On July 2, 1964, the Chairman of the Executive Board, Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, transmitted to the Board of Governors the nineteenth annual report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1964.

At an extraordinary session of the Assembly of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), held on January 10, 1963, the appointment of Mr. Jean Roullier (France) as Secretary-General was approved.

The fourth Congress of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was opened in Geneva on April 1, 1963, by the President of WMO, Mr. André Viaut. The Congress, which met until April 27, was attended by the delegates of 103 member countries, observers from three nonmember nations, the presidents of all WMO technical commissions, and representatives of the UN and of 24 other international organizations. Various agenda items were the subject of preliminary discussions in working committees before final decisions were taken in plenary sessions. Congress decisions related to general and legal questions, technical questions, and administrative and budgetary questions.

Sixteenth Assembly: The sixteenth session of the Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) met in Geneva on May 7–23, 1963, under the presidency of Dr. M. A. Majekodunmi (Nigeria). During the discussion of the Director-General's report on the work of WHO in 1962, delegates expressed agreement on the importance of the planned development of health services, medical education, and the training of auxiliary staff. Endorsing the Organization's medical research program, some members suggested its extension to other fields. Other members felt, however, that WHO was devoting too much time and money to work that could be carried out by national research institutes. Several delegations appealed for a more flexible approach in providing aid to less developed countries. Dr. Candau, the Director-General, spoke of the efforts that had been made to secure staff from a wider range of countries.

Annual Report of the Board of Governors to the General Conference: The report of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the seventh General Conference of the Agency covered the period July 1, 1962, to June 30, 1963. The report noted that one of the significant developments during the past year had been the General Assembly's decision at its seventeenth session to hold a third International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy in Geneva in 1964. There had also been in developing countries an increasing interest in nuclear power, and preliminary survey teams had been sent by the Agency to Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand.

The eighteenth annual report of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covering the fiscal year July 1, 1962–June 30, 1963, was presented to the Board of Governors on September 30, 1963. The report noted that the number of loans under preparation in the Bank had increased in the period under review, and although it happened that the total of funds lent declined from the previous year, there was no corresponding decline in the number of loans actually made.

The conference of heads of state and government of the African and Malagasy Union (UAM) decided at a meeting held at Dakar, Senegal, on March 7–10, 1964, to dissolve UAM and to replace it by a new African and Malagasy Union for Economic Cooperation (UAMCE). The decision was in accordance with the recommendations on regional groupings approved by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) at its Dakar meeting in August 1963.

At Managua, Nicaragua, on December 13, 1960, the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua signed the General Treaty, the basic treaty of the Central American Program of Economic Integration (CAPEI), often referred to as the Central American Common Market (CACM). Also signed at the same time were the Agreement establishing the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Protocol to the Central American Agreement on the Equalization of Import Duties and Charges. Sixteen months later the government of Costa Rica acceded to the three agreements.

The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held its 45th session on March 19–April 13, 1962, and its 46th session on May 17–June 29, 1962. In both of these sessions, the Council devoted much of its time to consideration of documentation for the fourteenth session of the Assembly. Although it decided to drop a study on the advantages brought by air transport, the Council approved the publication of three important air transport documents: a handbook of administrative clauses in bilateral agreements designed to assist states in the drafting of bilateral agreements; a study on air freight developments; and a study on inclusive tour services in international transport. The only new development in the field of technical assistance was the appointment of ICAO as the executing agency for a seventh Special Fund project, the establishment of a flight safety center in Beirut. In the Congo, experts recruited by ICAO continued to provide operational services at all major airports and round-the-clock flight information service at Leopoldville, to advise the Congolese authorities, and to train local personnel.

The Annual Report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ended April 30, 1954, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1954. During the period under review, the report noted, important steps toward currency convertibility had been taken in several countries, notably Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom; restrictions on dollar imports had been lightened, exports of domestic capital had been freer, and more reliance had been placed on the regulative powers of the price mechanism. The easing of restrictions had gone hand in hand with an improvement in the world balance of payments equilibrium, and a reversal, during 1953, of the downward trend in the volume of world trade which had appeared early in 1952. Sound fiscal and monetary policies had improved the competitive position of Europe which had experienced smore stable prices and less inflationary pressure; the report cautioned that the coincidence, up to mid-1953, of a high level of business activity in the United States with slack demand conditions in western Europe had been a purely fortuitous aid in improving the latter's balance of payments position. Progress toward convertibility had been made possible by a general improvement in economic conditions; however, problems would be involved in taking further steps toward convertibility. Among these were: (1) the problem of controlling international movements of capital, and (2) the importance of having countries whose balance of payments position was weak, as well as those with a stronger position, move concurrently towards convertibility.

A new intergovernmental financial institution formed by the eight member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) came into being on January 1, 1964, under the name of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation with headquarters in Moscow. Its initial capital was fixed at 60 million rubles (equivalent to §66,666,000), and was to increase to 300 million rubles within five years.

At the invitation of President Nasser of the United Arab Republic, the heads of state of eleven of the thirteen member countries of the Arab League met in Cairo on January 13–16, 1964, to consider Israel's plan for the partial diversion of the waters of the Jordan River for the purpose of irrigating the Negev Desert. (The chiefs of staff of the eleven Arab countries met in Cairo on December 6–9, 1963, to discuss the Jordan waters question, but no statement was issued.)

When the 47th session of the International Labor Conference was held in Geneva from June 5 to June 26, 1963, the membership had risen to 108 countries as a result of the recent entry of Algeria, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda. Mr. Joseph Modupe Johnson (Federal Minister of Labor, Nigeria) was unanimously elected President, but, following his resignation on June 18, the Conference elected Mr. Erik Dreyer (government delegate, Denmark) to the Presidency for the remainder of the session.

The European Parliament met in Strasbourg on May 14–15, 1963. Mr. Albert Coppé, Vice President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), presented the Community's annual report. He stressed the urgent need of a common energy policy and exposed the disturbing position of the steel market in which production was at its maximum and yet imports were rising. Mr. Coppé expressed the High Authority's wish that the problems now facing ECSC be included in the discussions of proposals for synchronization of European Community programs, and he reaffirmed the High Authority's position which was in principle favorable to the merger of the European Community's executive institutions.

The Executive Council of the General Treaty for Central American Economic Integration held its eighth meeting in Guatemala City on March 9–19, 1964, to discuss the draft regulations to the Central American Agreement on Fiscal Incentives for Industrial Development and to deal with certain problems arising from the operation of the Central American Common Market (CACM). Before proceeding with a discussion of the draft regulations, Council members agreed that the discussion would be continued at the next Council meeting. Since the Central American Agreement on Fiscal Incentives could not be applied without previous approval of the Regulations to the Agreement, the Council decided that the adoption of the Regulations should be simultaneous with the date of entry into force of the Agreement.

The third period of sessions of the conference of the contracting parties of the Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) was held in Montevideo, Uruguay, during October 1963. Continuing for almost three months, the conference resulted in the negotiation of some 1,000 tariff concessions. This was well under the 2,500 concessions granted at the first conference and the 5,000 granted at the second conference. Most of the concession were, however, on products not previously listed; many were on manufactured goods and a number were on products not being produced in the member countries.

The eighteenth annual report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1963, was transmitted to the Board of Governors on July 11, 1963, by the Acting Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Frank A. Southard, Jr. Summarizing the world payments situation, the report indicated that economic activity continued during 1962 to expand in most industrial countries. Exceptions to this general upward trend were recorded in the United Kingdom and Japan and were seen partly as the result of policies directed toward strengthening the balance of payments. In both 1961 and 1962 the value of world trade was some 5 percent higher than in the preceding year, and in 1962 the increase in the value of exports of primary producing countries as a group almost kept pace with that of the manufacturing countries, although declines in the prices of certain products adversely affected some nations.

The eleventh joint meeting of the European Parliament and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg on June 12–13, 1964. For the first time the annual joint meeting was devoted to the discussion of a single topic, namely, the position of Europe in world trade.

Following the revolution in Syria, the United Arab Republic announced on March 10, 1963, that it would resume its participation in the Arab League, which it had boycotted since the Shtoura meeting in August 1962, when the former Syrian government accused the United Arab Republic of interfering in Syrian affairs. Iraq had already resumed active membership in the League after the overthrow of the Kassem regime. Algeria was admitted to League membership on August 16, 1962.

The ninth annual Conference of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Parliamentarians was held in Paris on November 4–8, 1963. Addressing the parliamentarians, Mr. Dirk U. Stikker, Secretary-General of NATO, outlined the three essential aspects of the evolution in international relationships presently confronting the Alliance: first, relations between East and East—the rivalry between the Soviet Union and Communist China; secondly, relations between East and West—the questions arising from the Soviet Union's agreement to sign a partial test-ban treaty and the relations between the West and the uncommitted world; and, thirdly, relations between West and West—relations within the Atlantic Alliance itself.