Relations between Europe and the developing countries within the united Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD - CNUCED)

Recommendation 500 (1967)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 27th September 1967 (12th Sitting) (see Doc 2285Doc 2285, report of the Economic Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 27th September 1967 (12th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Noting with regret that the aims of the United Nations Development Decade are further from fulfilment now then they were in 1961 ;

2. Conscious that development aid has been declining relative to the donor countries national income, that the developing countries commodity exports continue to grow considerably less fast than international trade as a whole, and that the Kennedy Round cannot be expected to have a significant impact on their exports of manufactures ;

3. Considering the serious difficulties experienced by developing countries in expanding food production so as to keep pace with population growth, the consequent rising demand for food imports, and the limited possibilities for food aid to meet this demand ;

4. Considering that positive measures to reduce the developing countries' trade gap will mean faster economic growth and hence increased export opportunities for the developed countries ;

5. Noting that some of the measures sought by the developing countries in the commodity field have already been accepted by various European countries either in the national and Community framework or in the negotiations with other industrialised countries ;

6. Noting the general willingness to find a way of giving the developing countries preferential tariff treatment, compatible with the fundamental principles of GATT ;

7. Hoping that the special relationships between certain member countries and certain groups of developing countries will not hinder the search for effective solutions to the problems of the developing countries as a whole in UNCTAD ;

8. Emphasising the importance of UNCTAD's role as an intermediary between the industrialised and the developing countries whose role is to reconcile the demands of both groups ;

9. Calling on all the member Governments of the Council of Europe and of OECD to make efforts to ensure that the results of the Second United Nations Conference on Trade and Development should be reasonably satisfactory ;

10. Hoping that :

a progress will be made in the course of the coming year towards the conclusion of new international agreements for cocoa and sugar and the strengthening of the existing agreement for coffee ;

b agreement will be reached on the procedure for negotiating some system of non-discriminatory tariff preferences for the developing countries, subject to as few exceptions and restrictions as possible ;

c the outline of a workable system of supplementary financing will be drawn up in which the provision of aid is linked with the implementation of effective development policies ;

d a programme of parallel commitments by the developed and developing countries to further economic integration among the latter will be agreed ;

e assistance will be given by priority to those developing countries which help themselves but without ignoring humanitarian considerations ;

f in providing such assistance, appropriate measures will be taken in cooperation with the developing countries to increase agricultural yields, to encourage a reasonable diversification of production, to improve transport and storage conditions in order to reduce waste, and to improve agricultural marketing conditions both internally in the developing countries themselves and for their agricultural exports ;

11. Recommends the Committee of Ministers to convene, in co-operation with the Ministerial Council of OECD, as a matter of urgency, if possible in conjunction with the next meeting of the Ministerial Council in November, a conference of the Ministers concerned with Aid and Trade in the appropriate industrial countries, with the aim of formulating common policies furthering effective aid and trade, before the forthcoming UNCTAD meeting in New Delhi.