According to the press, the four experts appointed by the Council of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in January 1960 for the purpose of drawing up plans for a body to succeed OEEC recommended, in a report published on April 20, 1960, the establishment of a new economic organization linking Europe with North America, to be called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The principal difference between the proposed organization and OEEC, apart from the full membership of the United States and Canada, was to be its emphasis on the promotion of economic growth and development in Asia and Africa. The supreme body of the organization was to be a council of ministers with powers identical to those of the parallel OEEC body; that is, member governments would be expected to conform to its decisions, which were to be taken unanimously. However, any country was to have the right to abstain by disclaiming interest in the subject under discussion, thereby freeing itself of the obligation to carry out the resulting decisions. The daily operations of the organization were to be directed by a secretary-general of wide political prestige, appointed for a five-year term. The report also envisaged the establishment of a preparatory committee to decide which of OEEC's tasks should be continued by the new organization.

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 sixth annual meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was held in Washington, D.C., from May 31 to June 2, 1960, under the chairmanship of the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Christian A. Herter. The inaugural address was delivered by Mr. Richard M. Nixon, Vice-President of the United States. Members of the organization were represented by either their prime ministers or their foreign ministers, according to the press.

Mr. Paul van Zeeland (Belgium) presided over the eleventh session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe which was held in Strasbourg, May 22 and 23. Several meetings of the ministers' deputies had been held prior to the convening of the eleventh session to consider primarily the Eden proposals, in particular a memorandum circulated by the United Kingdom deputy expanding his government's ideas. On the basis of this memorandum and on replies to a questionnaire circulated to governments by the deputies, the deputies reported to the Committee of Ministers that “it had not been possible to reach agreement on the action to be taken on the British proposals … the majority of the delegations considered that the Committee of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe … could be used as the ministerial and parliamentary institutions of (the restricted) Çommunities.” At its eleventh session, the Committee of Ministers, noting the report of the deputies, decided to give formal approval to the principles underlying the Eden proposals and to request the opinion of the Consultative Assembly on the best means of giving them effect.

The 27th session of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Rome from October 31 to November 1, 1957. In considering the provisional agenda for the ninth session of the FAO Conference/ the Council recommended a number of amendments and a rearrangement of certain items in the Director-General's program for work for 1958–1959. The Council approved various reports for submission to the Conference: that of the subcommittee on rules of procedure and financial regulations, containing proposed draft amendments to the constitution; that of the 29th session of the committee on commodity problems; and that of the 24th session of the committee on financial control.

The report of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the ninth General Conference of the Agency covered the period from July 1, 1964, to June 30, 1965. During the period under review, membership of the Agency increased from 87 to 92. The new members were Cameroun, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Kuwait, and Madagascar. The main event during the period had been the Third International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (Third Geneva Conference), which had provided a full evaluation of the experience gained since 1958 in designing, building, and operating nuclear power plants as well as of future prospects for nuclear power being introduced in an increasing number of countries. Ten specialized agencies, 75 states, and the Agency had been represented. The Conference focused its attention on nuclear power, the rapid rise of which as a major source of energy promised to be of decisive importance to the economic development of the world.

The 24th meeting of the Caribbean Commission was held in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands, from May 22 to May 28, 1957, under the chairmanshipof Mr. N. L. Mayle (United Kingdom). The report of the Central Secretariat, submitted by the Secretary-General, was considered and approved. The United States section reported that negotiations were under way for the continuation and expansion of the Caribbean Training Program. The Puerto Rican government proposed that it assume all of the administrative expenses of the program, which had been financed by the International Cooperation Administration, in order to coordinate more effectively the facilities of the University of Puerto Rico with governmental institutions.

The seventeenth session of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Geneva from October 31 to November 19, 1960, under the chairmanship of Mr. Edmundo Penna Barbosa da Silva (Brazil). One of the main items of discussion was regional economic integration, considered in terms of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the proposed Latin American free trade area, and the European Economic Community (EEC). Examination of the Stockholm Convention establishing EFTA, begun at the sixteenth session, was resumed, with the contracting parties concluding that the provisions concerning the setting up, within the time limit set forth in the convention, of a free trade area were within the definition of such an area, as contained in Article XXIV of GATT. Delegates felt, however, that there remained some legal and practical issues which could be more fruitfully discussed in the light of experience of the operation of the convention, and thus welcomed the willingness of EFTA members to furnish additional information as the organization evolved. In examining the Montevideo Treaty proposing a Latin American free trade area, delegates reached much the same conclusions. In response to the report on developments within EEC, particularly with regard to tariffs, delegates expressed a desire to receive details on the common agricultural policy of the Community, and raised queries as to the harmful effect of the Community's progressively favorable treatment of the associated territories on the trade of certain outside countries with EEC.

The second session of Regional Association I (Africa) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) opened at Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on January 21, 1957, under the presidency of Mr. Jacques Ravet. Twenty members, out of a total membership of 22, were represented by delegates. In addition, four WMO members from outside the region, one non-member territory and two international organizations sent observers who took an active part in the meeting. Two working committees were set up, one to deal with codes, telecommunications and maritime meteorology, and one to study observational networks, climatology and related matters, and arid zone problems. The various parts of the international codes subject to regional agreement were revised; the existing system of meteorological telecommunications in the region was revised in the light of the recommendations of a working group; and the networks of stations making surface and upper-air observations were examined in detail. The need for more upper-air observations from oceanic regions was stressed, and for the first time a regional network of ground radar weather observing stations was laid down. Among other items dealt with at the session were climatological practices and the preparation of a climatic atlas for Africa, and the promotion of hydrometeorological and agrometeorological activities within the region. A working group was set up to ensure better coordination of research work on the hydrometeorological problems of the arid zones within the region. The association decided that in its future program, first priority should be given to the implementation of the recommended observing networks and of the decisions concerning telecommunications.

The Security Council devoted its 913th–920th meetings to a consideration of the current situation in the Congo. The Council had before it a report by the Secretary-General regarding the arrest and subsequent treatment of Mr. Patrice Lumumba.and a statement from the government of the Soviet Union concerning the Congo situation, as well as requests to present their views from several delegations not members of the Council. All these requests were granted. Referring to the statement of the Soviet delegate raising the question of the role of the UN in the Congo, and to his own note dealing with the arrest and detention of Mr. Lumumba, the Secretary-General opened the discussion by presenting his views on a number of aspects of the situation. Reminding the Council that UN troops had been sent into the Congo to protect life and property, he assured the delegates: 1) that the UN personnel there had maintained a strict neutrality in relation to all domestic political problems; 2) that, since the UN Force had been requested to assume functions in regard to law and order, there was a legal basis for the Secretary-General to concern himself with the observance of generally accepted human rights; and 3) that it was on that basis that he and his special representatives had appealed to the Congolese authorities to apply due process of law. The problem of ascertaining the true functions of the UN in the Congo was derived from the fact that the situation in that country had changed since the original Security Council mandate authorizing the dispatch of a UN Force to the Congo; one of the original objectives, namely, the elimination of Belgian military forces, had been achieved, but the problem of the protection of life and property was still acute, and the army was not, in the Secretary-General's opinion, much more capable of maintaining law and order than when the UN had first entered the Congo. Thus, it was his conclusion that the original reasons for the UN military presence were still valid, and that the withdrawal of the UN Force would result in chaos rendering impossible technical assistance activities, civilian business, and normal political leadership.

The World Health Organization sponsored an inter-regional conference on rabies, held on Coonoor, India, during July 1952, which gave intensive and individual training in complicated laboratory procedures to an international group. A consultant staff of eight members gave lectures, led discussions, and supervised the laboratory work of 47 participants. One of die objects of die conference was to teach standardized procedures in rabies tests so that results obtained in laboratories diroughout the world might be compared.

At the 973d meeting the situation in the Congo was once again brought to the attention of the President of the Security Council, in a letter from the permanent representatives of Ethiopia, Nigeria, and the Sudan delineating conditions in Katanga caused by the lawless acts of mercenaries. Following communications from these respective delegations, representatives of Ethiopia, Belgium, India, and the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) were invited, at their request, to participate in the debate.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) the annual report on the state of food and agriculture reviewed the progress achieved during the second postwar decade, 1954/1955–1964/1965. In his foreword Director-General B. R. Sen noted three distinct phases of FAO's history. In the first, covering the postwar decade, FAO played a role in the task of reconstruction. The second phase, coinciding with the second postwar decade, had been marked by a number of significant developments in science and communications, in demography, and in national aspirations which influenced the outlook and work of FAO. Calling attention to the unprecedented rate of population growth and lagging food supply, FAO had warned that this trend implied a grave peril for the future peace and security of the world. The Freedom from Hunger Campaign launched by FAO in 1960 had represented a response to this new awareness of the dimensions of hunger and malnutrition in the world and of the responsibility of the world community to face the problem. The third phase of FAO's work, opening with the third postwar decade, would be a critical period. Mr. Sen referred to FAO studies, contained in the report, which indicated that the total food supplies of the developing countries would have to be increased fourfold in the next 35 years to give their rapidly expanding populations an adequate diet. The task of FAO, which would depend on the willingness of the leaders of the nations to devote a large share of the world's resources to meet the crisis, would be to assist in laying the foundation for this increase.

At the seventh regular meeting of the Danube Commission in December 1952 it was decided to extend the mandate of the special commission established in July 1952 to examine the Yugoslav proposal for amendment of the rules of procedure and the Statute until the eighth regular meeting. However, despite Yugoslav objections, the report of the special commission was not put on the agenda for the eighth meeting. Also discussed at the seventh meeting were the Yugoslav failure to pay dues for the preceding year, and the action of Yugoslavia in taking over control of the locomotive traction of the Sip Canal. Yugoslavia took the position that it had a right to defend its national interests in the light of previous breach of contract by other Commission members. With Yugoslavia objecting to both nominations, the meeting elected the Rumanian representative as chairman and the Soviet delegate as secretary of the Com-mission, the latter for a term of three years.

The eighth session of the Ministerial Council of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) was held in Teheran, Iran, from April 28 to 30, 1960. Dr. Manouchehr Eghbal, Prime Minister of Iran, was chairman of the session. In its final communiqué, the Council expressed the hope that the nuclear tests conference would reach a solution providing for the suspension of these tests under adequate international control, and that the ten-nation disarmament conference would also make real progress. It further noted the recent and forthcoming top-level contacts with the government of the Soviet Union and expressed support for the efforts being made to secure the easing of tension. In speeches made to the opening meeting of the Council, Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State Christian Herter of the United States stressed that all discussions with the government of the Soviet Union would be conducted by the Western powers with full regard for the interests of their allies in CENTO and the other regional organizations, and the member countries would be kept informed of such discussions. The Council agreed that the efforts to ease tension should be genuine, being not only expressed in words but demonstrated in deeds as well.

On October 31, 1949 a preparatory meeting of representatives of the northern European regional planning group – Britain, Denmark and Norway – was held in London. It was attended by the defense ministers, their chiefs-of-staff and other advisers of the three countries. Instructions necessary for the permanent establishment of this group, for meetings of the chiefs-of-staff of member countries, as well as for meetings of the ministers themselves were issued. There was to be also a permanent committee of principal staff officers in London, responsible to the chiefs-of-staff, to provide day-to-day coordination.

Case concerning the Aerial Incident of July 27, 7955 (United Kingdom v. Bulgaria): In response to a request from the government of Bulgaria, the International Court, in an order of May 27, 1959, extended the time limit for the deposit of the Bulgarian counter-memorial from June 9, 1959, to August 10, 1959.

The General Assembly,

Having regard to its resolutions 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 and 194 (III) of 11 December 1948,

Having studied the reports of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine set up under the latter resolution,

I. Decides

In relation to Jerusalem,

Believing that the principles underlying its previous resolutions concerning this matter, and in particular its resolution of 29 November 1947, represent a just and equitable settlement of the question,

The eighth session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was held in Rome from November 4 through 25, 1955 under the chairmanship of the Right Honorable K. J. Holyoake (New Zealand). The Conference had accepted the proposals submitted by the FAO Council on the organization of the eighth session, and consequently established various commissions to deal with agenda items pertaining to program trends and policy questions in food and agriculture, constitutional and legal questions, and administrative and financial questions. During its discussion of the world food and agricultural situation, the Conference noted that world per capita agricultural production, which had decreased by ten to fifteen percent at the end of World War II, had regained its pre-war level in spite of an increase of nearly 25 percent in population. However, agricultural production had increased more rapidly in advanced countries than in economically under-developed ones, so that per capita production in Asia and Latin America wasstill below pre-war levels, while surpluses had built up in the more advanced countries. The Conference felt that this situation was due to a failure to expand effective demand for farm products as rapidly as technical developments made it possible to expand production. Although the Conference noted that surplus agricultural commodities had increased more slowly in 1954–1955 than in the two preceding years, it felt that this had been due at least as much to poor crops in some countries as to increased consumption or to a planned reduction of output.