The first part of the thirteenth ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was held from April 24 to 28, 1961, under the chairmanship of Mr. Per Federspiel (Danish Moderate Liberal) who was unanimously re-elected to that position. Mr. Emile Liquard (French U.N.R.), rapporteur df the Bureau and Standing Committee, announced to the Assembly that pursuant to discussions at the twelfth ordinary session the Turkish Foreign Minister had been invited to participate at the thirteenth session; however, in view of the present political activity in that country the Foreign Minister had stated that he would be unable to attend. Mr. Liquard also noted that the Swiss and Israeli observers were subsequently to be seated in the Assembly hall. The Bureau and Standing Committee recommended that a draft resolution presented by Mr. Peter Kirk (British Conservative) on the situation in Spain should be referred to the Political Committee for report and to the Committee on Non-Represented Nations for an opinion; the Assembly adopted the proposal and also unanimously approved another proposal, suggested by the Committee of Ministers, that Cyprus be invited to become a full member of the Council of Europe.

The tenth session of the Ministerial Council of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) was held in London on April 30 and May 1, 1962. The Council exchanged views on international developments since its last meeting, and reported steady progress. The ministers were agreed that the free nations should continue their efforts to achieve disarmament with adequate provision for international inspection. Pending a disarmament agreement, however, the CENTO countries had to rely upon their common defense against the dangers which threatened them. The ministers therefore considered the progress made in improving the defensive strength of the alliance, as reported to them by the Military Committee, particularly with regard to increase of coordination and the improvement of joint facilities between existing defense forces.

At a meeting in Accra, which took place from April 27 to 29, 1961, Presidents Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Sékou Touré of Guinea, and Modibo Keita of Mali signed a charter formally establishing a tripartite Union of African States. The charter came into effect upon its simultaneous publication on July 1 in the capitals of Ghana, Guinea, and Mali after the three heads of state had met at Bamako, Mali, on June 26 in order to examine the extent to which decisions reached at their April meeting in Accra had been implemented. The drafting of the charter evolved out of a decision announced by the three government leaders at Conakry, Guinea, on December 24, 1960, envisioning common diplomatic representation and the creation of committees to draw up arrangements for harmonizing economic and monetary policies.

The Central American Common Market was established among the governments of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua on July 31, 1962, at the conclusion of the third extraordinary session, July 23–31, 1962, in San José, Costa Rica, of the Committee of Economic Cooperation of the five republics. Three conventions were signed by the ministers of economy, representing the five nations, with the aim of establishing the Central American economic integration structure: 1) the adhesion of Costa Rica to the Central American convention on equalization of tariff rates; 2) the protocol to the Central American convention on the equalization of import duties (the Protocol of San José); and 3) the Central American convention on fiscal incentives to industrial development.

Communist Party and government delegates from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union attended a meeting in Moscow of the Council for Economic Mutual Assistance (COMECON) on June 7 and 8, 1962. It was reported that the delegations had decided to support the proposal for an international trade conference which would embrace all countries without discrimination. The delegations also expressed their desire for the further expansion of foreign trade with capitalist countries. A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said that the Council agreed that its main activity in the immediate future would be coordination of the long-term and current economic plans of the COMECON countries. The meeting deemed it necessary that special attention be paid to: the speeding up of specialization and cooperation of production, the maximum development of raw material, fuel, and power supplies, the necessity of beginning in the near future the coordination of principal capital investments in the extracting and processing branches of industry, and the further widening and deepening of coordination of scientific and technical research. It was agreed that, whenever necessary, the members would set up joint enterprises, joint scientific research centers, and joint projecting and designing offices. During the course of the meeting the Mongolian government was admitted as a member of COMECON.

The European Parliament (formerly called the European Parliamentary Assembly) met at Strasbourg from May 7 to May 11, 1962, under the presidency of Mr. Gaetano Martino (Italian Liberal). The President of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) High Authority, Mr. Piero Malvestiti, reviewed ten years of his organization's activities. In conclusion, he called for a European energy policy to counter upheavals caused by the changing pattern of energy consumption. Mr. Ernst Muller-Hermann (German Christian Democrat) reported on transport, and the Parliament requested the European Economic Community (EEC) Commission to draw up plans and a timetable for instituting a common transport policy. The Parliament unanimously adopted a draft resolution presented by Mr. Marinus Van der Goes van Naters (Dutch Labor) deploring the lack of valid action following the Bonn declaration on political union of July 18, 1961, and called for resumed negotiations for a political union fully respecting the statute of existing communities, aiming at the adoption of a common foreign policy, strengthening the Atlantic Alliance, and providing for cultural cooperation, harmonization of legislation, and the peaceful settlement of disputes. The Parliament also adopted a resolution hoping for a successful conclusion as soon as possible of the negotiations with the government of the United Kingdom.

Meeting in July 1959 at Sanniquellie, Liberia, President Tubman of Liberia, President Touré of Ginea, and Prime Minister Nkrumah of Ghana pledged themselves to work together for the formation of a “Community of Independent African States.” To this end, they decided that a special conference should be held in 1960 after Nigeria, Togoland, and the Cameroons had attained independence. They agreed on the following principles to be presented to the projected conference as the basis for discussion: 1) Africans, like all other peoples, had an inherent right to independence and self-determination; 2) the name of the proposed organization should be the “Community of Independent African States;” 3) each state or federation which became a member of the Community should maintain its own national identity and constitutional structure; 4) each member should accept the principle of noninterference in the internal affairs of any other-member; 5) the acts of states or federations members of the Community should be determined in relation to the essential objectives of freedom, independence, and unity of the African personality; 6) the policy of the Community should be to build up a prosperous African unity for the benefit of the peoples of Africa and of the world, and in the interests of international peace and security; 7) a main objective should be to help accelerate the independence of African territories subjected to domination; 8) the Community should set up an economic council, a cultural council, and a scientific and research council; 9) membership should be open to all independent African states and federations and to nonindependent countries upon their attainment of independence; 10) the Community should have a flag and an anthem, to be decided upon at a later date; and 11) the motto of the Community should be “Independence and Unity.”

On March 23, 1961, it was announced that the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) had formally taken over its main joint research center when the Italian government's nuclear research center at Ispra was handed over to Euratom President Etienne Hirsch. By the end of 1962 the staff at the center, which was to be not only the main Euratom research center but also its only general-purpose one, was expected to number 1,500. Other joint research centers were being set up at Mol, Belgium; Karlsruhe, Germany; and Patten, the Netherlands. It was also announced that a plan had been set up to build the European Transuranium Institute alongside the Nuclear Research Institute at Karlsruhe, Germany.

The 1960–1961 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Tariff Conference was brought to a conclusion on July 16, 1962. The decision to hold the 1960–1961 conference was taken in May 1959, following a proposal of the United States that such a conference should be held. Approximately 4,400 tariff concessions were negotiated at the conference. There were three separate elements in the 1960–1961 conference: 1) renegotiations with the European Economic Community (EEC); 2) the “Dillon” or general round of negotiations; and 3) negotiations in accordance with the relevant provisions of the General Agreement with countries wishing to accede to GATT.

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.

The eighth joint session between the members of the Consultative Assembly and the European Parliamentary Assembly (EPA) took place in Strasbourg on September 19 and 20, 1961, under the joint presidency of Mr. Hans Furler (German Christian Democrat), president of EPA, and Mr. Per Federspiel (Danish Moderate Liberal), president of the Consultative Assembly. The debates opened with the report of Mr. P. J. Kapteyn (Dutch Labor), on behalf of EPA, and the Consultative Assembly's reply, presented by Mr. Michel Junot (French Independent). Mr. Kapteyn, speaking of the British approach to the Common Market, stressed that two world wars had brought Great Britain much nearer to continental Europe.

The Council of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) met at ministerial level in London on June 27 and 28, 1961. The Ministers stressed EFTA's wish ultimately toform a single European market for 300 million consumers which would follow liberal policies toward the outside world. They stated that a new effort to bring an end to European division would necessitate a readiness to make some modification of policy on all sides, but that the Stockholm Convention. In regard to approaching che six of EEC, the Council of Ministers agreed that EETA should coordingate its policies in order to remain united throughout negotitations

According to the press, the Ministerial Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held its twelfth annual ministerial review at NATO headquarters in Paris from December 13 to 15, 1961. It was reported that diplomatic soundings of the Soviet Union's intentions on Berlin would be undertaken by the United States and the United Kingdom, Berwith the approval of thirteen other NATO partners and the acquiescence of France, The French Foreign Minister, Mr. Maurice Couve de Murville, was reported to have expressed the view that the Soviet offensive on Berlin was aimed ultimately at the neutralization of Germany and the detachment of Germany and the Scandinavian counganization tries from the NATO alliance, and to have urged that the West strengthen its military forces.

The European Community is the collective title of the three supra-national institutions—the European Coal and Steel Community, the Common Market, and Euratom—set up by Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Luxembourg (the Six). Each of the three institutions is separate and has its own executive, whose task is to ensure proper functioning and development. Ultimate authority is exercised by the Council of Ministers of each.

The following dissertation was omitted from the bibliography “Doctoral Dissertations in American Universities Concerning the United Nations, 1943–1961,” by Sidney N. Barnett, which appeared in the Summer 1962 (Vol. 16, No. 3) issue of International Organization:

Tobiassen, Leif Kr. The Right of Access to the United Nations. New York University, 1959.

The press reported that on September 30, 1961, the new Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) formally came into being with seventeen out of a possible twenty member nations having. deposited their instruments of ratification of the OECD convention. At the time of the entry into force of the convention, the following nations had deposited their ratifications: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and West Germany. Italy, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg shortly afterwards joined the organization. The OECD convention required members to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, nondiscriminatory basis in accord with international obligations. At the first meeting of the organization in Paris on September 30, 1961, Mr. Donald Fleming, Canadian Finance Minister, was elected chairman of the Ministerial Council, and Mr. Gunnar Lange, Swedish Commerce Minister, and Mr. Charles Arliotis, Greek Minister of Coordination, vice-chairmen. Mr. Thorkil Kristensen, the former Secretary-General of OEEC, was named Secretary-General of the new organization, and Mr. Charles Adair (United States) and Mr. Jean Cottier (France) were designated deputy Secretaries-General.

The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) announced that the tariffs of five member states on imports of goods qualifying for EFTA treatment would be reduced IO percent on March 1, 1962. This reduction resulted in a total reduction in basic duties of 40 percent since July 1, 1960, for Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. For imports into Austria and Norway a corresponding reduction was to be made not later than September 1, 1962. The reduction was not yet to apply to certain limited classes of goods imported into Denmark. The tariff reductions were to be applied to imports from Finland in the same way as to imports from other member states.