The seventh annual report of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), subtided “Economic Expansion and its Problems”, was made public February 1956. During 1955, the report stated, the economic expansion characteristic of 1953 and 1954 had continued; production had reached record heights, and it appeared that the gain in total output for 1955 had exceeded the rise of five percent recorded for 1953 and 1954. Higher production had allowed a fuller realization of the basic objectives of the policies of the member governments: high levels of employment had been reached, investment needed for economic growth had increased, and consumers had enjoyed a substantially larger amount of goods and services. However, according to the report a danger to the prosperity had arisen during 1955; the threat consisted in the possibility that an excessive growth of demand might turn the expansion into a boom, that a boom would entail price and production distortions as well as balance of payments difficulties, and that such inflationary excesses would disrupt the course of economic progress. In the view of the report, it was not yet clear that the threat to economic balance had been removed by dampening measures taken by governments. There were many signs indicating the strain that demand was putting on productive resources: production was pressing on capacity in most industries, with tight market situations developing, the demand for labor had taken up all the slack in unemployment, sensitive price indicators had moved up considerably, and in some countries, there had been significant increases in the general level of prices to consumers, while home demand had advanced somewhat more rapidly than production, leading to a reduction of the current balance of payments surplus or to a deficit.

During the period from September 16, 1954 through December 15, 1954, the Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) took a number of administrative and budgetary decisions among which were the following: 1) At a meeting on September 16, 1954, the Council decided to postpone until 1955 the Second Meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council and the Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education, the exact date of the meetings to be determined by the Council in consultation with the government of Brazil since the meetings would be held in that country. 2) On October 20, 1954, the Council decided to include the representative of Chile on the Committee on Juridical-Political Matters, thereby increasing the membership of the committee to fourteen. 3) On November 17, 1954, the Council elected Dr. José A. Mora (Uruguay) Chairman, and Dr. José Ramón Rodríguez (Dominican Republic) Vice-Chairman for 1954–1955. 4) Under a resolution adopted by the Council on December 15, 1954, the chairmen or vice-chairmen of special committees were to be included in the membership of the General Committee, and ex-chairmen of the Council who were still members might participate and vote in the discussions of the General Committee. 5) On December 15, 1954, the Council also approved the organization plan of the Inter-American Travel Congresses submitted by the Fifth Inter-American Travel Congress.

The second meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asian Defense Treaty Organization (SEATO) was held in Karachi, Pakistan from March 6 through 8, 1956, under the chairmanship of Hamidul Haq Chowdhury, Foreign Minister of Pakistan. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the eight member states: Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and United States. In the communique issued at the close of the session, the Council maintained that SEATO had made a notable contribution to the maintenance of peace in southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific. Council members affirmed that their countries would never commit aggression and that their cooperation under SEATO was directed toward mutual defense and the maintenanceof peace. In regard to political developments in southeast Asia, the Council noted with satisfaction reports of the steps being taken toward establishing full self-government and independence for Malaya within the United Kingdom, and the further progress in the development of free political institutions in the region, particularly in regard to Cambodia, Laos and the Republic of Vietnam which, although not members of SEATO, were under its protection.

The Political Consultative Committee established under the Warsaw collective security treaty held its first meeting in Prague on January 27 and 28, 1956. In addition to representatives of the eight signatory powers (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and the Soviet Union), an observer from the People's Republic of China attended the meeting. According to press reports, a declaration was issued at the close of the two-day meeting in which an immediate big-power agreement to exclude nuclear weapons from the equipment of any armies stationed in Germany was proposed. The declaration said that the Warsaw powers noted a basic change in the international situation and the existence of possibilities for its further improvement; while in Europe the continued armament of the western powers and the remilitarization of Germany made it essential for the signatories to ensure their own safety, at the same time they intended to work constantly for a system of collective security and general disarmament. Specifically, the declaration renewed an earlier Soviet proposal for a European collective security system and the establishment of a zone to include all Germany, where arms and troops would be limited and controlled. In the meantime, it recommended that nonaggression pacts should be made between states, and in general a start should be made to improve relations between states, irrespective of their existing or eventual membership in one or another military bloc. A communique issued with the declaration announced that the newly created army of the German Democratic Republic had been formally accepted into the command of Marshal Ivan S. Konev, supreme commander of the Warsaw treaty military structure.

The twenty-fifth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements was made public in June 1955. In reviewing the period April 1, 1954—March 31, 1955, the report noted that 1954 had been a fundamentally prosperous year; in most countries of Europe the volume of production had continued to increase during 1954, and in the United States and Canada output had begun to rise again in the second half of the year and had continued to increase in the early months of 1955. The progress had been all the more notable since it had been achieved concurrently with an unusual degree of over-all price stability and without any resurgence of major balance-of-payments difficulties; in these respects the conditions prevailing in 1954 had been a continuation of those of the two preceding years. In discussing the 1953–1954 recession in the United States and the recovery which had taken place in the United States since the autumn of 1954, the report outlined the forces and policies which it felt had enabled the recession to be halted effectively and fairly rapidly: 1) the great wealth and liquidity of the United States economy; 2) the operation of various “automatic stabilizers”, such as income tax and unemployment insurance, which had not been dependent upon new policy decisions, but had come into operation of their own accord; 3) other factors conducive to stability, such as long-term borrowing, the insurance of individual bank deposits against loss to the depositor up to $10,000, and the system of margin requirements which had been introduced in 1934; 4) special steps taken by the authorities in the field of fiscal and credit policy; and 5) the continued economic expansion in western Europe.

The seventh meeting of the Consultative Committee on Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia (Colombo Plan) was held in Singapore from October 17 to 21, 1955, attended by the original members (Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, together with Malaya and British Borneo), and by representatives of more recent member countries, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the United States, Burma, Nepal, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, and Thailand. The United Kingdom announced at the meeting that it had decided to increase its commitment for technical assistance to Colombo Plan members to £7 million over the seven years beginning in April 1956, and the representative for the United States announced that his government had offered to establish in south or southeast Asia a center for nuclear research and training which would include a research reactor and a small power reactor. A communique issued at the conclusion of the meeting mentioned the increasing degree of self-help in the economic development of the region, and stressed the need to encourage private investment in the area. It was further announced that it had been decided at the meeting to extend the Colombo Plan, previously scheduled to end in 1957, until 1961.

An extraordinary session of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was held in Strasbourg from November 22 to 25, 1955; Mr. Pella (Italy) was re-elected president. Mr. Etzel, Vice President of the ECSC High Authority, reported that a Ruhr coal cartel was being broken up and three autonomous sales organizations for Ruhr coal were being created in its stead. He declared that under the new arrangement the three sales agencies would maintain independent policies and that die High Authority would supervise their activities to make sure that they did not violate the letter and spirit of Article 65 of the ECSC Treaty, which was ECSC's “anti-trust law”. Mr. Etzel also reported that substantial progress had been made toward breaking up a Belgian coal sales monopoly which had agreed to reorganize itself immediately in order to end infringements upon the Treaty's anti-cartel and fair trade codes. He was less optimistic about progress being made to eliminate a French national coal importing monopoly which prevented French coal consumers from buying coal from ECSC countries through other organizations. In reply to Assembly criticism concerning the High Authority's lack of action concerning the French monopoly, Mr. Etzel stated that a French decision was expected shortly regarding modification of the organization's status and that if the French government refused to conform with the Treaty, the High Authority would seek judicial action against the French government.

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) held its third session in Geneva from October 17 to 22, 1956; prior to the session, the nine-member Executive Committee held a private session beginning on October 6, at which special reports from the ICEM Director, Harold H. Tittmann were considered, and recommendations on a revised budget for 1955 as well as on proposed budgets for 1956 and 1957 were formulated. The focal point of debate at the Council's session was the need to revise ICEM's system of financing. In an opening address, Director Tittmann told the Council that ICEM-assisted movements from Europe during 1955 would total approximately 118,000, instead of the 142,000 estimated at the beginning of the year. The original budget of $46.5 million had been reduced to $42.7 million, and the deficit of $2.5 million had been greatly reduced; however, a deficit for 1955 of more than $200,000 still remained, and he appealed to member countries who had not yet done so to make a contribution towards covering that deficit. In proposing a target for 1956 of 125,900 migrants, Director Tittmann stressed the fact that ICEM faced a $2.7 million deficit, urged member governments to make contributions sufficient to cover the program, and asked them to place the entire financing system of ICEM on a sounder basis. Director Tittmann further reported that it would be necessary for ICEM to reduce its grants for 1956 to voluntary agencies working in the field of migration; per capita grants would be diminished from $80 in 1955 to $35 for migrants to North America and $75 permigrant for other destinations in 1956, he stated.