[1][2] The main NIEO document recognized that the current international economic order "was established at a time when most of the developing countries did not even exist as independent states and which perpetuates inequality.
[1] The United Nations General Assembly adopted the "Declaration for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order" and its accompanying program of action on 1 May 1974.
"[1] This mission to achieve a more equitable international system was motivated also by increasing inequality in the share of global national income between developed and underdeveloped countries, which more than doubled between 1938 and 1966.
[5] From its beginnings in 1964, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), along with the associated Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, was the central forum for discussions of the NIEO.
[5] In this perspective, political and economic equity were perceived as a metric to measure the success of independence movements and completing the decolonization process.
[15][16] For example, economist Harry Johnson criticized the NIEO for using central planning and monopolistic power to extort transfers of income and wealth from the developed countries.
Parts of the NIEO were realized, such as the non-legal, non-binding Restrictive Business Practice Code adopted in 1980 and the Common Fund for Commodities, which came in force in 1989.