YouSaid · the spoken record

Jaime Lusinchi

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS JAIME LUSINCHI

lines on the record: 70
first: 1985-09-24
most recent: 1988-09-24
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

“There is a close link between the fulfillment of their financial obligations by our countries and their prospects of economic and trade expansion. Our exports must grow so that we can pay our foreign debt, but first and foremost to generate the resources necessary to finance our development. We cannot devote the fruits of our adjustment efforts exclusively to debt-servicing, as we have been doing over the past four years. In 1984, for example, Latin America had a trade surplus of $37 billion, the largest in its history, but we had to transfer it to our creditors in interest payments. In fact, Latin America has become a net exporter of capital, which is a strange situation for a region of developing countries.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“In this respect, we consider it necessary to establish, through dialog, a mutually acceptable general frame of reference that takes into account the development needs and need for well-being of peoples and the need to establish a stable development-financing system and the will to regularize international financial commitments. However great Latin America's efforts, its problems cannot be overcome without a revitalization of its economies, and this requires the orderly and sustained growth of the world economy. But this essential balance cannot be achieved while the big industrialized countries maintain unnecessary protectionist barriers which with absurd, excessive selfishness they even seek to strengthen.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“A contingency clause has been included in these agreements that allows for changes to be made in the event of special situations caused by fortuitous circumstances or force majeure, or in the case of substantial economic changes that modify the basis of the agreement. We believe that this should be a universal standard for refinancing agreements. Moreover, experience of negotiations has taught us that an effort is necessary to create international economic conditions that will not endanger agreements already reached, that countries cannot be required to assume obligations that they are unable to fulfill, and that it is damaging to try to take advantage of or disregard the situation of countries experiencing very difficult circumstances.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We are determined that these formulas shall be of a multilateral nature, but we cannot remain passive if they are not achieved, because we cannot allow the fate of our peoples to remain at the mercy of an uncertain international economy; nor can we compromise the development of our nations beyond reasonable limits. Venezuela, like other debtor countries, has stated and given proof of its firm desire to fulfill its foreign commitments. In our case we have established restructuring agreements with our creditors that lessen the impact of debt on our efforts to ensure our national development. We believe, on the basis of current estimates, that our commitments are viable.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“The advances made to date have only contributed to preventing a confrontation and to keeping open the possibility of dialog. If, however, this dialog does not take place, if it does not find substantive solutions, if it does not cover all the countries involved, these advances will have been illusory. The Latin American countries, through the Cartagena Consensus, have proposed a dialog at the governmental level aimed at finding real and lasting solutions to the debt problem. Unfortunately, we met with no response. This leads us to the paradoxical situation in which the more the stability of the international financial system depends on us the more difficult it is made for us to find counterparts with whom to seek formulas that will enable us to maintain that stability.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“From the standpoint of international solidarity there is no justification whatsoever for keeping real interest rates several points above the rate of inflation, as has been the practice in international financial markets. It is indispensable and urgent that we seek a solution of this problem in order to relieve the burden implied by debt servicing and to avoid worsening the economic situation- of the developing countries. The lack of will to find shared solutions increases the possibility that we shall in the end face a crisis. Those who feel that the danger has been averted by the fact that the most difficult consequences of the problem have been postponed and have not yet affected international financial centers are mistaken. The danger remains.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We have reached th point where the only method proposed for resolving this problem has been the absurdity of turning the developing countries into net capital exporters and the only method of action recommended at the international level has been the imposition of policies that stimulate recession and unemployment. The industrialized countries must participate actively with the debtor countries in seeking more conclusive solutions to the debt problem and, in particular, in establishing protective mechanisms to cope with the high interest rates that are kept high so as to attract the capital necessary to finance deficits and high standards of living, while our countries, on the contrary, are being obliged to adopt severe adjustment measures at the cost of great sacrifice in order to eliminate existing deficits and honor our commitments.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“But such efforts cannot be sustained in the medium term. It is obvious that the debt problem cannot be solved at the expense of the well-being of the people and that a responsible Head of State can hardly endanger the future of his nation by carrying sacrifices to an extreme in order to settle its commitments. It is evident that each country's conduct is colored by different realities, but the debt problem in its dimensions and basic characteristics is of an inescapable collective nature. Thus it is obvious that only the sustained economic growth of the debtor countries will enable them to comply with their foreign obligations. Unfortunately, the serious, calm behavior of the debtor countries has not obtained a satisfactory response from the other countries and institutions involved.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I refer to the foreign debt of developing countries which threatens to paralyze economic growth, erode the process of democratization, upset social peace and destabilize the international financial system. It is a problem that involves the entire international community. The responsibility lies equally with the debtor countries, the creditor countries, private banking and international financial institutions. All of them therefore must be responsible for its solution; and to try to evade this responsibility may, in our opinion, be a mistake of unforeseeable dimensions. To prevent the debt problem from ending in a crisis the debtor countries are making significant efforts requiring sacrifices on the part of their populations and advancing adjustment programs that have helped to improve their balance of payments.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“- These scenarios, which are no less real because they are sombre, strengthen our conviction that, as was originally established by the Charter, it is the duty of this Organization to be a center for harmonizing efforts and wills in order to rescue economic and social development as one of the collective priorities of our time and to allow us in practice to overcome technical difficulties, reconcile our interests and go forward together. We must renew our commitment to development, without excuses or ambiguity, without paternalism or ulterior motives, reflecting our resolve for decisive action. One of the most urgent problems of this decade stems from the lack of a system for financing development and the weakening of the institutions that were created for that purpose.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“This situation of uncertainty regarding the present relevance of the commitment to the problem of development generates a lack of confidence and leads to a greater degree of insecurity regarding the future of all. We cannot claim that we lack the necessary resources. The intellectual and material heritage of humanity if used rationally would be sufficient to overcome poverty and stagnation. It is time therefore to invest it in the priorities demanded by that objective. We must reflect on whether we can continue to consent to a world characterized by intolerable domination, factions in conflict and repressed tension.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“We cannot console ourselves with a deceptive nuclear peace advocated by both sides but bearing within it an incalculable destructive potential, nor can we accept, in line with this strategic sophism, pretexts to carry the confrontation to other theaters and to further nuclear intimidation in clear violation of international treaties on the use of outer space. We therefore support and shall continue to support resolutely all initiatives aimed at demilitarizing space. Here there can be no room for doubt or hesitation. The struggle against underdevelopment is as important as the struggle for peace. In recent years there has been a process of erosion that has undermined the very basis of the political consensus on which international co-operation for development is based.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Despite all the efforts deployed by this Organization, the nuclear-arms race between the super-Powers continues relentlessly to the consternation of all, carrying all of us with it as hostages to an uncertain and endangered future. The arguments with which we have tried to persuade those Powers to sponsor convincing disarmament and nuclear-arms-control measures have virtually been exhausted in what amounts to a deaf-ear policy on the part of the great Powers. Since 1945 the General Assembly alone has adopted more than 600 resolutions on subjects linked to disarmament in a markedly progressive trend.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Simon Bolivar, the liberator, had shown us the way. This Organization has been and is faced with problems of extraordinary magnitude - problems that it has been unable to solve or mitigate, because of lack of goodwill, considerations of expediency, complicity, or simply lack of understanding of the great historical changes. These are situations that have posed a dilemma, that have acquired ever more alarming proportions and that have today become established priorities. In a great paradox of our times, the Powers that played a decisive role in establishing the United Nations soon undermined by their actions what they had so solemnly proclaimed at the end of the Second World War.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“The historic process of decolonization that subsequently took place under the auspices of the United Nations made it possible for more than 70 countries in the three regions of the developing world to attain independence. In mentioning the many effects of decolonization, we must stress the role played by the majority group in the United Nations that the countries of Latin America constituted, and their outstanding performance in the debates and decisions of the General Assembly during the years prior to the incorporation of the young States of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. He Latin Americans can feel proud to have been in the front line of the struggle against colonialism, a course of conduct that was no more than our duty in view of our historical roots and our commitment to freedom and solidarity.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“As the United Nations evolved it became evident that its action should encompass diverse areas if real peace was to be ensured and the deep causes of violence and the degradation of man were to be eradicated. The Organization had to assume new tasks, becoming a system dedicated not only to preventing conflict but also to promoting economic and social development. The very membership of the United Nations reflects one of the major changes of the present day: a significant number of countries is playing an ever greater role in the formulation of policies and initiatives. In 1945 more than 750 million persons - almost a third of the world's population - lived under colonial rule.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“By drawing up a balance-sheet of what has occurred on the international scene since 1945, we are in large measure analyzing the role fulfillled by the United Nations, the leading arena for far-reaching decisions and a reflection of international life itself, marked as it is by countless risks and conflicts. To examine the present situation of the international community and its future outlook inevitably involves judging the prospects, the relevance and the influence of the United Nations as a factor of rapprochement among States. Wars, confrontations and reckless actions during these times of upheaval paradoxically strengthen its relevance and the need to preserve it as a mechanism directed to the rule of reason in international relations.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Venezuela comes to this session of the General Assembly with a strengthened determination to achieve peace, justice and understanding among the peoples of the world; with the same determination with which, together with 50 other countries, it signed the San Francisco Charter, in circumstances unprecedented in the history of the world. We wished to bear witness through our presence here to the unswerving faith of the Venezuelan people in the potential of the United Nations, established with the support of Latin America, 22 of whose countries are founding Members.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“Today, when the possibility of confrontation seems not only to be getting the better of world leadership but also to be guiding some of its steps, it has become necessary to reaffirm that commitment. Decisive action is therefore required to give new life to this irreplaceable forum where we meet to combine our efforts. We are now celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations with mixed feelings that fluctuate between joy and uncertainty, deeply concerned because the principles and purposes that led to the establishment of the United Nations seem to fade before more immediate and subordinate interests, including a desire for domination which is as dangerous as it is outdated.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)
“I should like, first of all, to convey to you. Sir, my sincere congratulations on your election as President of the fortieth session of the General Assembly. Your broad and relevant experience in the United Nations, your outstanding capabilities and acknowledged spirit of conciliation do honor to your country and to this significant anniversary. I should also like once again to convey to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, our sincere congratulations for his accomplishments as the head of our Organization. Forty years ago, in response to the strife and tragedy of the Second World War, the United Nations was created for the purpose of securing peace, development and coexistence, with mutual respect, among States.”
1985-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 40 (1985)