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Basic Documents: Declaration on UNCTAD Declaration of the Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement on the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at the Eleventh Summit Meeting Held in Cartagena De Indias, Colombia, 18-20 October, 1995 We the Heads of State or Government of the Movement of the Non-Aligned Countries gathered at the Eleventh Summit Meeting of our Movement in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, are mindful that the United Nations has to play a crucial role in achieving widespread and equitable development by promoting an appropriate international environment for development and coordinating the broad contours and directions of international economic relations. We stress that the issue of development remains the predominant concern of the international community specially in view of the challenges and opportunities offered by globalization and liberalization, and the need to eradicate poverty, reduce disparities and redress imbalances in the world economy. We are also desirous of brining development back to the centre stage of international deliberations, promoting a constructive dialogue for development, and ensuring concerted international efforts to address the principal problems facing developing countries through a renewed sense of common purpose. We, therefore, reaffirm the central role of UNCTAD as the primary economic organization under the United Nations and as a universal forum for intergovernmental deliberations and negotiations; policy and consensus building; monitoring, implementation and follow-up; and technical cooperation, with a view to accelerating economic growth and development, particularly that of developing countries. UNCTAD, in view of its expertise and mandate, plays a cardinal role in providing the development perspective to international trade deliberations and offers an appropriate forum for building consensus on new and emerging issues and preparing the groundwork for negotiations of further trade agreements in the appropriate fora. We, in this regard, welcome the appointment of the new Secretary General of UNCTAD with the conviction that this will lead to the further strengthening of UNCTAD. We reaffirm our support for the mandate of UNCTAD as the focal point within the United Nations for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues including trade, commodities, finance, investment, external debt, services, technology and environment. We also stress the critical importance of enabling UNCTAD to discharge its mandate fully, making it a more effective instrument for promoting development, particularly that of developing countries. UNCTAD, in the context of preparations for UNCTAD IX, is urged to give increased focus to priority issues for development and identify ways of maximizing the development impact of globalization and liberalization while minimizing the dangers of instability and marginalization. UNCTAD is also being requested to study trends and issues in the world economy, particularly those that have an impact on developing countries, and propose policies and measures, both international and national, that can address projected problems. We urge UNCTAD to strengthen its think-tank role for developing countries in the context of a changing world economic environment and to identify, examine and present alternative paths to development. We further urge UNCTAD to perform the following tasks in the developmental context:
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