Les perspectives des accords sur les produits de base

France has always favoured inter-governmental agreements to organize the market of basic products at stable and fair price levels. Only a small number of agreements of this kind have come into force after difficult negotiations. This is why within the new world economic order that it advocates the United Nations General Assembly came out in favour of an « integrated global approach », which, while taking into consideration the characteristics of each basic product, should enable the discussion to restant on a broader basis. The fourth United Nations Trade and Development Conference held in Nairobi in May 1976 has just set up a procedure and a working calendar which should enable practical conclusions to be reached in the near future. However, the reservations expressed by some countries representing a large proportion of world trade lead to fears that the political goodwill, without which the compromises necessary for the negotiations to succeed cannot be reached, is not always present.