The seventeenth session of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization opened in Montreal on September 9, 1952 and concluded on December 5. The Council sanctioned the holding of a special frequency meeting to consider certain problems associated with frequency assignments in the European-Mediterranean region in Paris in October and decided that the first ICAO Air Navigation Conference should be convened in Montreal in February 1953. After discussion and exchange of views, the draft agenda for the 1953 ICAO Assembly was referred to the Air Navigation Commission, the Air Trans-port Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services for their consideration and report. After withdrawal by the French government of its invitation to hold the seventh session of the Assembly in France, the Council accepted the invitation of the United Kingdom and decided to hold the seventh session in Brighton, England, opening on June 16, 1953.

The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization held its 19th meeting in Montreal, Canada, from April 29 to May 22 and June 10 to 12, 1953. Nineteen of the twenty-one members of the Council attended the session. The Council made several decisions concerning ICAO's relations with other international organizations. After considering the president's report on discussions with the International Telecommunication Union on the subject of Class B messages, the Council approved a proposal sponsored by the United States that the president of the Council should be authorized to continue such consultations at his own discretion. A United Kingdom proposal that an interagency study committee be appointed was rejected. Concerning the invitation of the Council of Europe to ICAO to convene a conference on the coordination of European air transport, the Council of ICAO felt that the successful outcome of such a conference would be expedited if careful preparation were made before the conference was actually convened. It therefore proposed that the following steps be taken: 1) that Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom be invited to nominate representatives to a preparatory committee which would study the agenda and questions which might arise on the agenda of the proposed conference and report to the Council; 2) that the president of the Council ascertain whether the proposed action was acceptable to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, with the understanding that if ICAO accepted responsibility for convening the conference, the results of the conference would be made available to all ICAO members; and 3) that the Secretary-General of ICAO undertake the necessary preparatorywork for the conference should the other arrangements be concluded satisfactorily. The Council also approved a new text of arrangements for liaison between ICAO and the World Meteorological Organization. The recommendations of the Air Navigation Commission concerning the dates and locations of the second Air Navigation Conference, the fifth session of the COM Division and the fourth session of the MET Division were approved. The invitation of Spain that the second African Indian Ocean Regional Air Navigation Meeting be held at Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, was accepted by the Council, which set November 17, 1953, as the date on which the meeting would convene.

After consulting the International Monetary Fund, on unification of its exchange system, the government of Greece on April 9, 1953, eliminated all multiple currency practices and adjusted the official exchange rate from 15,000 drachmas per United States dollar to 30,000 drachmas per United States dollar. The Fund's announcement of this action by the Greek government added that it welcomed and concurred in these policies. Another proposal to adjust an official exchange rate was approved by the Fund on May 14; the government of Bolivia proposed to establish a new par value for the boliviano of 190 bolivianos per United States dollar. The previous par value was 60 bolivianos per United States dollar. At the same time a Bolivian proposal to simplify its exchange system was approved; effective May 14 the exchange system was to consist of an official and a free market. The official market would be for all trade transactions, government payments, registered capital, and certain specified invisibles. All present exchange taxes, multiple import and export rates, retention quotas, compensation and divisas propias arrangements were eliminated. The Fund welcomed these efforts toward monetary stabilization and emphasized “the importance of firm anti-inflationary measures as a basis for further progress towards the achievement of Bolivia's international equilibrium.”

The Ad Hoc Committee for Intersessional Business established by the parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade met in Geneva from February 2, 1953 to consider Japan's request to become a contracting party. On February 15, it was provisionally agreed that no special modifications or additions to the agreement would be necessary to incorporate Japan. The committee recommended that speedy procedures for granting relief be provided should the admission of Japan have any of the “unfortunate consequences” some members were reported to foresee. Such a procedure, the committee pointed out, was provided in Article 23 of the agreement by which any party could be relieved from the obligation to refrain from discriminating against another party if the contracting parties as a group decided that such relief would further the general objectives of the agreement.

The Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization held its thirty-second session in Paris on December 11 and 12, 1952. The Board agreed on the membership of its permanent commissions on program, finance and external relations and amended its rules of procedure to enlarge its membership from eighteen to 20 members and to raise the number of members necessary to constitute a quorum from ten to eleven. Additional proposed amendments were referred by the Board to its Bureau and Finance Commission for study and report at the next session. After agreeing on the list of member states to be invited to participate in the seminar on audio-visual aids in fundamental education, scheduled to be held in Sicily in September and October 1953, the Board decided that the joint meeting between the Organization of American States and UNESCO to examine the practical application of the terms of the agreement between the two organizations' should be held in Washington from February 4 to 7, 1953. A list of proposed subventions for 1953 and certain proposed transfers within the budget for 1952 were approved, and the Director-General was authorized to advance from the Working Capital Fund not more than $100,000 for implementation of the recommendations of the Headquarters Committee with respect to financing the preparation of plans for the headquarters building.

The 36th session of the International Labor Conference was held in Geneva from June 4 to 25, 1953. Senator Irving M. Ives (United States, government delegate) was unanimously elected chairman.

The seventh session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was held in Paris from November 12 through December 11, 1952. Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (India) was elected president of the session; on November 24, the Conference elected S. M. Sharif (Pakistan) to serve as acting president when Sir Sarvepalli was recalled to India.

From November 24 to 28, 1952, the Governing Body of the International Labor Organization met in its 120th session in Geneva, under the chairmanship of Fernando Cisternas (Chile). The Governing Body decided that the thirty-seventh session of the International Labor Conference, to be held in Geneva, should open on June 4, 1954. After long discussion on proposals relating to the agenda of this session, the Governing Body decided to add the following to those items necessarily included: a) technical assistance, b) penal sanctions for breaches of contract of employment, c) migrant workers (underdeveloped countries), and d) vocational rehabilitation of the disabled. It was agreed that the next Asian regional conference should be held in Japan in September 1953 and that its agenda should include problems of wage policies and workers' housing in Asia and measures for protection of young workers in Asia. Regarding other meetings, the Governing Body instructed the tripartite subcommittee of the Joint Maritime Commission, which was to meet in 1953, to consider the need for a tripartite regional conference on hours of work and manning in the short-sea trades of northwest Europe and a resolution under which the United Nations Economic and Social Council would be invited to study the possibility of establishing machinery to regulate freight rates for shipping in this region; decided that a meeting of experts should be held in July 1953 to examine systems of payment by results in the construction industry and the techniques involved in their introduction and operation; fixed the agenda for the fourth session of the Permanent Agriculture Committee, to be convened in May 1953 in Geneva; and authorized the Director-General (Morse) to convene the eighth international conference of labor statisticians early in 1954 in Geneva, the conference to be preceded by a preliminary meeting of statistical experts in 1953 in order to define the scope of the conference's agenda.

The seventh 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 Mexico City, Mexico, September 3 through 12, 1952, under the chairmanship of the Governors for Brazil, Eugenio Gudin and Horacio Lafer. Presenting the seventh annual re-port of the Fund, the Managing Director (Rooth) stated that the payments problem had persisted for so long and was so little understood that the public might lose interest in its solution, but that with positive measures by the deficit and surplus countries, he believed the problem could be solved. After remarking that it could not be solved by “retreating behind a network of restrictions and discriminations”, he expressed concern with the recent spread in western Europe of dollar retention systems and similar arrangements. In the subsequent discussions of the policies and activities of the Fund as reported in the annual report, many Governors emphasized the importance of proper credit and budget policies in solving payments difficulties; some mentioned the need to recognize the responsibility of the surplus countries in restoring payments balance, it being suggested that joint discussions between surplus and deficit nations be held with the Fund; a number referred to the need for a clearer policy on the use of the Fund's resources, emphasizing the payments problems which arose in underdeveloped countries when there was a sudden depression in world markets; and several spoke about the price of gold.

The annual report of the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund for the fiscal year ending April 30, 1953, was transmitted to the Chairman of the Board of Governors on July 1, 1953. By the beginning of 1953, the report noted, the foreign exchange imbalance and the internal inflationary pressures, which had been engendered by the outbreak of the Korean war and the subsequent speculative inflationary boom, were being successfully combatted in most countries. The widespread payments crisis of early 1952 had affected the raw materials producing countries most severely; falling raw materials prices, resulting in reduced income, had been coupled with increased demands for imports, resulting from higher domestic incomes and the requirements of development projects. Export countries, especially those which relied on raw materials producers for dollar earnings, were also affected by the price fluctuations. Measures adopted in the various affected countries to combat the payments imbalances and the reduction of excessive inventories led to a sharp contraction in the volume of world trade in 1952; by the third quarter, the value of world imports was 10 percent less than the previous year. The United States did not contribute markedly to this decline; in fact, for the year as a whole the volume of United States imports was 5 percent greater than in 1951, although this was primarily due to a great increase in the last quarter of the year. Declines in the volume and value of world trade, it was feared, might lead to further progressive deterioration; however, by the beginning of 1953, the greater part of the distortions initiated by the outbreak of Korean hostilities had been eliminated.

From May 5 to 22, 1953, the Sixth World Health Assembly met in the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Upon presentation in the first report of the Committee on Nominations of nominations for the offices of president, vice-president, chairman of the Committee on Program and Budget, and chairman of the Committee on Administration, Finance and Legal Matters and for membership of the General Committee, the Indian delegate (Amrit Kaur) pointed out the omission of the region of southeast Asia. After some discussion a Norwegian proposal to refer the report back to committee for reconsideration in the light of observations made in the Assembly was adopted by a vote of 22 to 21 with 15 abstentions. The following day the committee submitted a revised report, and the nominations it contained were approved. The Assembly thus elected as its president Dr. Murched Khater (Syria).

The Executive Board of the World Health Organization held its eleventh session in Geneva, January 12–February 4, 1953, and nominated Dr. G. M. Candau of Brazil to succeed Dr. Brock Chisholm as Director-General when the latter's term expired in July; final action on the appointment of a new Director-General, as well as on other board recommendations, was to be taken by the WHO Assembly at the session scheduled to open on May 5. In connection with the participation of WHO in the United Nations technical assistance program, the board considered the effects of possible cuts in WHO's share of available funds. The Chairman (Jafar) noted that “health has been given a ‘back number’ in the sphere of socio-economic development”. He noted that total technical aid funds committed by WHO for the current year totaled nearly $10 million; to inform participating governments and organizations that WHO could no longer meet its commitments, Mr. Jafar continued, “will mean a reversal of policy which has encouraged national governments a great deal so far”. Other points emphasized by the board were: 1) that health projects required long forward planning on the parts of WHO and the governments concerned; 2) that the technical assistance program was one of the most important developments of the century and had been received everywhere with approval; 3) that rigid priorities for health programs were impossible since each government had to determine for itself what schemes were needed to develop its own health services; 4) that continued long-term planning would be needed in order to allow the Technical Assistance Board to know what funds would be received; 5) that reduction of administrative machinery was necessary; and 6) that in 30 months of technical assistance, WHO had received about $3 million in 1951 and $5.5 million in 1952.

The report of the Director-General (Torres-Bodet) on the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from April 1951 to July 1952 stated that “remarkable progress” had been made during these fifteen months. The Director-General reported that the number of member states rose from 60 to 65, a “more precise conception of aims” resulted in better coordination of endeavor and greater economy in drawing up the program, and that methods of action improved. The report was divided into four parts which dealt with execution of the program, action in the field of international cooperation, administrative and financial questions, and the work of the Executive Board. It revealed that the organization was attempting to promote international cooperation among specialists in two ways: one, by lending its authority to and aiding financially the work of international non-governmental organizations of specialists, and the other, by attempting to compensate for the inadequacy of the national sections of such organizations in some areas through direct action of its science cooperation offices. UNESCO action relating to international organization of specialized documentation also was two-fold: it was concentrating on organizing the national and international standardization, collection and dissemination of specialized documentation; and it had established responsible services within the secretariat, in cooperation with international organizations and national commissions, for assembling and distributing information on program matters. Other phases of UNESCO action described included its work in stimulating and assisting its members to provide their peoples with a minimum of general, technical and moral education knownas fundamental education; expanding primary, secondary and vocational education; promoting higher education and scientific research; protecting writers, artists and scientists; preserving the cultural heritage of mankind; disseminating science and culture; attempting to remove obstacles to the free flow of ideas, concentrating mainly on the international circulation of educational and cultural materials; and studying social problems likely to create national and international tensions.

The eighteenth ordinary session of the Council of the Arab League was held in Cairo, March 28 to April 9, 1953. The League members were, in general, represented by the heads of their diplomatic missions in Cairo although the Egyptian government was understood to have requested that each state send its foreign minister. Although the recommendations of the Council were not made public, they were understood to have covered such questions as west Germany's ratification of the reparations agreement with Israel, the economic boycott of Israel and the forthcoming visit of the Secretary of State of the United States (Dulles). At the close of the meeting, the assistant Secretary-General (Ahmed Shukairy) said that the question of the dispute between the United Kingdom and Egypt over the Suez canal zone had been discussed in the course of a general survey of political problems but that it had not been raised specifically. During the Council session a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Arab League states was called for April 3; however, the governments of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon declined to attend. There were some reports that their refusal stemmed from a disinclination to become involved in any disagreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom; however, officials in Lebanon denied the accuracy of the reports, saying that the meeting had been postponed because its principal purpose had been to consider political problems of the Arab world in the light of a report which the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia (Prince Faisal) was to make upon his return from the United States and Prince Faisal had not returned in time to hold the meeting as scheduled.

The Political Committee of the Arab League met in Cairo beginning December 20, 1952, under the chairmanship of Fathy Radwan (Egypt) to discuss questions relating to Palestine and north Africa. On December 25, the committee issued a statement approving the failure of passage in the United Nations General Assembly of the resolution adopted by the Ad Hoc Political Committee calling for direct negotiations between Israel and the Arab states. The committee condemned “the mere idea of an invitation to Arabs to negotiate with the Israelis” and expressed the hope “that there would be no repetition of these attempts”.

The quinquennial Plenipotentiary Conference of the International Telecommunication Union opened in Buenos Aires on October 3, 1952; the final act of the Conference was signed on December 22, 1952. The agreement reached at the Extraordinary Administrative Radio Conference of 1951 was endorsed by the Conference. After rejecting a proposal to eliminate the International Frequency Registration Board, the Conference considered various less drastic proposals to alter the structure and organization of the Board, and finally decided to maintain the Board at its present membership. As no new elections to the Board were held at the Buenos Aires meeting, the current members of the Board were considered reappointed. In revising the Atlantic City Convention, the Conference decided that countries, rather than individuals, should be elected to the Board and that each elected country should nominate one of its nationals to serve on the Board.

The fifth session of the West Indian Conference was held at Montego Bay, Jamaica, from November 24 to December 3, 1952, under the chairmanship of Sir George Seel (United Kingdom). In addition to fifteen Commissioners of the four member governments and their advisers, the conference was attended by delegates and advisers from the fourteen Caribbean countries associated with member governments and by observers from Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and from the United Nations, ILO, FAO, and several other international organizations. The agenda was divided among three working committees, a General Committee was assigned the work of general organization, and a Drafting Committee was given the job of editing.

An informal meeting of the Consultative Council of the Brussels Treaty Organization was held in Paris, December 15, 1952. The foreign ministers of Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands and United Kingdom reviewed the activities of the Permanent Commission and the work undertaken by the organization in social, cultural and civil defense matters since the last meeting of the Council in November 1951.

Eighth Session of Contracting Parties: The Contracting Parties of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade held their eighth session in Geneva from September 17 through October 24, 1953. Johan Melander (Norway) and Akhtar Hassain (Pakistan) were elected chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the session, at which delegates of the 34 contracting parties took part.

The thirteenth Congress of the Universal Postal Union was held at the Palais des Academies in Brussels from May 14 to July 15, 1952, with representatives from 91 countries present. The Congress, which met to revise the convention and its executive regulations concluded at Paris in 1947 as well as facultative agreements and their executive regulations also concluded in Paris, had before it more than 1,700 proposals for amending the Paris Acts. After electing E. Pineux (Belgium) President and F. Hess (Switzerland) Vice-President, the Congress established eight committees.