The sixth session of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) Council—the sixteen-member governing body of the Organization—met on February 20–22, 1962, in London and considered various matters relating to the work program of the Organization, including arrangements for the forthcoming Oil Pollution Conference. In addition, the Council decided to set up a working group of experts to advise on ways and means of tackling the problem of facilitation of travel and transport in the maritime field.

The fifteenth session of the Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Geneva from May 8 to 25, 1962, under the presidency of Dr. S. V. Kurashov (Minister of Health of the Soviet Union). The Assembly approved an effective working budget of $29,956,000 for 1963, representing an increase of $5,092,200 over the figure for 1962.

The debate over strategy, forces, and nuclear control, which now divides the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), is framed largely in military terms: what is the best way to protect the NATO area and its members from aggression? The military aspects are complex in themselves, but the import of these issues extends far beyond defense. Their handling will greatly affect prospects for a partnership between the United States and a strong, united Europe

Report to the General Assembly: The sixth report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the UN General Assembly covered the period July 1 to October 1, 1962. The report stated that the character of the Agency's programs remained much the same in 1961 as in 1960, but there were some changes in their scope. Technical assistance activities, particularly, training, decreased in 1961 mainly because voluntary contributions again failed to meet the target set. The number of scientific meetings had remained at about twelve a year. There had been some growth in the research contract program, and member states were beginning to make substantial use of the services of the laboratory at Seibersdorf. In 1961, for the first time, member states had asked for the Agency's help in planning individual power reactor projects. It was expected that a number of nuclear power plants would come into operation in the developing areas in the late 1960's and that this would require a good deal of preparatory work in the next few years. In May 1962 the Special Fund approved for the first time a project for the peaceful uses of atomic energy; this decision might provide an important new source of finance for certain types of nuclear science projects in the developing countries.

These reflections on the centrifugal tendencies of interstate associations and the need for a stronger central union were penned 175 years ago by Alexander Hamilton, but they could easily have been taken, save for the quaint language, from the current debate on the Atlantic Community. As Hamilton pondered the problem of strengthening the integrating sinews of the new nation, so modern Hamiltons voice similar thoughts concerning the possibility of creating a stronger Atlantic political community.

The ANZUS Council met in Wellington, New Zealand, on June 5–6, 1963. In reviewing the course of East-West developments during the past year, particularly those affecting the Pacific area, the Ministers noted with concern the Communists Chinese aggression against India and the continuing threat against that country, the renewal of fighting in Laos, and the persisting communist assault in South Vietnam.

The resumed 34th session of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), comprising the 1237th–1241st meetings, was held on December 18—20, 1962, under the presidency of Mr. Jerzy Michalowski (Poland). The major substantive issue discussed by the Council during this session was the report of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which was considered at the 1239th meeting. In this connection, the Council had before it four draft resolutions: 1) recommending the expulsion of Portugal from ECA; 2) calling for the suspension of South Africa from ECA; 3) requesting ECA to reconsider its recommendation concerning the status of Spain, the United Kingdom, and France in the Commission; and 4) taking note of ECA's report and endorsing the program of work and priorities contained therein.

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced on October 17, 1962, a loan of $22 million to Israel for highway construction and improvement. During the next four and onehalf years, about 512 inter-urban highways were to be built or reconstructed to higher standards to provide better communication with ports, to reduce traffic congestion and transport costs, and to improve traffic safety. About 155 miles of feeder and access roads, linking agricultural and other settlements to the main highway network, were also to be improved. The total cost of the road construction and improvements was estimated at $46 million; the Bank loan of $22 million was to cover the foreign exchange requirements of this work and also of related imported equipment and services. The loan was for a term of seventeen years, and amortization was to begin in January 1967.

The Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held its fourteenth session in Rome from August 21 through September 15, 1962, under the presidency of Dr. E. Ortona (Italy). The Assembly adopted measures to assure that the development and use of supersonic civil aircraft would not be detrimental either to the public or to international civil aviation. The ICAO Council was to work toward international agreement on the operational characteristics of critical importance in insuring that supersonic aircraft could fit into the same environment as subsonic aircraft, and also on the problems of noise near airfields, sonic boom, and radiation hazards. A second object of Council concern would be the assessment of the operating requirements of the supersonic aircraft, so that international agreement could also be reached on the ground facilities and services required and the places where these would have to be installed.

The second meeting of the Caribbean Council was held in March 1962 in British Guiana. The Coulcil approved the immediate establishment within the secretariat of a clearinghouse for the exchange of information on trade and tourism between member countries.

The 1962 annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Bank, held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), took place in Washington, D.C. on September 17–21, 1962, under the chairmanship of Mr.Ahmed Zaki Saad, Governor for Saudi Arabia. In the annual address, Mr. Eugene R. Black, President of the International Bank, summarized some of the achievements of the Bank and its affiliates in the past year. He also commented on the external economic difficulties facing the developing countries and pointed out some of the implications of these difficulties as they affected the amount and kind of aid the developing countries needed.

From the time of the Marshall Plan to the present, American policy toward Europe has been guided simultaneously by two aspirations. One has been to see western Europe unified, the other—stemming from the conviction that the fate of the United States is inextricably tied to that of Europe—has been to create strong bonds among the Atlantic nations. Until quite recently it was believed that these two aspirations stood in a kind of predetermined harmony to each other: the more tightly the European nations would band together, gaining strength and prosperity from their union, the better it would be for all members of the Atlantic Community; and the more intimately Europe was linked with the United States, the more Europe, as a unit, would stand to gain.

The seventeenth annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was held in Washington, D.C., from September 17 through September 21, 1962, under the chairmanship of Mr. Ahmed Zaki Saad, Governor for Saudi Arabia. In his opening address, Mr. Per Jacobsson, Managing Director of IMF, commented on the relation of the Fund's assistance to capital transactions. He remarked that although the Fund's resources had been used in situations involving capital transfers, there had been some uncertainty as to the extent to which, or the circumstances in which, the Fund's resources could be used for helping to meet those deficits in the balance of payments of members that went beyond the current account and were attributable in whole or in part to capital transfers. By a decision of July 1961 the Executive Directors were able to eliminate any doubt which had not already been dissipated by the practice of the Fund that the Fund's resources could be used to alleviate pressures brought about by capital transfers, in accordance with the criteria of Article VI and other relevant provisions of the Fund Agreement. Thus, if a country facing a disequilibrating outflow of capital were to turn to the Fund for assistance, one of the criteria which the Fund would apply would be to satisfy itself that the appropriate measures were being taken to overcome the balance of payments difficulties, and that the assistance provided by the Fund would be repaid at the earliest opportunity, and in any event not later than three to five years after the drawing.

The 46th session of the International Labor Conference took place in Geneva from June 6 through June 29, 1962, under the presidency of Mr. John Lynch (Minister for Industry and Commerce and government delegate of Ireland). According to Mr. David A. Morse, the Director-General, despite disputes, restlessness, impatience, and criticism, disagreement had been contained within the Organization's rules and procedures; and the Conference had reached a wide measure of agreement on important and controversial issues.

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) held its seventeenth session in Bucharest on December 74–20, 1962, attended by delegates from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union. A communiqué stated that a permanent currency and finance commission had been set up under the Council to develop cooperation in those fields among COMECON member countries, that international specialization and “socialist division of labor” among members had increased, and that during the first nine months of 7962 over-all trade among member countries had risen by 15 percent and trade in machinery and industrial equipment by 24 percent. The communiqué noted that the COMECON countries were now largely self-sufficient in certain raw materials, manufactures, etc., notably lignite, hard coal, oil and oil products, fertilizers, grain, machinery and industrial equipment, and timber.

It is a commonplace that the world in which we live has changed more rapidly and more drastically in the last hundred years than perhaps at any other stage of its history. So evident is this fact, and so familiar are the forces that have made for change, that by a curious paradox the mere repetition of arguments about “the shrinking globe,” “the increased speed of travel,” “the growth of communications,” and so on has tended to deaden our awareness of what they mean. From the earliest years of the century, we have become accustomed to hearing that the invention of automobiles, of aircraft, of telephones, and of radio would radically transform our world. If, now, we once more hear the same, or similar statements, made about space travel, ballistic missiles, atomic energy, and television, our immediate reflex is probably a shrug, denoting the understandable feeling that we have met it all before.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) entered into a stand-by arrangement with the government of Haiti authorizing drawings up to the amount of $6 million over the next twelve months in currencies held by the Fund. The stabilization efforts of the Haitian government in recent years, conducted with Fund support, had contributed to the maintenance of internal and external financial stability. However, unusual difficulty had been encountered during the fiscal year just closing, when government revenues fell short of amounts anticipated, the inflow of foreign aid dwindled, and Haiti's international reserve position deteriorated. Haitian authorities had taken steps to strengthen the country's public finances. The Fund had granted annual stand-by arrangements to Haiti since 1958; the country's net drawings amounted to $3.75 million.

“The nations seem to be advancing to unity,” wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in 1835. “Our means of intellectual intercourse unite the most remote parts of the earth; and it is impossible for men to remain strangers to each other, or to be ignorant of the events which are taking place in any corner of the globe.”

The Addis Ababa Conference of Independent African States was held on May 22–25, 1963, and was attended by the heads of state of 30 African countries. The Conference adopted six resolutions and a Charter to establish an organization to be known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The seventeenth session of the Administrative Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was held from May 5 to June 9, 1962, under the chairmanship of Mr. Juan Antonio Autelli (Argentina). ITU's Secretary-General, Mr. Gerald C. Gross, remarked that the activities of the Union during the past year had continued to increase usefully on a sound financial basis. In discussing the work of ITU in the future, the Secretary-General stated that the efforts being taken by some nations to penetrate outer space constituted one of the greatest intellectual and technical enterprises in human history. ITU's role in this effort would be particularly important.