multilateral forums as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to achieve understandings in that regard. We must return to the initial foundations of the Integrated Programme for Commodities and avoid· the continued deterioration of the various specific commodity aqreements that we succeeded in establishing. Those agreements, devoid of any price-stabilizing elements, have JB/21 A/S-l8/PV.3 98 (Mr. Figueredo Planchart, Venezuela) become mere information instruments. The heartening development of the entry into force of the Common Fund has run up against a variety of obstacles that hamper the effective fulfillment of the functions for which it was created. One of the key features that we are beginning to see clearly for the 1990s would seem to be the consolidation of powerful economic blocs, particularly among industrialized countries. The process of unification of the European Economic Community may be complemented by the inclusion of some countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The United States and Canada have resolved to construct a free-trade zone. In the Pacific, we can observe the building-up of a powerful economic bloc centred on Japan. It is necessary to avoid that the formation of such blocs should endanger the foundations of the multilateral trade system. The Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations is, for many, an opportunity to establish a new, rational and effective order in international trade relations. The results of the Round will have to be balanced between what is achieved in the so-called new areas and what we may agree in the more traditional areas that are fundamental to the countries of the South. Similarly, we hope that the conclusion of the Round and the convening of UNCTAD VIII in June 1991 can be seized as an opportunity to reasess the institutional arrangements that govern international trade and to move -why not? -
**Analysis**
The text primarily focuses on international trade and economic development, discussing the formation of economic blocs, the need for a new and effective order in international trade relations, and the importance of achieving balanced results in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. While it also touches on the concept of a "Common Fund" and the need for price-stabilizing elements in commodity agreements, these topics are secondary to the main theme of international trade.

**Category**
International trade, Economic development