for the United Nations and the Secretary-General, Mr. Javier Perez de Cuellar, to whom I am pleased once again to pay tribute. Niger salutes his patient and tenacious work as the head of the Organization to promote the ideals of peace, justice and international co-operation. JP/jl A/S-18/PV. 4 52 (Mr. Bako, Niger) Remarkable progress has been made in strengthening international peace and security and establishing a climate of detente among peoples. However, much remains to be done to consolidate what has been achieved, while promoting the much-desired advent of a new international economic order, which will create well-being and prosperity for all. The world economic situation continues to be marked by crisis. I shall not take up time by describinq the worrying state of affairs in the separate development of North and South. I simply recall, as an example, that in 1971 the United Nations listed 24 countries in the category of least developed. Tbday, almost 20 years later, there are 42 countries in that category. This negative performance by the developing countries is the result of a whole series of factors: the debt crisis; the fall in commodity pricesr increased protectionism and the lower volume of investmentsr and the steady decline in official development assistance, where the target of o. 7 per cent of gross fumestic product seems more distant with each passing year. The peoples of the deveioping countries have pinned their hopes on many meetings and conferences. Exactly four years aqo the Assembly held its special session on the critical economic situation of Africa, which resulted in the adoption of the United Nations Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990 (S-13/2). Today, as we enter the fifth year of that Programme, the economic situation of the continent, whose recovery and development 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the economic situation of developing countries, specifically the stagnation of their development and the challenges they face in achieving economic growth and prosperity. It also mentions the debt crisis, fall in commodity prices, and decline in official development assistance, which suggests that the text is focused on economic development and international economic issues.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade