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and Economic Development" (HGM (91) 5). This will be accompanied y the conclusions of the Meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers, who will have considered the Report the week before your own Meeting.
The Report considers all the major issues affecting development. It notes that change is increasing adjustment challenges but it is also providing expanding opportunites. You will no doubt wish to ensure that the welcome developments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and the positive response to them do not impact adversely on developing countries, many of which are facing worse economic circumstances while also making valiant efforts to secure reform and recovery.
In the context of increasing competition for limited world savings, you might wish to consider what more could be done through official and private flows to ensure positive real resource transfers to developing countries, not least through practical Commonwealth innovative efforts like the establishment of the Commonwealth Equity Fund and the proposal, now accepted by the Caribbean Community, for a Caribbean Investment Fund.
A successful Uruguay Round remains vital for world economic progress and you may wish to consider how you can help to provide momentum to the resumed negotiations in order that they can fruitfully balance the interests of developed and developing countries in an agreed outcome.
CD
Indebtness remains a major development constraint and the search for solutions, especially for the low-income and lower middle-income heavily indebted countries, must continue. In relation to the former, the Commonwealth might wish to consider how it can further help secure acceptance of the 'Trinidad and Tobago' terms which Commonwealth Finance Ministers endorsed at their 1990 Meeting. You may wish to consider also what further can be done to assist developing member countries in achieving their policy objectives in vital areas like adjustment, capital market development and privatisation.
The Expert Group Report calls for a high-level political process to reinvigorate development co-operation. In Kuala Lumpur, Heads of Government supported the need for renewed dialogue between North and South and felt that the Commonwealth might have a particular role to play. Your discussions of the Report should therefore provide a unique opportunity for the Commonwealth to take a major international initiative in development co-operation.
(ii) Environment
A major but related issue prominent on the international agenda, is the environment. You are meeting at a time when you could give much-needed high-level political impetus to preparations for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Brazil in mid-1992. To assist your discussions you will have before you the Report of a Commonwealth Expert Group "Sustainable Development: An Imperative for
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