characterized mainly by a net flow of their resources to the developed countries, a reduction of their investments and the curtailment of public expenditure on develoPment Projects, including resources allocated to health, education, training, housing and other social services. This, in turn, had a direct and acute effect on welfare and employment in the developing countries, which placed Governments and societies in many developing countries before difficult choices. It also had an adverse effect on the development of technological capabilities in the majority of those countries, thereby widening the technological gap and the discrepancy in living standards between the North and the South. It should be pointed out that in the current international economic conditions · there is a tendency on the part of the industrialized countries to link the provision of aid to the developing countries to bringing about reforms and changes in the political and economic systems of those oountries. This will create social and political challenges for the developing countries in the decade ahead and will affect various aspects of their public life, creating new obstacles that are no less serious than the economic challenges they face today: hence the growing BHS/td A/S-18/PV. 6 53 (Mr. Al-Shakar, Bahrain) importance of the ,role that should J:x::! played by the United Nations, the specialized agencies and the international financial institutions, in considering and addressing these questions and in participating in their solution, both quantitatively and qualitatively, during the 1990s in order to pronote growth Clld development in the developing countries. Poverty and backwardness are the major ailments of this era. Either the international community eradicates misery, starvation and poverty by the end of the 1990s through a fair distribution of the world's resources among its popUlation, or the level of poverty and starvation will escalate dramatically and dangerously. 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the impact of the economic conditions in the 1990s on developing countries, highlighting the reduction of investments, curtailing of public expenditure, and widening of the technological gap between the North and the South. It also touches on the importance of international cooperation and the role of the United Nations in addressing these issues. The text's focus on economic development, poverty, and the need for fair distribution of resources suggests that it primarily concerns economic development and humanitarian aid.

**Category**
Economic development, Humanitarian aid and relief