developed countries by adopting and implementing many development projects and extending generous assistance to these countries through its national agencies as well as through regional and international organizations, in order to enable them to overcome the problems of poverty and underdevelopment. While we appreciate the concern expressed by the Group of Eight at their Summit on Sea Island as regards the future of the Middle East, and their desire to help the countries in the region develop and progress, we believe that the process of helping developing nations to initiate political and economic reforms should not be imposed or dictated, but rather be a catalyst to assist the reforms in these nations. Outside interference on the question of reforms can only result in disrupting and stalling a process that is already underway. For reforms to be effective and lasting it should reflect the actual needs of the concerned societies and conform with the stage of development in the reforming states. Of course there is much that the advanced countries can provide in this process, especially in the areas of investments, the liberalization of international trade, encouraging international economic cooperation, and the opening up of their markets. We believe that removing protective measures such as trade barriers and tariffs, and the doing away with preferential assistance that hinders the ability of the developing countries to enter the markets of the developed countries, can take us a long way towards achieving the desired goals of development. There is, moreover, a need to exert the necessary effort to help those countries to overcome their problems and their deeply-rooted political conflicts. --More 1256 Local Time 0956 GMT
