The Council of the Baghdad Pact, meeting on the ministerial level, convened in London on July 28, 1958. It was reported that during its two-day meeting, Secretary of State Dulles committed the United States to partnership in the pact with the United Kingdom, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. The United States' acceptance of obligations expressed in Article 1 of the pact was accompanied by an oral promise to increase military assistance to the three Asian members. According to the press, these two steps were considered “just as good” as signing a treaty. There were two considerations, according to one source, in the procedure adopted by the United States of agreeing to obligations to members of the pact instead of becoming a full member: 1) special military and economic agreements to be made could be made immediately under the joint resolution on the Middle East passed by both Houses of Congress in March 1957; if the United States had joined the pact as a full member, a new treaty would have been involved requiring the Senate's ratification; 2) the United States was not committed to make such special agreements with Iraq, since the latter did not sign the declaration issued by the Council following its meetings on July 28.

The second part of the ninth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe was held from October 16 to 29, 1957, under the presidency of Mr. Fernand Dehousse.

The 25th meeting of the Caribbean Commission was held in Curacao, November 22–29, 1957–1 The meeting dealt mainly with recommendations made by the West Indian Conference, including consideration of a statement submitted by the conference on the procedure to be followed for the revision of the agreement establishing the Commission. It was decided to recommend to member governments that an ad hoc committee be appointed to make preparations for and facilitate the work of a revision conference proposed for November 1958. The Commission also approved the 1958 budget submitted by the Secretary General, considered the report of the July conference on the demographic problems of the area, approved the work program for the Commission's central secretariat, and noted progress reports on Commission-sponsored technical assistance projects, including aided self-help housing, an agricultural credit survey, a consultant on education and an education clearing house, and fisheries investigations.

On February 20, 1957, the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) resolved to approve the text of the Protocol to the convention on duties and rights of states in the event of civil strife; as of August 30, 1957, seven countries had signed the Protocol. At a meeting on May 15 the Council approved a resolution concerning inter-American book festivals, which expressed the Council's keen satisfaction with the success of the first inter-American book festival, held in Caracas in November 1956, and established inter-American book festivals as a part of the cultural program of OAS.

The first part of the tenth session of the Consultative Assembly was held April 28—May 3, 1958, under the presidency of Mr. Fernand Dehousse.

The first part of the fourth session of the Assembly of the Western European Union (WEU) was held July 2–5, 1958, in Paris, under the presidency of Sir James Hutchison (United Kingdom, Conservative). In the course of its discussion of military questions, the Assembly debated three reports and took note of a communication by M. Etienne de la Vallée Poussin (Belgium, Social Christian) on the responsibility of WEU in military policy. After its consideration of the request for an opinion from the Consultative Assembly on the military implications of regional or limited disarmament or of the policy of disengagement in central Europe, the Assembly adopted a resolution rejecting the Rapacki Plan and stating that disengagement which implied a withdrawal of United States and Soviet troops would be highly dangerous to the west unless it took place under certain express conditions, one of these being that neutralization of western Germany could not form part of such a policy. The Assembly also adopted a resolution and a recommendation on WEU's contribution to the production of armaments within the Atlantic alliance; the resolution allowed for the creation of a committee of investigation of five members, to be nominated by the Presidential Committee. In connection with the state of European security the Council approved by 50 votes to 6, with 8 abstentions, a recommendation from its defense committee calling for a minimum land force in central Europe of 30 divisions, with tactical nuclear weapons. There was to be no reduction in the contribution of member states, according to the recommendation, and they were to bring their contingents up to the agreed level.

The Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) held a number of meetings during the period May-December 1956. Following a series of discussions concerning the proposed text of the statutes of the Inter-American Peace Committee as submitted by the Committee on Juridical-Political Matters the Council revised and approved the text on May 9.1 A document dealing with the draft convention on extradition was also submitted by the committee to the Council, which decided to transmit the draft to OAS member states for comment. From July 18 to 22 the Council held a special meeting in Panama City to commemorate the Congress of Panama of 1826.

The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met in joint session with the military committee on March 17, 1958, to exchange views on NATO defense needs. In a later meeting the Council, after studying the possible convening of a summit conference, approved a draft declaration, which was presented to the Soviet government on March 31, setting forth the western position on the preparation of such a conference. The message stated that preparatory work, such as exchanges through diplomatic channels leading to a meeting between foreign ministers, was necessary to examine the position of the various governments on the major questions at issue and to establish what subjects should be submitted for examination by heads of government. The foreign ministers would reach agreement on the date and place of the summit meeting and decide on its composition. The note stated that if this procedure were acceptable to the Soviet government it was suggested that diplomatic exchanges should start in Moscow in the second half of April.

The ninth annual report of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), entitled A Decade of Cooperation, Achievements and Perspectives?, was made public in April 1958. It included a summary of the origins of OEEC and reviewed the ten years of its history, considering such topics as the recovery and expansion of output, expanding exports and freeing trade, the creation of the European Payments Union and its activities, the fight against inflation, and cooperation in various fields of economic activity. It devoted a section to present and future tasks, noting that finding the means for maintaining adequate expansion along with financial stability was a major problem. The report stated that in recent months there had been signs, with one or two important exceptions, that the pressure on prices had slackened; raw material prices had fallen, and the price rise for manufacturing products had been checked. After reaching record levels, the pace of industrial expansion in western Europe had been considerably reduced as the investment boom tapered off; there had been no increase in total industrial production in member countries combined since spring 1957. A fall in many primary commodity prices, due largely to a continued upward trend in output of primary commodities in the face of a levelling off of world demand had reduced the purchasing power of third countries and eventually would tend to reduce their purchases from member countries. The present economic situation, therefore, had conflicting tendencies, making it difficult to establish firm lines of policy; demand pressures had eased, but the rise of the cost of living had not clearly been checked.

The twenty-eighth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements covering the financial year from April I, 1957, to March 31, 1958, was submitted to the annual general meeting of the Bank held at Basle on June 9, 1958. Details of the results of the year's business operations were given, together with a review of the current activities of the Bank and an analysis of the balance sheet as of March 31, 1958. The year was characterized by a stabilization of the resources at the disposal of the Bank at the high level reached the previous year and by a further increase in the volume of its operations. The financial year closed with a surplus of 19,317,738 gold francs, against 16,014,462 gold francs for the previous year; the net profit amounted to 9,317,738 gold francs, compared with 8,212,987 for the preceding year. The board of directors of the Bank recommended that the general meeting should declare a dividend of 6 percent.

The seventeenth session of the South Pacific Commission was held under the chairmanship of Mr. C. G. R. McKay, Senior Commissioner for New Zealand, at its headquarters in Noumea from October 19 to November 6, 1957. The Commission decided to concentrate on a limited number of activities, work on projects in active partnership with island administrations, and seek increasing aid from other international organizations and bodies interested in Pacific progress, thus giving effect to the conclusions of the review conference held by its members in Canberra in May 1957 to study its first ten years of progress and to suggest broad lines for its future work. The Commission selected the following specific subjects for concentrated effort in its three main fields of activity: in economic development, fisheries, pests and diseases of plants and animals (especially the rhinoceros beetle), and plant introduction; in health, health education, nutrition and diet, and mosquito-borne diseases; and in social development, literature promotion, education, and aided self-help.

The European Parliamentary Assembly held its second meeting in Strasbourg, May 13 and 14, 1958, under the chairmanship of Robert Schuman. Mr. Paul Finet, President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), presented the sixth general report on ECSC activities. Speaking of developments which the High Authority had to take into account in planning its future action, Mr. Finet referred to the direct exposure of the coal and steel industries to the consequences of an economic recession, the increasing competition and falling prices on the steel market, the need for stabilization of coal production and consumption, and the desirability of encouraging technical research and increasing safety in the mines. Turning to the matter of ECSC's cooperation with the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, Mr. Finet pointed out that the absence of a decision concerning the seat of the European institutions constituted a major obstacle, but that the High Authority was ready to contribute toward further integration of the communities. Regarding a free trade area, the High Authority considered it essential that ECSC's power of action within the community should remain unimpaired. The High Authority believed that the price-fixing system prevailing within the European Economic Community called for the adoption of similar rules within the free trade area and that the granting of governmental subsidies should be prohibited.

The second half of the adjourned May 1958 session of the European Parliamentary Assembly was held June 21 to June 27, 1958.1 After holding two ballots, it was decided to recommend Brussels as the site of the European Community's institutions and the future capital of six-nation Europe. The resolution passed by the Assembly recommended that: the executives of the three Communities be grouped in one place; the Assembly's secretariat be located in the same place where the Assembly's standing committees would also meet; the capital be a European district similar to the District of Columbia in the United States; and there might be reasons to hold plenary sessions of the Assembly outside the chosen place, and while in principle all the Community's institutions should be situated in that place, the Court of Justice, the Investment Bank, and the European University could be situated elsewhere if that would facilitate the concentration of the political bodies in one place.

The Council of Ministers of the Southeast Asian Defense Treaty Organization (SEATO) held its fourth annual meeting in Manila from March 11–13, 1958, under the chairmanship of the Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, the Hon. Felixberto M. Serrano. A communiqué issued at the close of the session stated that the Council had reviewed the world situation, with special attention to the treaty area, approved the work of the organization since its meeting in Canberra in 1957, and considered reports by the Council representatives, the military advisers, and the Secretary General.

The 37 contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) were represented at the meeting of the GATT inter-sessional committee, held in Geneva for three weeks, beginning April 14, 1958. The committee discussed at length the provisions of the Rome treaty establishing the European Economic Community. In its consideration of the question, the committee dealt with the common customs tariff which the community was to bring in, the use of import restrictions by the six signatories to protect their balance of payments situation, the so-called managed market for agriculture, and the association of the overseas territories of the community as part of the common market and the effect of this on world trade. Baron Snoy, who represented the European Economic Community, informed the committee that there would be a meeting in July at which representatives of the six countries would discuss preliminary matters affecting agriculture.

The second part of the third ordinary session of the Assembly of Western European Union (WEU) was opened by its president, Sir James Hutchison (United Kingdom, Conservative) on October 10, 1957, and was closed on October 14. The Assembly first discussed a report introduced by Mr. J. J. Fens (the Netherlands, Popular Catholic) on behalf of the Committee on Defense Questions and Armaments on the state of European security and on October 12, adopted a draft recommendation by 44 votes to 2. The proposal provided that the Assembly recommended to the Council to examine the conclusion to be drawn from Soviet progress in general technology and modern weapons, to consider further steps to achieve the fullest possible exchange of information and cooperation in the production and development of guided missiles and countermeasures and to bring these steps to the notice of the Committee on Defense Questions and Armaments, and to establish directives concerning the utilization of strategic nuclear weapons in the possession of member countries. The application of these directives, according to the resolution, were in the event of emergency to be the responsibility of the member states in possession of these weapons.

The seventeenth plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee was held in London June 2–8, 1958. Following discussion of a document on recent developments in the world cotton situation prepared by the standing committee and the secretariat's annual review of the world cotton situation, the meeting made the following statements. The world production of cotton during 1955–56 was an all-time record of 42.7 million bales; the production during 1956–57 was reduced to 41.3 million bales. Although there was an increase in production outside the United States in 1957–58, the reduction of about 2 million bales in the United States brought world production down to 39.3 million bales. The consumption of cotton exceeded production by about 1 million bales during 1956–57 and the current year's estimates pointed to a further disappearance of about 2 million bales in excess of current production. Delegates discussed cotton production in the United States, noting the drastic decline in production due to a reduction of acreage and, to a smaller extent, unfavorable growing conditions, the responsible and careful manner of surplus stock disposal, and the advantages which would follow from a lowering of the domestic cotton price. During the discussion reference was also made, inter alia, to the undesirable effects of dual pricing systems, export subsidies, and special currency arrangements.

The ninth meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia was held in Saigon, Viet Nam, October 21–24, 1957. The committee considered the draft annual report which reviewed the progress of economic development in the area and outlined the unfinished tasks. It was announced that the annual Canadian contribution to the Colombo Plan would be increased in 1958–1959, subject to the approval of Parliament, to $35 million. The United States representative informed the conference that a new $300 million development loan fund was being organized by his government to assist countries of south and southeast Asia. The Federation of Malaya was welcomed as a member of the Colombo Plan. On the final day of the meeting the invitation of the United States to hold the next year's meeting in the United States was accepted. The meeting adopted the draft annual report and issued a communiqué which noted the economic progress made in the area in the year under review and outlined some of the future tasks in economic development.