Bolivia, 1957

I should like to begin by congratulating Sir Leslie Munro most heartily on his election to the distinguished office of President of the General Assembly.

2. In recent years, confidence in the results of United Nations action has grown stronger, and it is a fact that the Organization has been very successful in many of its efforts. But it is equally clear that the great objectives which our Organization originally set itself involve more than purely political problems. I believe that it is our duty to persuade the great Powers that there are serious structural problems still unsolved in many countries which are probably as deserving of consideration as the maintenance of international peace or, on a different level, the application of the right of peoples to self-determination. In reality, what is at stake is the destiny of mankind, man’s right to live Indignity. We should not, therefore, consider that only certain objectives are deserving of our attention.

3. It is evident that the majority of the countries in the international community have been unable to progress at the same speed as certain others. Since the Second World War, the more fortunate countries have been advancing towards the conquest of material well-being at a pace which makes it all the more noticeable how difficult it is for others to benefit from the new inventions of science and technology. That is why certain countries, despite the high level of their civilization and the wealth of their cultural tradition, today regard the progress made by the privileged countries as if it had been accomplished by men from other worlds. It is tragically Ironic that the latest scientific accomplishments should seem to the under-developed nations to be the work of Martians or creatures from science fiction.

4. The rapidity with which the material world has been transformed during the last decade has accentuated the social and economic differences between the great Powers and the smaller ones. While the former are today enjoying the benefits of technology, the latter are confronted with fresh and more pressing problems caused by the imbalance between the countries which are prosperous and those which are not.

5. Accordingly, it is the function of the United Nations to take the lead in efforts to ensure that the living standards of the people of the poorer countries are gradually brought up to the level of the inhabitants of the other States which are today enjoying prosperity. For this purpose it will be necessary to take advantage of every move designed to translate into economic reality the principles of technical assistance. Bolivia, which is receiving such co-operation from the United Nations, is today a perfect example of this need to proceed from theory to practice.

6. For this reason, my country strongly supported the establishment of the Special United Nations Fund for Economic Development. We consider it most encouraging that the United Nations should have drafted the legal framework of this instrument of economic co-operation. However, until such an instrument becomes operative, we must take care to maintain normal international trade, especially between the countries which produce raw materials and the industrialized countries which consume these materials.

7. Conditions in the past caused certain countries to develop a mono-productive type of economy; in the case of Bolivia, the economy is based on minerals. Trade in these primary materials — such as the lead and zinc referred to by the Foreign Minister of Peru in his statement [683rd meeting] is today threatened by tariff barriers. I refer to measures tending to establish discrimination by reason of the origin of such primary materials.

8. If the markets of the highly industrialized countries should be closed, what would be the future of these extractive industries, and what would be the effect on the vulnerable economies of the mono-productive countries? We hope that this situation may be understood by those who, if they were to apply measures of excessive protection, might cause irreparable harm.

9. In the much discussed problem of disarmament, which the Assembly will discuss again, as it has done in former years, a solution could be found if the great Powers approached it in the spirit in which the President of the United States approached it when, speaking before the United Nations General Assembly [470th meeting], he appealed for the peaceful utilization of discoveries in the field of nuclear physics.

10. However, it is clear that in connexion with this important problem we must consider the limitation and reduction of conventional armaments, and that this is a matter of direct concern to the under-developed countries. In this problem, as mothers confronting us, it is the responsibility of the smaller countries to commend to the great Powers the path of wisdom, by means of unmistakable evidence of goodwill.

11. In 1955, during the general debate at the tenth session of the General Assembly, Dr. Siles Zuazo, then head of the Bolivian delegation and today President of Bolivia, stated [523rd meeting] that it was in the higher interest of mankind and of the maintenance of international peace to limit the armaments of the under-developed countries. He stated bluntly that a large part of the huge resources employed by the small countries for the acquisition of arms should be applied to the development of production in all phases of economic activity.

12. My delegation considers that President Siles Zuazo's statement is still timely, and that it is even more urgent now than formerly for the smaller countries to disarm, or at least to reduce their armaments to the level consistent with the necessities of internal order and international security. This security, I might add, is determined by the change which has occurred in the very concept of defence, for conventional armaments mean little or nothing as compared with the hydrogen bomb and intercontinental missiles. It would also be naive to claim that the under-developed countries or those distant from the critical areas will play any decisive military role in the event of a world conflict.

13. Owing to adverse circumstances, Bolivia is now a landlocked country. Cut off from the sea ports that were a part of its territorial heritage, Bolivia has persistently sought means of compensating for this anomalous condition, which has a decisive bearing on the need to ensure free and unrestricted transit to the great sea lanes of the world.

14. In the United Nations — where the needs and aspirations of all peoples of the world find expression — it was decided last year [resolution 1105 (XI)] to convene an international conference on the law of the sea. One of the principal items on the agenda of this conference will be the study of the problems affecting the landlocked countries, a matter which concerns one-quarter of the States Members of this Organization. My Government is profoundly interested in this conference, since we believe it is destined to have a most important influence on the maintenance of international peace and security and on the development and prosperity of the world economy.

15. The economic development of my country, specifically the exploitation of petroleum and the necessity of transporting petroleum to foreign markets by means of pipelines through neighbouring countries, poses new problems relative to freedom of transit. The forthcoming conference will undoubtedly consider with particular care the conditions governing the transport of petroleum originating in landlocked countries, with a view to laying down general principles.

16. In this connexion, I take pleasure in paying a tribute to the generous understanding shown by the Governments and peoples of all the neighbouring countries which have granted Bolivia facilities for the construction of pipelines. Nevertheless, we consider that the conference which is to meet in Geneva next year ought to adopt regulations governing freedom of transit and the fuller exercise of this freedom.

17. In conclusion, I wish to state that my delegation will spare no effort to co-operate with all the delegations present here for the accomplishment of the purposes of this Organization.