waldron@newport.rutgers.edu (James Waldron) (10/28/89)
of rural development would continue to dominate development policies until and beyond the year 2000. Of the hundreds of millions who lived at subsistence level, nearly 80 per cent were in rural areas and suffered hunger and malnutrition. In order to attain substantial growth in food production, it was essential to provide rural populations with adequate living standards through proper agricultural development. Israel had achieved the transformation from a primitive agriculture to a highly sophisticated one and it was now sharing its experience with many developing countries. Continuing, he reviewed achievements of his country concerning life under desert conditions, which included the elaboration of technologies for enabling plants and trees to thrive in the desert, and for creating forests in arid regions. He hoped that the experience accumulated by Israel in that field could be shared in "our region where peace will soon pave the way for a veritable regional co-operation". Finally, he said that he would answer the baseless allegations made by the representative of Bahrain when the agenda item dealing with Israeli economic practices in the occupied Palestinian territories would be considered by the Committee. MARIA GABRIELA TROYA (Ecuador) conveyed her Government's condolences and solidarity with the peoples of the United States and China, who had been struck by earthquakes, and with the people of the Philippines, who had been hit by typhoons. Regarding the Council report, she said the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction was of particular importance to Ecuador, because of its vulnerability to natural disasters. With the assistance of the Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Co-ordinator (UNDRO), Ecuador had carried out educational work and studies on earthquake preparedness. Regional co-operation and solidarity were of great importance in preventing on mitigating the effects of natural disasters. Ecuador wished to be the regional headquarters for the regional centre sponsored by the United Nations for disaster prevention. Regarding the World Tourism Organization, she said tourism had been an important part of her country's economy, and the potential market was very important. In Ecuador, barriers to increasing tourism included a lack of hotels, due in part to a lack of natural and financial resources. A law for the promotion of tourism paid special attention to the protection of the environment. Social and popular tourism were of particular importance, and a Fund for Tourism had been set up with state and private assistance. Regarding the World Decade for Cultural Development, strengthening national culture was an important part of the national strategy. The rights of indigenous peoples should be respected, and Ecuador's cultural policy was designed to strengthen national identity. BETHANY ARMSTRONG (Canada) said the Council had an important mandate to co-ordinate the work of the United Nations in the economic and social spheres. When the Council was unable to produce basic documents, its usefulness was clearly diminished and it lost momentum. The Council was constructive in its consideration of a number of specific issues, and there had been a very useful exchange at the second regular session on environmental issues. The question of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction had also been discussed in detail. The recent tragic earthquakes and hurricanes were reminders of the need to obtain objectives previously established for the Decade. The United Nations must enhance its research and analysis of the role of women in development, she said, and ensure system-wide co-ordination in implementing programmes to enhance that role. That commitment should be seen as part of a broader programme of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies. The United Nations, through WHO, had done a tremendous job in implementing the Global Programme on AIDS. Encouraging international scientific co-operation to prevent or control AIDS was important, as were efforts to make medication available as soon as possible. AMADOU DIANGUINA TRAORE (Mali) welcomed the initiatives of the United Nations aimed at opening a new era of international economic security, and supported all measures towards multilateralism. The Council's report had showed the highly humanitarian values of the United Nations Charter, it reflected the main concerns of mankind. However, the methods of dealing with economic issues privileged the symptoms rather than the roots of problems. He hoped the industrialized countries would be willing to start a constructive dialogue on the problems which afflicted the developing countries. While interdependence was growing, he said, there were asymetrical economic relations which could jeopardize international economic security. Turning to the topic of United Nations decades, he said that if positive results were not achieved, decades should not be repeated. He attached great importance to the Second Transport and Communications Decade in Africa, because the first one had achieved some results, and African countries were severely handicapped in those areas. Finally, he stressed that dialogue could be a substitute to threats or confrontation; political achievements, however, would only be possible if the gap between developed and developing countries could be narrowed. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | United Nations | Screen Gems in patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information | misc.headlines.unitex patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange | -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-