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 tenth annual economic review of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) appeared in February 1959 under the title Policies for Sound Economic Growth. Its major conclusions were as follows: 1) policy must generally be focused on the stimulation of an adequate rate of economic growth; 2) the measures adopted must not lead to a rate of growth of demand which might give rise to inflation and balance-of-payments disequilibrium, and which could not therefore be sustained; 3) in view of the large increase in productive capacity in recent years, there was scope for a greater emphasis on increasing consumption; 4) there was need for a stimulus to revive international trade, if possible through a more economic pattern of trade and use of investment resources; 5) member countries should act in concert and coordinate their national policies; 6) the countries in a stronger economic position had the major responsibility for ensuring a renewal of growth, although those still subject to inflationary pressures must continue to apply restraining measures; 7) special consideration must be given to the difficulties of those countries and regions in Europe which were in the course of development and relied heavily on agricultural exports; 8) there must be a stabilization policy appropriate to a phase of renewed expansion; 9) excessive over-all demand should be avoided, as well as cost inflation; and 10) improvements in short-term economic indicators needed to be promoted.

The ninth session of the Ministerial Council of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) was held in Ankara, Turkey, April 27–28, 1961, under the chairmanship of Mr. Selim Sarper, Foreign Minister of Turkey. The session opened with a speech by General Gursel, the Turkish head of state, in which he said that the alliance had achieved successful results in the fields of security, economic development, and cultural activities. According to the press, there was a controversy as to the primary role of the alliance, with Mr. Hussein Ghods Nakhai, the Iranian Foreign Minister, referring to CENTO as an economic and defensive organization, in that order, while Mr. Manzoor Quadir, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, emphasized the defense aspect of the organization by stating that CENTO had to concern itself with developing the military as well as the economic strength of the area. Mr. M. O. A. Baig, retiring Secretary-General of the organization, was said to have asserted in his report to the session that only the presence of the United States gave meaning and validity to any “free world” defense alliance, CENTO included, even though the United States was not a full member of the organization. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk, in addressing the session, pledged the continued cooperation of his country for the mutual security of the area.

The Council of Ministers of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held its third meeting in Geneva from February 14 to 16, 1961, under the chairmanship of Mr. Maudling, President of the Board of Trade of the United Kingdom. The main topics of discussion were 1) the advancement of the timetable for the reduction and elimination of tariffs within EFTA, and 2) the proposed association of Finland with EFTA. The Ministerial Council decided to bring forward by six months to July 1, 1961, the date by which the next 10 percent reductions were to be made in the tariffs applied within EFTA. The Ministers stated in the final communiqué of the meeting that the Council should pursue at official level the examination of the possibility of advancing the timetable for reducing and eliminating the tariffs applied within EFTA. The basic objective was to ensure that by January 1, 1970, if not before, goods manufactured within the area would be traded among the seven as if no frontiers existed. The Council agreed that this examination should be carried out at the same time as the following studies previously planned for 1961 in accordance with other provisions of the EFTA convention: 1) dismantling quantitative restrictions; 2) abolishing subsidized agricultural exports; and 3) facilitating the expansion of trade in agricultural goods. The Ministers also reached agreement on the form of association to be offered to Finland. Under the formula decided upon, Finland would in no sense be a member of EFTA but would have an ultimately tariff-free market for her exports in the seven EFTA countries. A separate free trade area was to be formed between Finland on the one hand and the seven EFTA members on the other, and a special council was to be created for matters affecting Finland alone. Finland would not be treated as an EFTA member but would be allowed to retain its existing trade agreements with the Soviet Union without exposing EFTA members to an irresistible demand for the same benefits. On March 27, 1961, it was announced by the press that Finland had signed the agreement linking her with EFTA.

Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East: The nineteenth session of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) was held in Manila on March 5–18, 1964, under the chairmanship of Mr. Rufino G. Hechanova (Philippines).

The twelfth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Washington D.C., September 23–26, 1957, under the chairmanship of Miguel Cuaderno, Sr. Per Jacobsson, Managing Director, reviewed the activities of the Fund during the previous year. Emphasizing that the Fund's assistance was of a short-term nature and designed to enable countries to adopt and carry out, within a limited period of time, programs to restore stability to their economies, Mr. Jacobsson stated that the Fund was being used to help countries meet emergency needs, ease strain in the balance of payments, meet temporary exchange difficulties, and fulfill stabilization programs. Mr. Jacobsson went on to discuss various problems encountered in connection with the Fund's activities and cited, inter alia, multiple currency practices, Fund liquidity, and, in connection with general aspects of the world economy, inflation, relative values of currencies, and financing for underdeveloped countries.

The Council of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) held its ninth annual meeting in Manila on April 13–15, 1964, under the chairmanship of Salvador P. Lopez, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines. The communiqué issued at the close of the meeting expressed the Ministers' contention that SEATO had had, and continued to have, a most important stabilizing influence in Southeast Asia. Despite the sharpening of the Sino-Soviet dispute, the Council agreed that world domination remained the aim of communism and that vigilance could not therefore be relaxed. In addition to measures to deter overt aggression and active insurgency, the Ministers agreed that emphasis on the development of economic and social conditions should be continued in order to strengthen national resistance to subversion. Reaffirming that the determination of national policy rested with individual governments, the Council declared that material support and encouragement should be given to those nations which, in defending themselves, needed and requested such support.

The Council of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) met in Geneva from April 27 to May 4, 1955, after a week-long meeting of the ninemember Executive Committee. The Council approved a $48 million budget, of which $2.5 million was earmarked for administrative expenses. The $46.6 million operational budget would finance the processing, transport and resettlement of the 142, 165 Europeans the Committee hoped to move in 1955. The major countries of immigration were expected to be Australia, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Venezuela; major countries of emigration were expected to be Trieste and Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece, Netherlands.

According to press reports, the foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, east Germany, Poland, Rumania, and the Soviet Union met in Warsaw with the deputy foreign ministers of Hungary and the People's Republic of China on April 27–28, 1959. Although for formal and legal reasons the Chinese minister had the status of an observer, he nevertheless took a full part in the bloc's determination of its European policy. The conference was said to have been the first occasion on which the Soviet Union had called together the other members of the Pact to brief and consult with them on its policy before a four-power meeting.

The fifth session of the WHO Executive Board was held in Geneva from January 16 to February 2, 1950. Long-range plans for WHO operations were outlined, and the Board recommended that the 1951 program should continue at the same general level, with primary emphasis on strengthening national health administrations and on control work against malaria, tuberculosis, and venereal disease. Development of services in the fields of maternal and child health, mental health, nutrition, sanitation, health statistics and medical training facilities would also be stressed.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on February 16, 1960, a loan of $42 million to Iran for an electric power generation, irrigation, and flood control project on the Dez River. The Bank's loan, which was for a term of 25 years and bore interest of 6frac14 percent with amortization beginning August 1, 1964, was to cover the foreign exchange costs of building the project with a total cost of $83 million.

During the sixth session of the Executive Board in Geneva from June 1 to June 9, 1950, it was reported that some difficulties had been encountered in the establishment of a regional office for Europe. Six member states had not replied to the request sent them on the subject, seven had expressed reservations, six had sent in negative replies, and only eight had indicated their approval. It was also proposed that rules of procedure of the Assembly be changed to permit the participation in discussions of representatives of the Executive Board in either plenary or committee meetings. During the biennial revision of the list of non-governmental organizations with which WHO maintained official relations, a total of eighteen were retained. The Executive Board also agreed that, while WHO was not an organization for sending supplies to governments, it was nonetheless true that supplies were occasionally indispensable to enable a government to carry out a specific program. A total of $100,000 had been thus distributed to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Finland, India, Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan, Monaco, Portugal, Thailand and Yugoslavia for the control of malaria and leprosy, the improvement of nursing care and similar activities.

The resumed 24th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) was held on December 10 and 13, 1957, under the presidency of Mr. Mohammad Mir Khan (Pakistan). The Council elected as members of the Council Committee on Non-Governmental Organization, Brazil, China, France, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Council also elected Morocco to membership on the Technical Assistance Committee to replace the Sudan, which had been elected to ECOSOC, thereby becoming ineligible for TAC as a nonmember of the Council. The appointment of a number of members of ECOSOC commissions was subsequently confirmed by the Council.

The Trusteehip Council held its 24th session at UN Headquarters in New York from June 2 to August 6, 1959. At its opening meeting, the 967th, the Council adopted its provisional agenda which included examination of the annual reports of the administering authorities on the trust territories of Ruanda-Urundi, Togoland under French administration, New Guinea, Nauru, the trust territory of the Pacific Islands, Somaliland under Italian administration, and Western Samoa, as well as consideration of petitions, matters referred to the Council by the General Assembly, reports of visiting missions, the report of the UN Advisory Council for the Trust Territory of Somaliland under Italian administration, and reports of various committees of the Council.

The fifth meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Council was held in Wellington from April 8 to 10, 1959, under the chairmanship of the New Zealand Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, the Right Hon. Walter Nash. The Council discussed reports and recommendations by the Council representatives, the military advisers, and the Secretary-General, and in the light of them gave directions with regard to the activities of the organization in the coming year. The communique issued at the close of the meeting noted that despite the continuing possibility of open aggression, the principal threat to the security and independence of the treaty area was now being presented in more indirect forms. The Council members were aware of the opportunities afforded for subversive activities in situations where basic problems of hunger, lack of opportunity, and underdevelopment remained unsolved. The Council stated that SEATO had done much to publicize and expose throughout the treaty area the objectives toward which subversion was directed and the methods by which it operated, and it agreed that during the coming year arrangements should be made for the further strengthening of this aspect of SEATO's work. For example, it was proposed that a meeting of experts on counter-subversion should be held in Pakistan. The Council members recognized the need for continuing action in the economic and social spheres.

The tenth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was held in Istanbul, Turkey from September 12 to 16, 1955, under the chairmanship of Ahmed Zaki Saad (Governor for Egypt). Two of the five plenary sessions were held jointly with the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, and on September 15 an informal panel discussion was held on the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Case concerning the Northern Cameroons (Cameroun v. United Kingdom): In an order of July 6, 1961, the International Court of Justice fixed the time limits for the filing of pleadings in the case concerning the Northern Cameroons as follows: for the memorial of the Republic of Cameroun, November 1, 1961; and for the countermemorial of the United Kingdom, March 1, 1962. Subsequently, in an order of November 2, 1961, the Court, in accordance with a request from the agent of the government of the Republic of Cameroun, extended to January 3, 1962, the time limit for the filing of the memorial of the Republic of Cameroun and to May 2, 1962, the time limit for the filing of the countermemorial of the United Kingdom.

In the short span of a year, from the Messina Conference held on June 1 and 2, 1955, by the foreign ministers of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to the series of meetings begun in Brussels on June 26, 1956, among the same governments, the idea of economic unification of these six countries has made a striking advance toward its realization. The heads of the delegations to the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference produced a report in which they jointly and unanimously proposed to start drafting a treaty (or two treaties) to establish a “common market” and an atomic community (Euratom) along the lines of their report. The governments are not yet formally committed to accept all the recommendations of this report; but they agreed at the Venice Conference on May 29, 1956, to take it as a basis for the negotiation of the treaty. This document is therefore to be regarded as much more than another expert opinion on the desirability or the feasibility of economic integration. It outlines the detailed objectives to be reached and contains a relatively precise timetable hammered out through months of arduous discussions which took the better part of the summer and of the fall of 1955 in the Belgian capital. Euratom and the “common market” are of course closely interrelated political issues. Technically, however, they are quite distinct and only the common market is examined in this paper.

The second part of the eleventh ordinary session of the Consultative Assembly was opened on September 14, 1959. Mr. John Edwards, President of the Assembly, opened the sitting with a tribute to two retiring representatives, following which the report of the Bureau and Standing Committee was presented; it noted that both the head of the Political Department of the Swiss Federal Council and the Portuguese Foreign Minister had been invited to participate in the Assembly debates on the Organization of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) reports and on economic questions. Mr. Franz Gschnitzer, Austrian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, then presented the supplementary report to the tenth report of the Committee of Ministers. Replying to questions from representatives, he stated, inter alia, that the Committee had decided to re-examine its recommendation on the forestry situation in Europe after the results of the studies launched by the European Economic Community (EEC) were known; that the Council of Europe did not intend to advance a loan to the Resettlement Fund for Refugees and Over-Population; that the Committee had not yet examined the third report on the European civil service; and that the present arrangements between die Commission of EEC and the Council would in no way prejudge any over-all agreement which might be concluded in the future.

Listed below is membership of UN bodies for 1958. Unless otherwise noted, membership expires on December 31 of the year indicated.