The sixth session of the Council met in Paris from June 13 to 24, 1949. The Council heard a report by the Director-General (Dodd) on his visits to Europe and the Far East, and examined the world food situation and the problems which appeared to lie ahead. Available information indicated that although more than two-thirds of the world's population was still chronically undernourished, there had been several important changes in the world food situation in the past few months, particularly the emergence of surpluses in certain countries. Food consumption in 1948–49 in western and central Europe was ten per cent higher than in 1947–48, in terms of calories; this was due to the excellent 1948 harvest and the continuation of imports at a high level. In the Far East and parts of Africa and Latin America output remained at a low level, apart from improvement in a few crops and areas — such as rice in Thailand and oilseeds in West Africa. In the underdeveloped regions lack of capital and equipment, inadequate technical assistance and continued internal disturbances constituted major obstacles to expansion of production. World grain exports in 1948 were the highest since 1930–31, although increased consumption in exporting countries kept world exports of fats and oils still 33 per cent below prewar levels. Less than ten per cent of the world's food production was exchanged between countries, representing only three-quarters of the volume exchanged before the war. Standards of nutrition in the ill-fed areas of the world could be raised only by increasing production in those areas or by transferring to them supplies from countries producing more than they themselves needed and which were capable of still further increased output.

The fourth session of the Conference of FAO was held in Washington, D.C. from November 15 through November 29, 1948. In addition to representatives from 58 member nations, observers from 16 non-member countries, more than 60 non-governmental groups, and various intergovernmental and international organizations attended.

On December 17, 1948, a Committee of Naval Experts was appointed by the International Court of Justice to report on eight technical points involved in the Corfu Channel case. Under the order of the Court the Committee, whose members were Commodore J. Bull of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Commodore S. A. Forshell of the Royal Swedish Navy and Lt. Commander S. J. W. Elfferich of the Royal Netherlands Navy, was to submit a report on the situation in the north Corfu strait at the time the incident took place, the type of mines involved, the possibility of laying mines without the knowledge of Albania, and the technical possibilities involved in testimony of a witness for the United Kingdom, former Lt. Commander Kovacic of the Yugoslav navy.

On April 29, 1949 the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced the results of its operations for the nine-month period ending March 31, 1949. Net income amounted to $7,383,006 as compared with $2,242,597 for the first nine months of the preceding fiscal year. The Bank's income was $15,611,704 plus $3,701,468 of the special reserve account and total expenses for the nine-month period amounted to $8,228,698. During the first three months of 1949 the International Bank approved four new loans amounting to $125,100,000, bringing the total loans approved by the Bank since its organization to $650,100,000. These four new loan agreements consisted of two agreements with two Mexican corporations in the amount of $34,100,000, an agreement with the Brazilian Traction, Light and Power Company, Ltd. in the amount of $75,000,000, and an agreement with the Kingdom of Belgium in the amount of $16,000,000. It was expected that a portion of these loans would be disbursed in currencies other than United States dollars.

At its fifth session, held following the close of the fourth annual conference of FAO, the Council decided that its next meeting should be held in Paris in early June 1949, and elected three Council Vice-Chairmen – Professor André Mayer of France, B. R. Sen of India and Dr. G. S. H. Barton of Canada. The Committee on Financial Control was reestablished with the same membership as in 1948 with Enrique Perez-Cisneros of Cuba appointed as chairman, and the Committee on Relations with International Organizations was reconstituted. An ad hoc committee appointed in 1948 to assist the Director-General with Latin American affairs, particularly in establishing a regional office for that area, was also continued, and it was decided not to renew the Policy Committee on Production and Distribution which had been in operation since 1947.

During its sixth session in April 1949, the International Civil Aviation Organization Council prepared for the third assembly of the organization. Because of the restricted scope of the assembly only inter-governmental organizations were to be invited: United Nations, UNESCO, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, ILO, WMO, IMCO, the International Monetary Fund, ITU, UPU and WHO.

Forty-eight nations were represented at the fourth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was held in Washington from September 13 to 16, 1949. Maurice Petsche, Minister of Finance of France and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Bank, acted as chairman and as co-chairman at the joint sessions with the International Monetary Fund.

The twelve-nation Preparatory Committee of IMCO met at Lake Success on November 30, 1948. The session was devoted essentially to preparatory work, since the organization would not become a fully operative agency of the United Nations until twenty-one nations ratified its convention. The Committee voted unanimously that the future agency should keep its activities within a budget of $80,500 yearly for the first two years of operation, since it was pointed out that during that time its work would be largely of an organizational nature. This budget was to be laid before a Maritime Assembly, which would be summoned within three months after twenty-one nations had signed the agency's convention; the Assembly would also review work accomplished by the Preparatory Committee. The Committee agreed to recommend to the Assembly that all nations contribute equal shares to the agency's budget, although it coupled the recommendation with a compromise formula. The Committee also agreed that the budget estimates should be made in pounds rather than at the dollar exchange since permanent headquarters of the organization would be in London.

On January 6, 1949 the International Bank granted two loans totalling $34,100,000 for electric power development in Mexico. These were in pursuance of a policy stated in the Bank's third annual report of a definite increase in its activities in parts of the world other than Europe, and was the second time the Bank granted a loan for development purposes in the western hemisphere. The joint borrowers in the case of each Mexican loan were the Comisión Federal de Electricidad, a Mexican Government agency charged with the development of electric power facilities, and Nacional Financiera, an official financing institution whose functions included negotiation of foreign loans on behalf of the Mexican Government. Both loans are guaranteed by the Mexican Government.

The third ICAO assembly was held in Montreal from June 7 to 20 and considered an agenda limited to financial and administrative questions. An Administrative Commission was established with a Contributions Working Group and a Budget Working Group to study the finances for 1950. The Assembly adopted a budget of $2,810,607 which provided about the same financial level for 1950 as had been given for 1949. This permitted the continuance of the working program on the same scale as before but allowed no room for expansion. The Assembly further approved a resolution authorizing the Secretary-General to accept a part of contributions in other currencies than Canadian dollars and agreed on a scale of contributions for 1950. Sanctions, consisting of suspension of voting power in the Assembly, Council and their subsidiary bodies, but not regional meetings, were imposed on Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Poland and Jordan because they were delinquent in contributions for a period exceeding two years. The Council was to discuss with defaulting states the whole question of their position in relation to the organization and, if possible, to secure the payment of outstanding contributions by such arrangements as might be mutually satisfactory. If a settlement was not made, the Council was to consider other possible courses of action and submit its recommendations to the fourth assembly.

The thirty-second general conference of the International Labor Organization opened in Geneva on June 8,1949. The conference was to consider, among others, seven separate items: 1) a Polish resolution on wages; 2) an international convention on wages; 3) changes in the voting procedure; 4) two conventions on migratory employment; 5) a convention on working conditions; and 6) a formal recommendation on vocational training.

Forty-seven nations were represented at the third annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was held in Washington from September 27 to October 1, 1948. Yun-wu Wang, Minister of Finance of China, acted as chairman of the joint sessions with the International Monetary Fund and also presided at other Bank meetings.

The fourth session of the ICAO Council met in Geneva during the week immediately following the adjournment of the Second Assembly. Action was taken upon arrangements for the financing of air navigation services in Iceland; the Council approved the recommendations and final act of the Conference on Air Navigation Services in Iceland. An agreement to this effect was signed on September 16, the first formal agreement between ICAO and one of the contracting states to provide for financial and technical assistance in the maintenance of facilities for trans-oceanic air navigation. Under the terms of the agreement, the Icelandic government would operate and maintain the needed services and the ICAO Council would pay specified sums received from the contributing states to finance these facilities, would exercise general supervision over the operation and the services and would furnish such advice as might be required for the effective discharge of obligations by Iceland under the agreement. Before adjourning its fourth session, the Council notified the states signatory to the Final Act of the Conference on Air Navigation Services in Iceland of their assessments for expenses in accordance with the decisions of the Conference.

The thirty-second General Conference of the International Labor Organization closed on July 2, 1949 after adopting three new international labor conventions, revising five others, approving three recommendations, revising one recommendation and voting several resolutions on ILO policy. One of the conventions required ratifying countries to assure to workers the right to organize into trade unions and to bargain collectively. This convention complemented the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize adopted in 1948. The other two new conventions were designed to assure that workers employed in the execution of contracts entered into by public authorities had wages, hours of work and working conditions not less favorable than those generally prevailing in the industry; and to protect workers' wages by assuring that they were paid in full, in cash, promptly and directly to the workers. The revised conventions approved by the conference 1) established international minimum standards to protect persons migrating from one country to take employment in another (replacing a convention adopted in 1939); 2) provided for the gradual abolition or the regulation of employment agencies which charged fees and were operated for profit (replacing a convention adopted in 1933); 3) established vacations with pay for seafarers; 4) set standards for the accommodation of crews on board ship; and 5) fixed minimum wages and maximum hours for seafarers and set requirements for the manning of ships. The three recommendations supplemented the Convention of Labor Clauses in Public Contracts and the Convention on the Protection of Wages, and recommended standards on vocational guidance for young persons and employment counseling for adults.

The Council convened for its sixth session on January 18, 1949 at ICAO headquarters in Montreal. It adopted a resolution establishing an Air Navigation Commission, which was to assume the functions of the former Air Navigation Committee. The commission was to consist of twelve members, with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States having already appointed representatives. Annex 7 (Standards and Recommended Practices for Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks) to the Convention of International Civil Aviation was adopted by the Council, and approval was granted to the provisional agenda of the third ICAO Assembly, scheduled to open in Montreal on June 7, 1949. Also approved by the Council was the convening in London on April 20 of a combined conference to deal with the problems of North Atlantic weather stations, joint support to Greece in respect to the development of the Ellinikon airport, and provision of essential air navigation services requested by Denmark for its Loran station in the Faeroe Islands. Approval was given to the convening on April 11 in London of a meeting of experts to consider revision of the communications network for carrying meteorological information in the North Atlantic region.

In its monthly summary of transactions, the International Monetary Fund announced in April 1949, that it had sold U.S. $7,500,000 to India for rupees during March. There were no other currency exchanges that month. In April, Brazil and Egypt made their first currency purchase from the Fund: Brazil exchanged cruzeiros for $15 million and Egypt $3 million for Egyptian pounds. This brought the total of currency transactions made by member countries of the Fund to $725,483,380.91 since the beginning of operations in March 1947. On May 24, the Fund announced the establishment of the initial par value for the Yugoslav dinar at 50 dinars per United States dollar, the rate proposed by the government of Yugoslavia. On May 3, the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were signed by the Siamese ambassador to the United States on behalf of Siam. This brought to a total of 48 the number of countries that were members of the two organizations. The Fund announced on May 27, the conclusion of consultations with the government of Ecuador on Ecuador's exchange system, and on related matters of credit and monetary policies. As a result of previous consultations with the Fund, Ecuador in June 1947 had introduced certain modifications in her then existing exchange control laws and regulations which were contained in the Emergency Law for International Transfers. As a result of discussions concluded in May the Emergency Law was to be continued for one year more on the understanding that in the meantime consultations between Ecuador and the Fund would take place regarding modifications in the present exchange system.

The fourth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund was held in Washington from September 13 to 16, 1949 with Pierre Mendes-France, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Fund, presiding. The first, third and fifth sessions were joint meetings with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The report of the Director-General on the work of the International Refugee Organization since July 1,1948 stated that by December 1948, IRO had received 1,000,000 applications for assistance. The main factors contributing to the high rate of intake were: 1) the large number of applications from persons who, employed in Germany and Austria, had not previously required IRO assistance, but who, as a result of widespread unemployment appearing immediately after the currency reforms, were unable to support themselves or their families; and 2) the influx of new refugees from eastern Europe. The administrative restriction upon the admission of new cases only on proof of hardship had been maintained. The figure for new admissions to care and maintenance had reached an average of 8,000 per month, including approximately 1,100 births. Despite a high rate of new admissions, the total number of refugees receiving care and maintenance, rather than simply help in resettlement or repatriation, had diminished at a rate of 10,000 or more per month. Of the major national or ethnic groups, the Jewish group had declined most rapidly, reflecting principally departures for Israel. In addition to those persons receiving care and maintenance, there were 191,232 refugees registered for IRO services. This brought to a total 715,091 persons receiving IRO assistance at the end of December 1948.

Further Decisions of the ILO San Francisco Meetings: The Governing Body approved in principle the establishment of consultative relationships with the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions and the Inter-American Confederation of Labor, and accepted for the ILO the United Nations convention on the privileges and immunities of the specialized agencies as modified by an annex relating to the ILO. As a result of the decisions of the Conference the total number of international labor conventions adopted by the Organization was brought to 90 and the total number of recommendations to 83. The Governing Body decided that the next session of the conference would be held in Geneva, Switzerland, June 8, 1949.

From December 8 to 11, 1948, the 107th session of the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization was held in Geneva. The Governing Body undertook to administer programs in the field of job-training and workers migration, activities urged on ILO by the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. These were new activities for ILO, which had hitherto confined itself to studies and consultations but had not undertaken administrative responsibility. The Governing Body decided to review four of the nine labor conventions adopted by the 28th International Labor (Maritime) Conference in 1946. At the 32nd session of the Conference at Geneva in June conventions covering social security for seafarers, paid vacations, accommodations for crews, and wages and hours were to be discussed with a view to possible revision. It was decided to establish a field office on technical training in Asia, to appoint a tripartite committee or governing body of technical training experts to meet periodically on manpower problems, and to hold a conference of experts on technical training in Asia in the near future.