The Assembly,
Recalling its Resolution 211 on the promotion of European intermunicipal exchanges ;
Considering Resolutions 29 and 32 (1962) of the European Conference of Local Authorities, relating respectively to intermunicipal exchanges and local government assistance for the activities of the Cultural Fund ;
Having regard to the second paragraph of Article 1 (b) of the Charter of the Conference of Local Authorities ;
Declares itself in entire agreement with the spirit and the letter of the two Resolutions in question ;
Welcomes with the greatest satisfaction the excellent results achieved during the first year of operation of the Plan to promote European intermunicipal exchanges ;
Expresses its gratitude to all those who, despite extremely limited administrative and financial means, enabled 2,700 European children from humble families to visit foreign countries and thus, for the first time, under the auspices of the Council of Europe, obtain access to the wealth of European culture ;
Offers its congratulations especially to the Standing Committee and to the Cultural Committee of the European Conference of Local Authorities which, in collaboration with the Committee on Local Authorities, successfully carried out the project, to the organisations of local authorities which brought the Plan to the notice of their members, and, lastly and above all, to the municipalities which, animated by exemplary faith in the future of European unity, assumed, not without considerable effort, the major part of the cost of these visits ;
Likewise expresses its profound gratitude to the Council for Cultural Co-operation which, by granting part of the appropriations asked for, enabled the Plan to demonstrate its utility and efficacy, and, in a general way, the utility and efficacy of collaboration, whatever its form, between the institutions of the Council of Europe and the splendid penetrating network constituted by the local authorities in our respective countries ;
Calls the attention of the Council for Cultural Co-operation to the importance it would attach to further appropriations in the future similar to, or if possible exceeding, that granted in 1962 ;
Reiterates the appeal of the European Conference on Local Authorities to local authorities, particularly the corporations of large towns and the councils of regional communities - Länder, regions, counties, provinces, departments, etc.,- to supplement the Cultural Fund's contribution towards financing intermunicipal exchanges by giving it all the moral support and financial aid they possibly can.