text: approaches to the debt problem, from the Toronto Pla1 to the Brady Plan to the Mexican package debt renegotiations. In this context we support the call of the Group of 77 for more innovative mechanisms to help reduce significantly the debt burden of developing countries. The debt issue is obviously a oomplex and complicated problem that cannot be discussed in depth in this statement. Instead, we recommend the lucid approach that is discussed in the study on debt reduction by the World· Institute for Development Economics Research, chaired by Dr. Johannes Witteveen. Secondly, we suggest that the leadershiP required to develop the •New Covenant• may perhaps be provided bv a consortium of developed and developing countries, with implementation through various international agencies that have the expertise. Thirdly, we feel that the response of the developed countries should not remain evasive or vague. Time is running out for many developing countries. How<ever, some developed countries nay argue that they have run out of new resources and cannot find any more funds to allocate for official development assistance. Developing countries will find that argument hard to understand, especiallY in light of current efforts to helP the new democracies. In tackling our present global economic difficulties it is useful to search for intellectual antecedents and to see how great men in the past managed to overcome adversity. We have suggested comparisons with the New Deal and the Marshall Plan and have proposed a new covenant. The idea of a new covenant maY appear revolut.ionary to some. But if we look back in history we can recall another path-breaking suggestion by a great English economist, John Maynard Keynes. He IM/17 A/S-18/PV. 8 78 (Mrs~· Chan;· Singapore) proposed, in his perceptive book The·Economic·Consequences·of·the·Peace, the idea 
analysis: The text primarily discusses the debt problem faced by developing countries and proposes various approaches to address it. It also touches on the need for innovative mechanisms and international cooperation to reduce the debt burden. The text references historical events and economic theories, such as the New Deal, Marshall Plan, and Keynes' idea of a new covenant. These themes suggest that the text is focused on economic development and international cooperation.