16 December 1981

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 3201 (S-VI) and 3202 (S-VI) of 1 May 1974, containing the Declaration and the Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, 3281 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974, containing the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, and 3362 (S-VII) of 16 September 1975 on development and international economic co-operation,

Recalling also its resolution 35/56 of 5 December 1980, containing the International Development Strategy for the Third United Nations Development Decade,

Deeply concerned at the continuing economic crisis, particularly in the developing countries, and by the very limited progress in the areas of development and international economic co-operation,

Recalling resolution 127 (V) of 3 June 1979 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on economic co-operation among developing countries, in particular paragraph 13, and in this context the convening of the meeting to be held in 1982 of Governmental Experts of Developing Countries on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries, to finalize and approve the rules for the launching of negotiations to establish the global system of trade preferences,

1. Takes note of the reports of the Trade and Development Board on its twenty-second and twenty-third sessions;

2. Takes note of resolution 238 (XXIII) of 9 October 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, entitled "Assistance to national liberation movements recognized by regional intergovernmental organizations: South Africa and Namibia";

3. Also takes note of resolution 239 (XXIII) of 9 October 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, entitled "Assistance to national liberation movements recognized by regional intergovernmental organizations: Palestine";

4. Takes note with appreciation of the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in preparing, on an annual basis, a trade and development report to assist the Trade and Development Board in its consideration of the world economic situation and of medium-term and longer-term structural change;

5. Takes note with interest of the intention of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to provide an in-depth study of the world inflationary phenomenon in response to General Assembly resolution 34/197 of 19 December 1979 and of the agreement that the Trade and Development Board would consider the report at its twenty-fifth session;

6. Also welcomes resolution 226 (XXII) of 20 March 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, entitled "Protectionism and structural adjustment", by which the Board decided to establish a sessional committee at its twenty-fourth session, and annually thereafter at its first regular session:

(a) To conduct the annual review of the patterns of production and trade in the world economy, as provided for in section A of resolution 131 (V) of 3 June 1979 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development;

(b) To continue to review, along with the subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concerned, developments involving restrictions of trade as provided for in section B of Conference resolution 131 (V), with a view to examining and formulating appropriate recommendations concerning the general problem of protectionism;

7. Stresses the need to review developments in international trade, including those arising from the implementation of the results of the multilateral trade negotiations, and, in this context, emphasizes that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has an important role to play in considering multilateral trade in general and in formulating principles and policies relating thereto, and notes that proposals in this context are to be further examined at the twenty-fourth session of the Trade and Development Board;

8. Reaffirms the importance of the generalized, non-reciprocal and non-discriminatory system of preferences for expansion and diversification of the export trade of developing countries and for acceleration of the rates of their economic growth and that, to that end, the preference-giving countries will implement fully the agreement reached by the Special Committee on Preferences of the Trade and Development Board at its ninth session;

9. Recalls its resolution 35/60 of 5 December 1980, notes with concern the delay in convening the second session of the Ad Hoc Intergovernmental High-level Group of Experts on the Evolution of the International Monetary System, requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to convene the second session of the Group as early as possible in 1982, urges all States members of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to participate and requests that the report of the Group, together with the comments of the Trade and Development Board thereon, should be made available to the General Assembly at its thirty-seventh session;

10. Urges developed countries to seek to continue to adopt retroactive adjustment of terms, or equivalent measures, in accordance with Trade and Development Board resolutions 165 (S-IX) of 11 March 1978 and 222 (XXI) of 27 September 1980 on the debt and development problems of developing countries, and strongly urges donor countries which have not already done so to implement fully and immediately section A of Board resolution 165 (S-IX);

11. Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to continue, in accordance with Trade and Development Board resolution 165 (S-IX), to keep under close review the application of the detailed features set out in Board resolution 222 (XXI) for further action relating to the debt problems of the developing countries, and urges the implementation of Board resolution 222 (XXI), bearing in mind, as set out in paragraph 15 of that resolution, the agreement to review, at the twenty-sixth session of the Trade and Development Board, the arrangements agreed to in section B, of that resolution;

12. Welcomes resolution 243 (XXIII) of 9 October 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, on trade relations among countries having different economic and social systems and all trade flows resulting therefrom, and invites the Trade and Development Board to continue its efforts with a view to arriving at comprehensive decisions in this area at its twenty-fifth session;

13. Endorses resolution 242 (XXIII) of 9 October 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, by which the Board requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in consultation with the appropriate bodies, to prepare an action-oriented study on the co-operative exchange of skills, and to submit the study through the Trade and Development Board to the High-level Committee on the Review of Technical Co-operation among Developing Countries at its third session;

14. Welcomes resolutions 230 (XXII) of 20 March 1981 and 241 (XXIII) of 9 October 1981 of the Trade and Development Board, by which the Board decided to convene meetings of governmental experts to identify and examine in-depth problems and issues concerning the transfer, application and development of technology in the food processing, capital goods, industrial machinery and energy sectors, and urges all Governments and competent international organizations to participate actively in these meetings in co-operation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and other appropriate United Nations bodies;

15. Recalls resolution 127 (V) of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and, in that context, requests the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to intensify and complete its work in the priority areas indicated in resolution 1 (I) of the Committee on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries, and especially in the areas of trade information systems regarding the foreign trade of developing countries, state trading organizations of developing countries, multinational production and marketing enterprises, a global system of trade preferences among developing countries and monetary and financial co-operation among developing countries, which will underpin the process of economic co-operation among those countries;

16. Calls upon all countries that have not yet done so to consider becoming contracting parties to the United Nations Convention on a Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences, adopted on 6 April 1974, and to the United Nations Convention on Multimodal Transport of Goods, adopted on 24 May 1980;

17. Notes the adoption by the Trade and Development Board of the report of the Committee on Shipping on its third special session which contained a resolution calling for the convening of an intergovernmental preparatory group on conditions of registration of vessels;

18. Takes note of the programme of work of the Committee on Commodities, endorsed by the Trade and Development Board at its twenty-second session, in pursuance of resolutions 93 (IV) of 31 May 1976 and 124 (V) of 3 June 1979 of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, on the Integrated Programme for Commodities;

19. Also takes note of the agreement reached on a series of measures designed to rationalize the permanent machinery of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, contaained in resolution 231 (XXII) of 20 March 1981 of the Trade and Development Board and urges its full implementation.