UNITED NATIONS Gene E1GBTEENTII SPECIAL SESSION OfficiJJl Records SUMMARY RECORD OFTHE1stMEETINGADHOCCOMMITTEE 1stmeeting heldon Monday, 23April1990 at3p.m. NewYork Chairman: ELECTION OFOFFICERS ORGANIZATION OFWORKMr.ZEPOS CONTENTS(Greece) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION, INPARTICULAR THEREVITALIZATION OFECONOMIC GROWTH ANDDEVELOPMENT OFTHEDEVELOPING COUNTRIES ThisI'1!COrdIIIUbjeCllD COm:ctKlfl. Com:ctions shooldbesenIunderthel'gnANreofamemberofthedeleptioo concerned withi"ON""".kofth.001.ofpublkfJli01llD theChiefoftheOffICialRecordaEdill'"Se.:1I0fl.RoomDC2-M 2Unile<1NationsPlIWl.andincofll')r8le<1 inacopyoftherecord. Correellon.. 111,11beiMUed.fbertheendofthe.essioo.ina5eJl'Ir81i!comgendum lOreachCommlrll!e. 90-55529 2471S(E)Distr. GENERAL A/S-18/AC.l/SR.1 27April ORIGINAL:A/S-18/AC.l/SR.l English Page2 Themeeting wascalledtoorderat3.25p.m. ELECTION OFOFFICERS 1.TheCHAIRMAN saidthat,asdecided bytheGeneral Assembly intheplenary meeting thatmorning, theVice-Chairmen oftheAdhocCommittee were Mr.AhmedGhezal (Tunisia), Mr.Eduard Kukan(Czechoslovakia) andMr.WangBaoliu (China), andtheRapporteur wasMr.Samuel R.Insanally (Guyana). ORGANIZATION OFWORK(A/S-18/7 (Parts IandII» 2.TheCHAIRMAN drewattention tothereportofthePreparatory Committee forthe Eighteenth Special Session (A/S-18/7 (Parts IandII». 3.Sincesomeorganizations wished toaddress theCommittee laterintheweek,he suggested thattheCommittee shouldalsohearstatements onthemorning of Wednesday, 25April. Ifheheardnoobjection, hewouldtakeitthattheCommittee decided toproceed inthatmanner. 4.Itwassodecided. 5.TheCHAIRMAN invited theCommittee toconsider theorganization ofitsworkas itrelated tothepreparation ofthefinaldocument tobesubmitted totheGeneral Assembly. SincetheGroupof77wouldbemeeting formostofthefollowing morning, theAdHocCommittee wouldnotbeabletobeginitsfirstreading ofthe textssubmitted toit,ascontained indocument A/S-18/7 (PartII),before noon thatday. 6.Fortheremainder oftheweek,hewished tosuggest thattwoworking groups should beestablished andthattheyshould meetconcurrently. Conference services wouldbeavailable forthetwoworking groups tomeetconcurrently forthree meetings daily. 7.Ifheheardnoobjection, hewouldtakeitthattheCommittee decided toadopt thesuggestions hehadjustmade. 8.Itwassodecided. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION, INPARTICULAR THEREVITALIZATION OFECONOMIC GROWTH ANDDEVELOPMENT OFTHEDEVELOPING COUNTRIES 9.Mr.GURGULINO DESOUZA(United Nations University) saidthatthesubject of thespecial session, theglobal economy, wasoneoftheUnited Nations University's themes forpriority action. Theglobal economy facedseveral critical problems, whichcouldbegrouped underthefollowing broadheadings: continuing slowgrowth intheindustrial countries, combined withmassive payments imbalances amongthose countries andthecontinuing danger ofinflationary pressures; theenormous drain onworldresources resulting fromunproductive expenditures onarmaments, particularly bythesuper-Powers; thestagnation, evenretrogression, ineCon,OITlic growth, investment andliving standards inawiderangeofdeveloping countr inEastern Europe; thecontinuing problem ofhunger andfamineinthe"Recognition bytheinternational community thatinanincreasingly interdependent world, thedeveloping countries couldplayanimportant rolein thestabilization, growth andexpansion oftheworldeconomy, fortheprogres andprosperity ofallpeoples."11.Hewished tobeginbyfocusing onthefirstissuetowhichhehadjust referred, thatofslowgrowth intheindustrial countries andthecontinuing massive payments imbalances amongthemajortrading nations. Itwouldbeuseful to startwiththetwindeficits oftheUnited States. Inrecentyears, boththe United States budgetdeficit andtheUnitedStatesexternal payments deficit had beenintheregionof$150billion. Inthepresent climate ofdetente between the super-Powers, asubstantial reduction intheirdefence expenditures should be possible. Asubstantial reduction inUnited Statesmilitary spending would
**Analysis**
The text discusses the theme of the special session, which is international economic cooperation, particularly the revitalization of economic growth and development of developing countries. The speaker mentions the global economy, slow growth in industrial countries, massive payments imbalances, and the drain on world resources. The focus is on the economic aspects, with no mention of other areas such as natural resources, health, education, or culture. The text also touches on the idea of reducing defense expenditures, which suggests a broader economic and political context.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade