CONFIDEN TAL
y of specific undertakings to implement certain resolutions on which we have long standing reservations. The compendium of res- ervations (IOC(79)33 and any subsequent up date) is useful in identifying particularly difficult parts of the NIEO, and the statements we, and our Community partners, have made on them. Our general objective is to maintain these reservations without appearing unduly negative or leaving ourselves isolated from the rest of the Community or 'Group B', the Western industrialised countries. In certain circumstances a statement of our reservations (preferably in company) may be needed.
Background
6.
The Group of 77 developing countries (or G77; the number signifies the developing countries who worked together at the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, in 1964) has now grown to more than 120. The Dialogue is mainly between G77 and the developed countries of North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand operating in UNCTAD as Group B. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, who form Group D in UNCTAD, tend to keep a low profile, making trouble occasionally. They have taken the line that the plight of the ldcs is a result of their 'colonial legacy', but this defence is now beginning to wear thin.
7. The main resolutions and conferences of the North/South Dialogue
include the following:
Resolutions 3201 and 3202 of the Sixth Special Session of the
UN General Assembly in 1974, the Declaration and Programme of
action on the Establishment of a New International Order respectively, on which the UK and other industrialised countries made a number of reservations and interpretative statements.
The 1974 Charter of Economic Rights and Duties (CFRDS)
Resolution 3281 of the 29th Session of the UN General Assembly, advanced concepts very similar to those in earlier Resolutions but in what purported to be a more legally binding form. The UK, in company with other Western delegations, voted against
the Charter in the Second Committee of the General Assembly,
having previously voted against or abstained on a number of individual provisions in the text.
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