on the part of the affluent industrial countries. In many countries belts have already been tightened up to, and beyond, what is socially and politically acceptable. We must all think in terms not of palliatives but of fundamental shifts of attitudes and policies. 82.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

2. “in recently reviewing the decline in the terms of trade of countless which produce agricultural exports, and considering measures such as the supplementary financing facility established by the IMF, my Prime Minister made this observation: "We cannot say to a poor country, 'We will pay you much less in relative terms for your goods than we used to pay, but you need not worry as we will lend you the balance at market rates of interest providing you take the steps to lower the standard of living of your people.' It is difficult," he said, "to cut what you haven't got." 81. As an exporter of agricultural products, New Zealand has suffered greatly from declining terms of trade and, I might add, from the social burdens involved in adjusting to a greatly reduced income.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

3. “We are then in the area of attitudes. Attitudes determine political will, and without a shift of attitudes the indispensable consensus will continue to elude us. 79. No issue calls more urgently for agreement among us than that of the more just and effective use of the world's economic resources. It is at our peril that we should ignore the fact that one third of our fellow beings are subsisting in conditions of destitution and mounting despair, that, after two decades of international consideration and some, but all too little, action, development problems have increased in magnitude, that, despite dozens of conferences, the relative position of the people of the developing countries has each year steadily deteriorated. 80.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

4. “It would, of course, be naive to pretend that this body is an objective research institution or a philanthropic agency, or that national or regional interests are likely to be set aside, or that advances will be made except step by step through deals and compromises. That is the nature of national or international political institutions, of which this is one. We represent our constituents, and they have their interests and their aspirations, to which we must be responsive. But all of us, I think, can feel in our bones that in its economic, no less than its political, condition the world is not many steps away from chaos; and that for all of us the consequences of failure are so grave that, however intractable the problems, however elusive the solutions, we are called upon to make the effort to face them with seriousness and compassion.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

5. “Whether the issue be the softening of the expensive and potentially deadly rivalry between the super-Power?;, whether it be the establishment of human justice for all the people of southern Africa and the Middle East, whether it be the imperative of a more just and workable international economic order, whether it be the conservation and orderly use of the resources of the sea and the sea-bed, whether it be the sensible management and sharing of the finite resources of this planet, whether it be the halting and reversal of the arms race-whatever the issue, all of us have a direct stake in the outcome. No one of us can opt out. All of us face the challenge; all of us will share the responsibility if we fail to find solutions and then uphold them in good faith. 78.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

6. “This year's General Assembly, like its predecessors, confronts awesome problems which we human beings have created and which—we must believe—human beings have the intelligence to solve, if only we can summon the will and forge the consensus. Our Secretary-General has pinpointed the issues in his valuable report. Many of them have been with us for a long time. Others, as he notes, are new. All directly affect the peace, security and welfare of our fragile world community. Indeed, they are basic to its continued functioning and even to its continued existence. 77.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)

7. “74. Mr. President, I offer you my warmest congratulations on your election as President of this Assembly. It is at once a notable mark of confidence in you personally and a timely acknowledgement of your country's standing in the world community. 75. We welcome as new Members the Republic of Djibouti and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. New Zealand was privileged to be a sponsor of Viet Nam's application for membership. We did so not merely because of our belief in the value of universal membership of the United Nations, but because we regard the participation of Viet Nam as indispensable in the task of solving the pressing problems of South-East Asia. We look forward to developing a positive relationship with this dynamic State both within the United Nations system and in our direct bilateral dealings. 76.”

   1977-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 32 (1977)