The General Assembly held its 22nd session, comprising the 1560th–1642nd plenary meetings, at UN Headquarters from September 19 to December 19, 1967, during which time it took action on 96 agenda items and adopted 113 resolutions. Part of the Assembly's proceedings were summarized in the Summer 1968 issue of International Organization1 and the remainder follows below.

One would not ordinarily think of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as of particular importance to the less developed countries. Nevertheless, in recent years the less developed coun-tries have come to have a very high regard for the IMF; and the IMF, in turn, has become the great defender of the interests of the less developed countries. This entente has evolved out of the course of events. In the current discussions on international monetary reform the IMF has be-come the spokesman for universal participation in reserve creation. This suits the institutional interests of the IMF. At the same time it makes the IMF the advocate of the interests of the less developed countries

The General Assembly held its 22nd session, comprising the 1560th-1642nd plenary meetings, at UN Headquarters from September 19 to December 19, 1967, during which time it took action on 96 agenda items and adopted 113 resolutions. During the session the Assembly unanimously admitted the People's Republic of Yemen to UN membership on December 14, 1967, thereby bringing the Organization's total membership to 123.

In his Introduction to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on the Work of the Organization, 16 June 1966–15 June 1967 Secretary-General U Thant observed that during the period under review the international political situation had deteriorated considerably. The war in Vietnam had progressively intensified, there had been renewed warfare in the Middle East in June 1967, and the situation in Cyprus had not improved. Only limited progress had been made in such areas as disarmament, outer space, economic and social development, decolonization, and human rights. Frustrations in respect of South Africa, South West Africa, and Rhodesia continued, although in the cases of South West Africa and Rhodesia the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively, had taken certain steps which might help in time to improve the situation

The Security Council met on October 24, 1967, in its 1369th meeting at the request of the United Arab Republic1 and Israel to discuss the situation in the Middle East. The question was debated at the 1369th–137ist meetings, October 24–25. Representatives of the United Arab Republic, Israel, Jordan, and Syria were invited to take part in the discussions without the right to vote.

The World Bank Group consists of three closely affiliated intergovernmental institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (hereinafter referred to as the Bank, IBRD, or the World Bank), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the International Development Association (IDA). These institutions are the chosen multilateral instruments of governments for providing external capital on a global basis to help finance the development of the world's low-income countries

The 49th session of the General Conference of the International Labor Organization (ILO) was held at Geneva on June 2–23, 1965, and was attended by 204 government delegates, 100 employers' delegates, and 99 workers' delegates from 104 states. S. Hashim Raza (Pakistan) was elected President of the Conference

Economic Commission for Africa: The eighth session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), held on February 13–25, 1967, in Lagos, Nigeria, was attended by 29 African states, five associate members, 27 observers, and representatives of United Nations organs and other organizations. The Chairman, A. A. Ayida (Nigeria), stated that Botswana, Gambia, and Lesotho, after accession to independence, were now full members of the Commission. Following the report of the Executive Secretary on the measures taken in pursuance of a Commission resolution on the participation of the peoples of Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, and South West Africa in the work of the Commission ECA unanimously adopted a resolution which recommended that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) designate the representatives of the territories concerned and inform the secretariat accordingly.

Regional development banks can serve as focal points for regional and subregional cooperation, thus promoting economic integration. They are institutions whose objectives are neither national nor global and whose leadership and staffs have a regional outlook.

The first and immediate challenge confronting these regional development banks is the financing of regional projects which are beyond the reach of national development banks. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has devoted only limited resources to such project, with a few spectacular exceptions, especially the Indus River project. A purely national approach to planning and financing development does not make sense in most of Latin America and Africa because many nations on these continents are “minicountries,” too small to form economic units of development. Many national borders have been determined by political and diplomatic history rather than by economic factors; frequently, they cut across natural development units such as river basins or mineral deposits. Moreover, except in Europe, the very dearth of strong national institutions makes regional development banks important; they provide additional financial intermediaries to be interposed between the developing regions and the world financial centers, as well as between various national financial institutions of the member countries of the regions concerned.

Technical assistance remains a poorly understood tool for promoting development. Programs continue to grow, but persistent questions are raised about their effectiveness by practitioners and academic observers. Today's uncertainty contrasts dramatically with the exuberance which attended the launching of two landmark technical assistance programs, the Point Four Program of the United States and the Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA) of the United Nations.

The twentieth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) took place in Washington, September 27–October 1, 1965, under the chairmanship of Yilma Deressa, Minister of Finance and Governor for Ethiopia. The meeting was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and with the annual meetings of the Bank's affiliates, the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The Ministerial Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) met in Paris on December 2–3, 1964, on November 25–26, 1965, on November 24–25, 1966, and on November 30—December 1, 1967, to review the economic situation of its member states and their economic relations with the rest of the world.

International organization of aid presents two basic difficulties: 1) Major economic development aid should best be conceived as a supplement to total national development effort, not to single parts of it. This means that a program approach rather than a project approach should be applied in financing. Only a program can show whether projects are additional and optimal. While every program must be spelled out in projects, the sum total of individually worked out projects will not add up to a program.

The third ordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) took place in Cairo, July 13–17, 1964. The Council examined 21 applications from “freedom fighter” organizations for representation in that body. The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) was represented at the meeting of the Council of Ministers, but when it was announced that Moise Tshombe, the new Congolese Prime Minister, would attend the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, objections were raised by a number of Heads of State and Ministers. As a result Mr. Tshombe announced that the Congolese government would not take part in the Assembly.

The problems of development assistance have loomed large on the OECD agenda ever since its establishment, first as the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) and then as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Briefly recapitulated, OEEC was created in 1948 to provide for the joint European execution of the Marshall Plan and for the close economic cooperation that the United States' aid offer had launched. Whatever the actual contribution of OEEC, the postwar European economic recovery was remarkably quick. Few international organizations have been thus blessed with the satisfaction of seeing their objectives so amply fulfilled.

The inter-American system represents the first attempt to implement the idea of regional cooperation. Regardless of general world opinion about the system's success, since its inception at the beginning of the nineteenth century the nations of the Americas have tried to establish a juridical order capable of solving their mutual problems, to jointly face the defense of the hemisphere, and to preserve peace in the region. In fact, however, these policies, initially expressed by the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, were first pursued unilaterally and later, after the First International Conference of American States in 1889–1890, through an ineffective collective body. They did not achieve the desired objectives and in fact only led to such violent forms of imperialism as the “big stick policy” and interventionism.