The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on September 6, 1961, a loan equivalent to $3 million to the Central Bank of Costa Rica to assist in a program for the importation of equipment for the development of private industry. The loan was guaranteed by the government of Costa Rica and was for a twelve-year term; the six private banks participating in the loan for a total of $314,000 were to receive the first two maturities falling due in October 1964 and April 1965. On October 13, 1961, the Bank announced three loans. The first, amounting to $34 million, was to the National Power Corporation of the Philippines to assist in financing a large hydroelectric project on the island of Luzon. Twelve United States commercial banks participated in the loan to the amount of $1,217,000 covering the first three maturities of the 25-year term of the loan that was scheduled for semi-annual amortization payments beginning June 1, 1965. On the same day a loan of $50 million to India to assist in railway development under the Third Five-Year Plan was made known. Five United States commercial banks participated for a total of $1,075,000 in the twenty-year term loan with repayment scheduled to begin inFebruary 1965. The final loan announced on October 13 was to Costa Rica for the improvement of its highway system; the International Bank and the International Development Association (IDA) joined in making $11 million available for that purpose, each offering $5.5 million for the financing of the reconstruction and construction of about 420 miles of national and regional highways and for the import of equipment for highway construction and maintenance. Three commercial banks participated to the extent of $150,000 in the fifteen-year term loan; amortization was to begin on May 1, 1965.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on September 16, 1959, a loan equivalent to $40 million for the construction of a 150,000-kilowatt atomic power plant in Italy. This represented the Bank's first loan for the development of nuclear power. The project was the outcome of a joint study begun in 1957 with the Italian government on the technical, economic, and financial merits of a large nuclear power plant to be located in southern Italy. The loan was made to the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, an Italian government agency, which was to relend the proceeds to the Società Elettronucleare Nazionale (SENN), a corporation which included nine public utilities companies and five industrial companies as shareholders, and was established to build, own, and operate the plant. The total cost of the project was estimated at the equivalent of $66.4 million, of which the International Bank's loan represented about 60 percent, the remainder to be provided by SENN's stockholders. The Bank's loan, which was guaranteed by the Republic of Italy, was to be for a twenty-year term, bearing 6 percent interest, with amortization beginning on February 15, 1964.

No governmental functions are traditionally more suspect than those relating to public information. National legislators always demur at the public relations work of civil servants. They inevitably assume (at times, with good reason) that appropriating funds to inform people about the performance of government agencies only helps to preserve the bureaucracy and to create and nurture a public which ultimately will bring pressure to bear upon the legislature itself.

The second part of the eleventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was opened on September 14, 1959. Mr. John Edwards, President of the Assembly, opened the sitting with a tribute to two retiring representatives, following which the report of the Bureau and Standing Committee was presented; it noted that both the head of the Political Department of the Swiss Federal Council and the Portuguese Foreign Minister had been invited to participate in the Assembly debates on the Organization of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) reports and on economic questions. Mr. Franz Gschnitzer, Austrian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, then presented the supplementary report to the tenth report of the Committee of Ministers. Replying to questions from representatives, he stated, inter alia, that the Committee had decided to re-examine its recommendation on the forestry situation in Europe after the results of the studies launched by the European Economic Community (EEC) were known; that the Council of Europe did not intend to advance a loan to the Resettlement Fund for Refugees and Over-Population; that the Committee had not yet examined the third report on the European civil service; and that the present arrangements between die Commission of EEC and the Council would in no way prejudge any over-all agreement which might be concluded in the future.

Meeting at the request of the representatives of Canada and Denmark, the Security Council discussed the situation in the Middle East at its 1341st-1361st meetings, held on May 24-June 14, 1967.

Opening the debate on the adoption of the agenda, Nikolai T. Fedorenko (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) declared that his delegation did not believe there were sufficient grounds for a hasty convening of the Security Council in what he termed an artificially dramatic climate fostered by the representatives of certain Western powers. He observed that two members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), rather than any of the parties directly concerned, had asked for a meeting of the Council. To his delegation this indicated a desire to interfere in the affairs of other countries rather than a true concern for the peace and security of the Middle East.

The sixteenth annual report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1961, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on June 23, 1961, by Mr. Per Jacobsson, Chairman of the Executive Board. The report stated that in contrast to the year 1959, when virtually all countries had participated in world-wide expansion, the year 1960 and early part of 1961 had presented a less unified picture. For the world as a whole, the expansionary elements had considerably outweighed the contractionary elements. World industrial production, excluding the countries of the Soviet area, had been almost 6 percent greater in 1960 than in 1959, having grown by 10 percent; and the value of world trade had increased by 12 percent, compared with 6 percent in 1959. The stimulus for the rise in world trade had come predominantly from the booming European industrial countries and from Japan, which had increased their imports by nearly 20 percent; there had been a slight decline in imports from the United States and Canada. The imports of the less-industrialized countries had also increased considerably, by some 10 percent. Trade developments during 1960 had improved the basic international payments situation in some respects. Rising exports and slightly declining imports caused an increase in the surplus of private goods and services account in the United States. West Germany's surplus also increased, while France's remained stationary; decreases had been noted in several other industrial countries, in particular Japan and Italy, where the rate of economic expansion had been exceptionally high, and in the United Kingdom, mainly due to the sharp growth of imports associated with their high level of economic activity.

On September 16, 1959, the International Monetary Fund announced that 40 members, including most recently Bolivia, Ethiopia, Honduras, Libya, Malaya, and Peru, had consented to increases in their Fund's quotas by amounts ranging from 50 to 100 percent. This was in response to a recommendation by the Directors of the Fund arising out of the thirteenth annual meeting of the Governors of the Fund, held in New Delhi in October 1958. The Fund extended to July 31, 1960, the period within which the rest of its 68-nation membership might accept increases in its quotas. Some of these countries had already communicated consents to the Fund which would become effective upon the completion of certain formalities. The Fund's assets, which, as of January 31, 1959, amounted to the equivalent of $9.2 billion, would be enlarged by the recommended increases by the equivalent of $5.8 billion.

The salary, allowance, and benefits system common in its broad lines to the United Nations and to a number of specialized agencies (the “common system”) has its origin in the relationship agreements concluded between the UN and the agencies concerned in pursuance of Articles 57 and 63 of the UN Charter. Some of these agreements were made nearly twenty years ago, a long period in the life of rapidly growing and rapidly changing international organizations. A critical examination of the present-day validity of the common system and its justification today in light of the reality of the international organization may be timely. In the present article such an examination of this major facet of administrative and budgetary coordination of the UN with the specialized agencies is attempted.

In his Introduction to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, 16 June 1965–15 June 1966 Secretary-General U Thant observed that the year under review had been a period in which the prospects for the peace and well-being of mankind suffered disappointments which seemed to outweigh once again the modest gains made in some directions. Describing the international political situation, Mr. Thant said that the cloud over Vietnam had grown larger and more ominous. The serious open conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir had calmed, but tensions had been heightened and violence had erupted elsewhere. Nuclear as well as conventional armaments developed apace. Furthermore, comparatively little happened during the year to brighten the outlook of those who occupied the two-thirds of the world where poverty, disease, ignorance, and lack of opportunity were the most conspicuous facts of daily life. Generally speaking, during this period the powerful nations did not show themselves able to overcome the suspicions, fears, and mistrust that sprang from their different ideologies and from their different conceptions of the best interests of the rest of the world; the rich nations did not rise above their concern for the continuation of their own prosperity, nor did the poor nations escape from the dead weight of their chronic poverty and their anachronistic social structures. Against such a background the international community, still incompletely represented by the United Nations, made only limited progress in those areas such as peacekeeping, disarmament, economic and social development, decolonization, and human rights where most was expected of it.

Please substitute the following for the definition on page 276 of our article in the Spring 1996 issue of International Organization (Volume 50, No. 2, pp.269–99):

Definition. A coalition of m (out of n) members is nonconnected if there is a member i ε {N} – {M} that belongs in the Pareto set of {M}.

On September 23, 1955, Pakistan announced its formal adherence to the alliance formed on February 24 by Iraqand Turkey, and adhered to by the United Kingdom on April 5 (Baghdad Pact). On October 11, the government of Iran announced its intention to adhere to the Pact; following parliamentary approval of the decision, Iran formallyadhered on November 3. Both before and after Iran's formal adherence to the Pact, the Soviet Union, according to press reports, protested strongly. In a note of October 12, the Soviet government declared that the accession of Iran was incompatible with the interests of consolidating peace and security in the near and middle east, and contradicted certain treaty obligations of Iran with respect to the Soviet Union. In a subsequent note, the Soviet Union repeated its protest, alleging that Iran's adherence to the Pact “inflicted serious damage” to relations between Iran and the Soviet Union, and that Iran would have to bear the full consequencesof joining. In a reply to the earlier Soviet note, Iran had declared that its object in adhering to the Pactwas the consolidation of peace and security in the middle east; the Pact was for defensive purposes, and Iran'sadherence should not mar Iranian-Soviet friendly relations, nor did it conflict with the terms of existing agreements between Iran and the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, both the United States and United Kingdom had formally welcomed Iran's decision.

The third special session of the General Assembly, summoned by the Secretary-General to consider “the grave situation in Tunisia obtaining since 19 July 1961,” was held from August 21 through 25, 1961. In his opening statement to the Assembly the Tunisian delegate, Mongi Slim, outlined events leading up to the crisis of July 19 when as a normal exercise of its sovereignty the Tunisian government decided to prohibit formally flights over its territory by any French aircraft and announced that aircraft which violated this prohibition would be shot down. Shortly after the notification of this prohibition, French aircraft began to fly over the Bizerta region, and, disregarding the warning shots directed against them, launched an assault, in which paratroopers and warships later joined. Furthermore, Tunisia had complied with the interim resolution adopted by the Security Council on July 22 calling for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of all armed forces to their original positions, whereas France, in open defiance of the Security Council and of the Tunisian government, had availed itself of the Tunisian compliance by extending its perimeter of occupation and by strengthening its military potential. Mr. Slim called preposterous the French argument that its actions were in self-defense, stating that the peaceful demonstrations of the Tunisian people on Tunisian territory could not possibly have prejudiced the political independence and territorial integrity of France. Thus, since all of Tunisia's attempts to enter into negotiations with a view to the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict and the evacuation of the French base at Bizerta had been in vain, Tunisia's only course of action, other than to submit to brutal force, was to appeal to the United Nations. In closing, Mr. Slim emphasized that the problem before the Assembly had a two-fold aspect: 1) the right of Tunisia to call for the swift withdrawal of all French troops from her soil, which touched upon the Organization's responsibilities for the maintenance of international peace and security; and 2) the refusal of France to comply with the interim resolution of the Security Council. Thus, the question before the Assembly involved not only a conflict between France and Tunisia, but one between France and the UN as well.

The fourteenth regular session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Geneva from May 11 to 30, 1959. Mr. W. C. M. Beale (United States) spoke at the opening meeting to urge west European countries to end discrimination against dollar imports. At the same meeting it was decided to admit Spain as an observer. Mr. Fernando Garcia-Oldini of Chile, chairman of GATT, referred in his opening address to the brighter prospects for international trade, as the threat of economic recession began to fade.

On June 7, 1960, it was announced that the government of Guatemala had entered into a one-year stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund authorizing drawings up to $15 million in support of the country's currency. The purpose of the arrangement was to help Guatemala maintain the traditional stability of the quetzal by providing a second line of reserves to supplement other stabilization measures, such as an increase of reserve requirements against bank deposits, limitations on central bank rediscounts, and a further reduction of government expenditures. Guatemala, with a quota of $15 million, had not previously drawn upon the Fund's resources.

The report of the Director-General, Dr. Vittorino Veronese, on the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1959 dealt, as usual, with: 1) relations with member states and international organizations; 2) execution of the program; and 3) administrative services. Under the first heading, the Director-General reported that during the year in review the Singapore/British Borneo group associate membership in the Organization had ceased to exist as of December 31, 1959, when Singapore alone had assumed the rights and duties of an associate member, and that relations with the UN, the specialized agencies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had continued to develop.

The third part of the eleventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was opened on January 18, 1960, with a tribute to its President, Mr. John Edward, who had died at Strasbourg on November 23, 1959. At the onset, the Assembly unanimously adopted a motion against anti Semitic outbreaks presented by the Political Committee, which a delegation from the Israeli parliament gratefully acknowledged. A motion to adjourn the election of the President until the opening of the next session was also adopted. Following presentation of a report on the activities of the Bureau and Standing Committee, the second supplementary report to the tenth report of the Committee of Ministers was presented by its chairman, Mr. Pierre Wigny, Belgian Foreign Minister. He noted that the Assembly had been disturbed over the fact that the Council of Europe was no longer fulfilling an adequate role, and stressed the importance of the exchanges of views which the Committee of Ministers had decided could take place at the request of any member state. In the economic sphere he called attention to recent moves toward economic coordination, and, before concluding, asked the Assembly to examine further both the question of Eurafrican relations and that of rationalization of European institutions.

According to the press, a one-day meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact in Moscow on February 4, 1960, was attended by premiers and foreign ministers of the eight pact members (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Romania) and by observers from Communist China, Mongolia, North Vietnam, and North Korea. In a 4,000-word declaration issued after the meeting, the pact members expressed the hope that forthcoming East-West summit talks would be “a turning point in the relations” between the two groups of countries and proposed that the summit agenda include such topics as general and controlled disarmament, a German peace treaty, creation of a free city of West Berlin, a ban on nuclear weapons tests, and amelioration of relations between East and West. The committee also repeated the communist proposal for a non-aggression pact between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact countries and called on NATO members to respond to the Soviet Union's armed forces cut of 1, 200, 000 men by reducing their forces as well. It criticized NATO for maintaining “inflated armies” and for arming West Germany with atomic weapons, adding that the West German government was being given a free hand in the production of these weapons.

A meeting of the Special Subcommittee of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) on extra-long staple cotton was convened in Alexandria, Egypt, on September 7, 1959. Delegations were present from the principal extra-long staple cotton-producing countries (the Sudan, the United Arab Republic, and the United States), along with observers from Brazil, Peru, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Food and Agriculture Organization. Mr. Abd El Latif Ezzat, Under-Secretary of State for Cotton Affairs of the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Republic, was elected chairman, and Mr. Robert B. Evans, executive secretary of ICAC, served as secretary. The meeting adjourned on September 12 after eight sessions. Its agenda was devoted to a consideration of production plans and policies, pricing and export policies, and steps needed to encourage consumption.