News In Brief

Rich lands should open doors to 3rd-world trade: UN chief

Rich nations should open their borders to goods from underdeveloped trading partners and help them reduce crippling foreign debts, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar told delegates Thursday at a major North-South economics conference here.

The 135-nation conference, the fourth organized by the UN Industrial Development Organization, is dedicated primarily to boosting industrialized growth in underdeveloped nations, through technology transfers, training programs, and increased development aid. But the third world's major concern is focused on its massive foreign debt, which reached $800 billion last year.