a.acon.equence, inalarqenumberOfthemtheveryfabricof.ociety wa.bein; affected neqatively. Ineomeca.e••ocialandpolitical dieruption hadledto violence and10••ofhumanlite.Effort. toimprove dome.tic policies were,inthe viewof.everalrepre'entative., aprerequi.ite tobreakinq whathadbecome• peuhtent back.lide. Itwalqenerally aqreed, however, tl'l·timpro"ementl inthe international economic environment, includinq more.upportive international co-operation policie., couldleadtoarapidturn-around indomeltic economic condition •• 18.Theacceleration otqrowthinindu.trial countri~. in1988walanimportant phenomenon. Anumberotdeleqation. pointed outthattheexpanlion of;ro•• dome.ticproduct inthe.eeconomiv. hadbeenpartioularly prolonqed. Inflationary pre••ure.,however, remained .tronq. TheMana9in; Director oftheInternational Monetary Fundempha.i.ed theneedtomaintain prudent macro-economic policie.. At ~he.ametime,whilelomeproqre••hadbeenachieved inreducin; maiortrade imbalance" intheviewofmanyrepre.entative., .tro~qeffort. inthatdirection wereItill re~uired a.imbalance. remained toohiqhandwerepartlyre.pon.ible for theinltability ine.chanqe ratelandintereat rate•• 19.Thedebtproblem. ofAfrican andLatinAmerican countrie., ••wellal.ever.l A.iancountrie., wereamaiorob.tacle tore.umption ofeconomic ;rowth, accordin; totheExecutive Secretaries ofthere9ional commi"ions andmanydeleqations., Lar;ely becau.e ofthedebtproblem, netfinancial tran.fer formanycountriel had fallenprecipitoully, andforleveral hadb.comeneqative. TheWorldEQoDomic ~y. 1989IIreported thatne;ative net{inancial tran,fer, onthewholehad incr~••edtomorethanSUS30billion in1988,the.iathcon.ecutive yearth.t overall nettran,ter, todevelopinq countries hadbeenne;ative. Thi.wa. particularly disturbiuq. Thenevdtotransfer r8sources abroad a~adifficult juncture intheireconomic eituation walaffectinq inveetmente adver.ely, andina numberofcountrie, locialexpenditure, werebeinqreduced. Arever••lofthi. situation wasleenbymanyOeleqatlons alapre-condition for.u.tained development. Recentinitiativel, intheTorohto SummitbytheOrouFofSevenand morerecently bytheGovernment. ofFrancoandJapan,wereanimportant .tep forward, butquickandwidespread implementation wa.al.oneeded. TheMarch1989 initiative oftheSecretary oftheTreas~ry oftheUnitedState,hadqivenan important impetustotheranqeofpropo,ed solution., asdebtreduction formaior indebted countries hadbecomeakeyinqre~ient tobecon.iOered infuture neqotietions. International traO.andtheUrugua~ Round ~O.Amajority ofspeakerl referred tothefactthatworldtradehad.xpandeO in 1~88byover8percent,matchin; thehiqh.st qrowthrateachieved intheOecade. Exportearninq, increa.ed fordevelopinq countri••asaqroupa.Don-eoerqy commodity pricelIhowedasiqnificant ri.e.But,whiletradehadthepo~~ntial to be-andoftenwas- akeyfactorinacountry'. qrowth, protectiQoist pre.su••• threatened itsbenefit.. ThelnciOenee of"man&qed" trade,unilateral form.of retaliation, anOdi.criminatory anObilateral tra~earranq.mentl wa.incr.a.inq. Thepotential impactofalinq1eEuropean Economic Community marketcompri.loq 320million consumer. by1992was.eenbylomea.anopportunity fortrade expension anObyother.acapo••ibJeimpediment tofre.trade. -13-21.Iv.n••oono.rn. abo"tmountin9 prot.ctioni.m w.r.rai••d,r.pr•••ntativ•• w.1oomed thepo.itive outcom., inAprilIg8g,ofthemid-t.rm r~vi.wofth.Uru9uay Roundofmu1ti1at.r.1 traden'90tiat.ion. and••pr••••dhop••thatthefinalr••u1t. wouldb.,ucc"lful. Ar.c.nt'9r••m.ntonfarmtrad.,n'90tiat.d bytheG.n.ra1 A9r••m.ntonTariff. andTrad. (G~:T), andthee.tabli.h~.nt ofth.CommonFundfor Commodltie., n'90ti.ted undertheau.plc••oftheUnit.dNationD Conf.r.nc. on Trad.andD.velopment (UNCTAD), w.r.al.oweloom.d. Multillt.rlll.m Indtb.mlplqem.nt 9tinterd'pendencl 22.r.onc.rnov.r9rowln9 uni1at.r.1i.m, bi1at.r.1iftm orr'9ionall.m inthetrade .r••~L'r.fl.ct.d more9.n.rally inthevi.wthatmu1tilat.r.lilm inoth.r economic activltiel walb.in9thr.at.n.d .ndn••d.dtob.lupport.d. Slv.ra1 d.l'9ation. d.plor.d thecontinu.d d.p.nd.nc. ofthew.aklr.conumi.1 onaf.w 1.r9'indu.tri.li ••dcountri.s. Th.yuri.d.t.p.toincr.a••theparticipation of allcountri••ln910ba1macro-.conomic co-ordinatiun andd.ci.ion-makln9. Mor• •ff.ctiv. mu1ti1at.ral co-op.ration andthemana9.m.nt oflnt.rd.p.nd.nc. w•• cal1.dfor. 23.S.v.ra1r.pr•••ntatlv••not.dthatUnlt.dN.tion.effort. inthepolitical fieldb.dr.c.ntly yi.1d.d important '9r••m.nt.,butmu1tilat.ra1 nA90ti.tlon. had noty.tr••ult.din.imi1ar9.inlin.conomic.r.... Di••rmam.nt andther.duction