The seventh special session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1974 marked a milestone in contemporary world affairs when it called for the establishment of a "new international economic order" (NIEO) and proposed a program of action to lead towards this goal.

Since then, scholars have been studying the implications of this new order and diplomats have been negotiating the implementation of its program. In the past year, three leading teams of experts, under the direction of the economists Leontief, Herrara and Tinbergen,have released the results of their studies on various aspects of the NIEO; at the same time, two multilateral conferences, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Conference on International Economic Co-operation (CIEC), have been debating how this "new order" could be put into effect.