The UN general assembly argued until late on Monday but eventually approved a plan to develop a new legal framework to restructure national debts.

The scheme aimed at avoiding the kind of speculative action that has led Argentina to a second default.

The 193-member world body voted 119-15 with 35 abstentions in favour of a plan proposed by developing countries and supported by Argentina.

The United States, Britain, Japan, Switzerland and Canada were among those backing the speculators and voting No.

The general assembly will establish a committee open to participation by all member states to negotiate a legal framework during the current session, which ends in September.

It invites other UN bodies, financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the private sector, academia and others to contribute.

Argentina has been involved in a long legal battle with predatory US creditors over bonds scavenged by vulture funds following its £60 billion default in 2001.

It defaulted again in July after a US judge ruled in favour of creditors who insisted on payment in full for junk bonds bought on the cheap.

Argentinian ambassador Maria Cristina Perceval told the assembly that the resolution “is not for Argentina, but rather for Argentina and other developing and developed countries that suffer and continue to suffer.

“It is to avoid the so-called vulture funds continuing to operate.

“They’re only motivated by profit and what they’re doing can only be characterised as unjust, anarchic and unpredictable.”