Recognizing the determination of the United Nations to create conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations,

TheParties to this Charter undertake in the fields of trade and employment to co-operate with one another and with the United Nations

For the Purpose of

Realizing the aims set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the attainment of the higher standards of living, full employment and conditions of economic and social progress and development, envisaged in Article 55 of that Charter.

The eighteenth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements, which reviewed the period from April 1, 1947, to March 31, 1948, called for abandonment of the wartime type of direct controls on prices, production and trade, and the restoration of a functioning price system, operating under well-controlled monetary regimes. The report, the most comprehensive ever issued by the Bank, dealt in detail with such topics as 1) recovery and set-back in 1947, 2) restoration of monetary order, 3) price movements, 4) the tense position of international trade, 5) foreign exchange rates, 6) production and movements of gold, 7) international credit conditions and the trend of interest rates, 8) European payment agreements, multilateral monetary compensation and the European Recovery Program, and 9) current activities of the Bank. Reference was made to the fact that the Bank for International Settlements had acceded to a request to act as technical agent for the Agreement on Multilateral Monetary Compensation, signed in Paris on November 18, 1947. Practical compensation operations under this agreement were begun in December 1947.

PAFMECA was formed at a conference held in Mwanza, Tanganyika, from September 16 to 18, 1958, for the purpose of coordinating regional activities toward the achievement of independence for territories in East and Central Africa. The conference, which was attended by representatives of political parties from Kenya, Nyasaland, Tanganyika, Uganda, and Zanzibar, considered the following issues: 1) the position of those present toward (a) the non-African minorities in Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda, and (b) the Central African Federation (Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, and Southern Rhodesia); 2) methods for achieving coordinated action among the nationalist movements in East and Central Africa and for pooling resources in a concerted drive against imperialism; and 3) the development of a fundamental philosophic creed for the emergent African nations.

Since the preparation in August 1947 of the first part of this report, three significant developments affecting the scope and character of United Nations–specialized agency relations have taken place. First, the “family” of specialized agencies, in being and in prospect, has substantially increased in size and variety. Second, the regional machinery of the Economic and Social Council has been expanded by the establishment of economic commissions for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) and for Latin America (ECLA), with the probability that a similar commission for the Middle East will be authorized before the end of 1948. Together with the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), set up in the spring of 1947, these subsidiary instrumentalities of the Council will be concerned with a wide range of reconstruction and developmental activities which bear directly upon various functions of FAO, ILO, Bank, Fund, and ITO and which, in addition, introduce a further element of complexity in the task of coordinating international economic programs. The third development, important from the procedural standpoint, was the action taken by the General Assembly at its second regular session in November 1947, and by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at its sixth session in March 1948, in spelling out methods for treating the budgets and reports of the specialized agencies.

See Food and Agriculture Organization, p. 122.

In June 1948 the International Monetary Fund reported that its activities during the preceding nine months had been focused on offering temporary financial assistance to its members for monetary stabilization operations and on consultation on exchange problems. The Fund had prepared several special studies for member nations and had sent missions of technical advice and expert assistance to a number of countries.

1. This agreement, which is entered into by the United Nations pursuant to the provisions of Article 63 of its Charter, and by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (hereinafter called the Bank) pursuant to the provisions of section 8 (a) of article V of its Articles of Agreement, is intended to define the terms of which the United Nations and the Bank shall be brought into relationship.

This essay is addressed to the issue of the extent to which and the ways in which the United Nations may serve the interest of the United States in the maintenance of world peace during the decade that lies ahead. It rests upon two assumptions, both of which require careful qualification: first, the assumption that the United States has, and recognizes that it has, a fundamental interest in international peace; second, the assumption that the United Nations is in principle an organization dedicated to the promotion of international peace.

Listed below is the membership of United Nations bodies for 1969. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated in parenthesis. Where names of individuals are listed, the members serve in their personal capacities and not as representatives of states; their nationalities are given for information only.

The universal and regional international organizations that are part of the twentieth century political scene confront one basic question: how to move successfully from international recommendation to national action. Mechanisms that offer at least a partial answer to this problem are of interest; and one such approach is the official pressure group of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, its Permanent Working Party on Parliamentary and Public Relations.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the annual report on the state of food and agriculture reviewed the progress achieved during the second postwar decade, 1954/1955–1964/1965. In his foreword Director-General B. R. Sen noted three distinct phases of FAO's history. In the first, covering the postwar decade, FAO played a role in the task of reconstruction. The second phase, coinciding with the second postwar decade, had been marked by a number of significant developments in science and communications, in demography, and in national aspirations which influenced the outlook and work of FAO. Calling attention to the unprecedented rate of population growth and lagging food supply, FAO had warned that this trend implied a grave peril for the future peace and security of the world. The Freedom from Hunger Campaign launched by FAO in 1960 had represented a response to this new awareness of the dimensions of hunger and malnutrition in the world and of the responsibility of the world community to face the problem. The third phase of FAO's work, opening with the third postwar decade, would be a critical period. Mr. Sen referred to FAO studies, contained in the report, which indicated that the total food supplies of the developing countries would have to be increased fourfold in the next 35 years to give their rapidly expanding populations an adequate diet. The task of FAO, which would depend on the willingness of the leaders of the nations to devote a large share of the world's resources to meet the crisis, would be to assist in laying the foundation for this increase.

The 22nd session of the United Nations General Assembly was unexpectedly enlivened by a late addition to its agenda when Malta, a newcomer even by UN standards, sought to demilitarize the ocean floor “beyond the limits of present national jurisdiction” and to internationalize its “resources in the interest of mankind.” Ambassador Arvid Pardo, Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, sought immediate steps to draft a treaty that

should envisage the creation of an international agency … to assume jurisdiction, as a trustee for all countries, over the sea-bed and the ocean floor, underlying the seas beyond the limits of present national jurisdiction….

In advancing his proposal, in a surprise move thought to be premature by some governments, Ambassador Pardo accelerated and intensified the consideration of national and international interests in “ocean space.” How is the last earthbound frontier to be explored and exploited? Is it to be assigned to international jurisdiction or taken over by national authorities? A disconcertingly rapid rate of technological advance emphasizes the urgency of a decision. This article will first consider the disposal of the Malta proposal by the 22nd session of the General Assembly and then attempt to consider its significance as a challenge to the development of international organization.

The postwar tempo of political change in Africa has carried the “dark continent” from the diplomatic backwaters to a central position in world affairs in but a decade. The pace is likely to accelerate rather than abate in the next few years. A crucial question is whether this swift passage from tribal and colonial societies to independent national states can be achieved in a non-violent and orderly way. The stakes for the future are considerable. A peaceful and rational accommodation of the interests and aspirations of the European metropolitan countries with those of the dependent African territories is likely to preserve and enhance vital Eurafrican economic ties to the mutual benefit of both sides of the present colonial equation.

The eighteenth session of the South Pacific Commission was held at Commission headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, from September 26 to October 12, 1958. At the session the Commission placed emphasis on the need for an all-out campaign against the rhinoceros beetle, which had become a major threat to the economy of the South Pacific. The Commission decided that a meeting of its rhinoceros beetle advisory committee of leading Pacific entomologists would be held in Suva from February 16 to 20, 1959, to review results of present campaigns against the beetle, and to plan further action. The Commission also made a further grant of £3,000 for 1959 to assist the investigation being carried out on its behalf by the Institute of Scientific Research in Madagascar.

The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held its 48th session in Paris from June 3 to 20, 1957, under the chairmanship of Dr. Vittorino Veronese. After approving work plans for carrying out in 1957–1958 two major projects which had been endorsed by the ninth session of the General Conference, the Board allocated 1957–1958 budgets of $839, 209 for the first project, a ten-year plan for the promotion of better cultural understanding between east and west, and $500,000 for the second, a six-year project for scientific research on arid lands. A third major project, concerned with extension of primary education in Latin America, had been approved by the Board at its previous session.

The Executive and Liaison Committee of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) met in Berne from May 14 to 23, 1959, under the presidency of Mr. A. Wolstencroft (United Kingdom). In dealing with the agenda, the Committee approved without reservation the report of the activities of UPU for 1958. Several questions on the relation of UPU to the UN were treated at this time with reciprocal understanding. The examination of the reports of the subcommittees on the progress in their respective tasks figured prominently in the discussion; the Committee did not, however, come to a decision on tariff policy, although it did decide that the present scales of transit rates needed to be revised. The subcommittee scheme regarding the eventual issue of an international postage stamp met with serious opposition; at the end of the discussion, it was decided that examination of the problem should be continued, but no decision was taken. The agenda contained also several points of an administrative character concerning the organization and the working of the International Bureau and the examination of various proposals submitted by administrations.

The sixth annual meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was held in Washington, D.C., from May 31 to June 2, 1960, under the chairmanship of the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Christian A. Herter. The inaugural address was delivered by Mr. Richard M. Nixon, Vice-President of the United States. Members of the organization were represented by either their prime ministers or their foreign ministers, according to the press.