the long term, inextricably bound with those of the developing nations, we have not fully accepted, either on the level of Governments or on that of Pllblic opinion, the key implication 1t:hat it is to the benefit of the developed nations themselves to help reduce the gap between rich end poor. According to the latest World Bank estimates, official development assistance to the developing nations remained virtually unchanged between the beginning and the end of the 1980s, at around $30 billion at 1987 pri.ces. At the same time, the combined income of the world's high-earning economies d.tring the same period reached record levels, of which development assistance represented a minute fraction. Indeed, donors as a group have fallen dismally short of the 0.7 per cent of GNP assistance target, although there have been notable individual exceptions. Even more disquieting are the figures showing that bv the end of the 1980s there had come about a reversal of the aggregate net transfer of resources between the rich and poor countries. An inflorr~ of $71 bill ion into the developing countries in 1980 was transformed by 1989 to a net outflow of $8 billion to the developed nations. Although weaknesses in dbmestic economic palicv applied by individual developing countries mav have contributed somewhat to this deterioration, there is no doubt that the chief causes lie in the dramatic decrease in commodity Prices, the worsening terms of trade and high interest rates imposed by the developed on BHS/jq A/S-18/PV. 6 14-15 (President Vassiliou) the developing nations, as the former adopted corrective macro-economic policies designed to protect their own economies from unemployment and inflation. Not only do the developed nations have an interest in helping the developing countries catch up, but they are also bound by a moral responsibility to do so, extendinq beyond any formal legal obliqation. 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the relationship between developed and developing nations, highlighting the need for developed nations to help reduce the economic gap between them. It specifically focuses on the lack of official development assistance and the reversal of the aggregate net transfer of resources from developed to developing countries. The text also touches on the moral responsibility of developed nations to help developing countries.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade