विदेश दर्शन

Political will and mechanism
    for process of change

India’s Foreign Policy gives a brilliant exposition of India’s role in international affairs between October 1974 and January 1977, the period when Y. B. Chavan was India's Minister for External Affairs.

Here is a statement made by him on September 2, 1975 at the seventh special session of the U. N. General Assembly in New-york.

It was barely eighteen months ago when the historic sixth special session was called to meet an emergency situation that confronted the international community in the economic field. At that time, the U. N. General Assembly had by consensus agreed to work for a new international economic order, recognizing the interdependence of all States, and the fact that the world could no longer be ruled from centres of power and affluence.

Since the end of that session, unfortunately, there has been reluctance on the part of some States to implement the agreement reached a drifting away from the concept of interdependence towards traditional colonialist attitudes that reflect the usurption by a small minority of countries of the right to own wealth and wield power. There has been a sharp reaction from some developed States to the inevitable assertion of equality by developing countries and their right to a legitimate and fair share in the world’s resources. If, the sixth special session was called to deal with a crisis situation, the seventh special session is faced with the failure of nations to deal adequately with that crisis, and the consequent responsibility for making a new attempt to resolve their problems.