A few months ago, Dr Eppler took over the ministry responsible for German development aid. The new minister considers development aid an important instrument for the international détente, which is to facilitate cooperation between peoples and which, in the long run, will guarantee world peace....

The Third Development Decade of the United Nations opened with a promising outlook for the developing countries. The economic situation of the OECD countries had improved during 1979 and the "North-South dialogue" seemed to be making progress. But the further course of 1980 and the subsequent...