The Netherlands Foreign Minister, Mr. W.K.N. Schmelzer, addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday (3 October) on a range of subjects.

Mr. Schmelzer spoke about Europe... saying it neither seeks to be isolationist nor to become a new super power. "What we do want is to develop our responsibilities both toward our own people and towards other countries, and more in particular, towards the developing world."
He said the members of the European Community, its allies and friends, were convinced of the need for cooperation between Eastern and Western Europe.

In addition to negotiations on mutual reduction of armed forces and other military matters to be discussed at the upcoming conference on European security and cooperation, the European countries hoped to develop stronger economic, cultural and technological ties.

He spoke about the need to stop underground testing of nuclear weapons and added a call for an and to testing in all environments.

On the question of international terrorism, Mr. Schmelzer said the United Nations, as the best instrument for resolving international problems, needed to revise better conference techniques. It might, for instance, look into the desirability of keeping the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in some form of permanent session to meet the demands of our times.