Page 47 degree of flexj.bility and sot€ possible ad j ustrnent in t}le pronounced vie{vs of the negotiatiog groups ' what then might be the practical means throuqh which the United |Iations could renain the approPriate fo:r{n for the purpose? fn the first placer sonE tfrouqht :nay need to be focussed on the nego+'iatlng plocess itself. It '*ould be seen that sj.nce the establlshfient of the iI:lcTAD ln 1954 the negotiatlons on major items of trade and developnent J-ncludlag such issues as conmt'dlties' sys-.em of prefererrces, transier of technc: ogy etc' ' have been taken up and negotiated in the (:omfiLttees Established cn individual items. These negotiations {"rere taken fortard, dependlng upon the urge ncy of ttre osbasion' to the sesslons of the ullCtAD, ttre UNIDo ' the Ecosoc and even thd General Assenrloly' The negotiatlng process at eaclr sta.ge has virtuatly followed the'Pattern of a.- dlalogtue between l.nterested groups viz', tf,te Group of 77, Group B ( Industrlalized rratlons ) and Group D (Socialist countries ) and China, which is not a fiEmber of any of tlre Groups. Efris nodallty of negotiatlons which vlas lnitially conceived as being tn the interest of t$e developing countrle s woulil now appear to have outlived its utiMy ln tjre changlng pattern of world econonry and ln the context tlrat the premise on which t.}'e ecoiomlc btrategieE of the sixtj'es and r-he early seventies were forged have ceased to be valJ.d' Tlre Groups ttremse lves, ln many ways, are no longer l':ono- geneous Ln character wittr dlfferlng and confllctlng interests as betr een the rTEmbers of a Group, wlth the result that lt is often hard and a time consutilngA/40/726 English Page 48