opportunity to express our thanks and apprec iatien to them -the goal has been to assist the national reconstruction efforts being made by our own people as a whole. Ever since our country's liberatien in 1975 those efforts have been IM/3 A/S-18/PV. 7 8 (Mr• Srithirath; Lao People's Democratic RePUblic) particularly centred on agriculture, since rice is the staple food of our people. Thus, rice production has steadily increased since then,· and in years when the climatic conditions were favourable to us we have been able, in. Principle, to meet our domestic needs. The 1989 harvest, for example, was a record 1.4 million tons of paddy, enough to feed my country's total population of 4 million. Along with this undertaking at the national level, the Lao Government has for some time been establishing its new economic policy to stimulate local production, free the circulation of goods and open up domestic markets. It has also adopted a law on foreign investment that will enable my country to develoP and broaden relationships of economic, trade and other types of co-operation with all oountries of the world. It is against the background of the new readjustment policy that the Lao People •s Democratic Republic joins with other developinq countries to demand that the shortcomings, mistakes and injustices that have worked against them in the past be corrected in the formulation of the new International Development Stra teqy for the 1990s and in the strategy for the substantial new proqramme of action to be adopted at the second Paris Conference in September of this year. That will assist the harmonious evolution of the world economy from which the oountries of both South and North will derive their fair share of benefits. We should like to eunphasize th.at development aid should never lead to interference in the internal 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be a speech or statement from the Lao People's Democratic Republic, focusing on the country's economic development, agricultural production, and international relations. The text highlights the country's efforts to increase rice production, establish a new economic policy, and attract foreign investment. It also expresses the country's demands for fair treatment in international development strategies and aid programs.

**Category**
Economic development, Agriculture, forestry and fishing, International trade