II-65 ACTIVITIES OF THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION DURING 1963: Annual Report of the President (Johnson) to the Congress on U.S. Participation in the U.N., Transmitted August 20, 1964 (Excerpts)9 CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON EXPULSION OF MEMBERS One of the most vigorously debated issues at the 1963 Conference 10 was a proposal by Ghana that the FAO Constitution be amended to provide for the expulsion of a member or associate member that "breaks or continues to break, in a persistent way, the principles enunciated in the Constitution of the FAO." Supporters of the amendment made it clear during the debate that the amendment was designed to pave the way for the expulsion of South Africa because of its policy of apartheid. A number of countries, including the United States, believing that political issues should not be injected into the FAÓ, opposed the amendment in its original form, while being prepared to support an amendment which would have provided that members of the FAO could be expelled "only if they have already been excluded from the United Nations Organization." In the end a compromise amendment could not be agreed upon, and the original amendment proposed by Ghana having failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority was defeated. The vote was 47 to 36 (U.S.), with 11 abstentions. PROBLEM OF INCOMPATIBILITY IN THE AFRICAN REGION The 1962 African Regional Conference was adjourned by the Director General when the other African delegations refused to participate in a Conference at which a delegation from South Africa was present. During the 1963 FAO Conference debate on the proposed Ghana amendment, the United States and other countries advocated practical steps to solve the problem of incompatibility in the African region. Accordingly, the Conference adopted a resolution deciding that South Africa "shall no longer be invited to participate in any capacity in FAO Conferences, meetings, training centers or other activities in the African Region, until the Conference decides otherwise" and "noting that this arrangement shall not entail the transfer of South Africa to another region in any capacity." Shortly after the close of the Conference, the Government of South Africa notified the Director General that South Africa was withdrawing from the FAO. According to the FAO Constitution, the withdrawal becomes effective 1 year from the date of this notification. "U.S. Participation in the UN, pp. 271–278. 10 Reference is to the biennial conference of FAO, held in Rome, Oct. 31-Dec. 5, 1963. World Food Program Nineteen hundred and sixty-three was the first year of operations for the 3-year, experimental joint UN/FAO World Food Program, which was launched on the initiative of the United States." The United States is also by far the largest single contributor. The World Food Program (WFP) utilizes surplus commodities and contributions in cash and shipping to stimulate economic and social development, to feed preschool and school children, and to meet emergency needs. Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman has said of the program: The World Food Program is frankly experimental. It will, for the first time, provide food surpluses for economic development to food-deficient peoples through the United Nations system. The new program will start off on a modest scale. . . . Let us not be concerned, however, about the modest initial size of the operation. It can grow-and I think it will grow because it is based on a sound premise. It is predicated on the idea that a problem that is international in scope and impact needs to be approached through the joint effort of many. During the year the WFP undertook 26 economic and social development and school-feeding projects involving commodities and cash valued at $22.0 million, and 11 emergency projects amounting to $8.2 million. The United States has pledged $40 million in commodities to the WFP, together with up to $10 million in cash and shipping services. By the end of 1963, 59 other countries had pledged the equivalent of about $41 million. Freedom-From-Hunger Campaign For the Freedom-From-Hunger Campaign, one of FAO's most highly publicized activities, 1963 was a year of accomplishment. It was also a year marked by increasing discussion of the Campaign's future. In March the American Freedom-From-Hunger Foundation, whose Trustees, headed by James G. Patton, are appointed by the President to coordinate American private sector participation in the Campaign, sponsored a nationwide Freedom-From-Hunger Week. One of the major events during that week was a Freedom-From-Hunger Dinner in Washington organized under the chairmanship of Mrs. Vance Hartke. In June the United States was host to the World Food Congress. The American Freedom-From-Hunger Foundation worked closely with the U.S. Government and the FÃO on World Food Congress arrangements, and raised $85,000 in contributions from private sources to finance participation by men and women from developing countries. The Foundation also sponsored, in cooperation with the Advertising Council of America and voluntary overseas aid agencies, a national publicity campaign on the problems of hunger and malnutrition to which media space valued at over $4 million was contributed. And by the year's end, the worldwide Campaign, which began in 1961, "See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pp. 84-87; ibid., 1961, pp. 187–191; ibid., 1962, p. 203. had stimulated a total of 55 field projects costing over $7 million, mostly financed from nongovernmental sources. A major issue during the year was the future of the Campaign, originally scheduled to end in 1965. While some favored an immediate decision, the United States opposed hasty action. At a FreedomFrom-Hunger Conference in Rome in November, Aled P. Davies, Trustee of the American Freedom-From-Hunger Foundation and Vice President of the American Meat Institute, said: ... It has been my experience that while the American people are extremely generous and enthusiastic in their support of good causes, they, nevertheless, as a sound business practice, demand periodic accounting and analysis of both the efforts expended and the worthwhileness of the cause. Thus I believe it is well for those of us who are personally dedicated to the campaign to end hunger that we have such an analysis and recapitulation of the Freedom-From-Hunger Campaign prepared. Thus we can go to the FAO Conference and to our own people at the end of this Campaign in 1965 with a clear picture of what has been accomplished and in what direction we should then proceed, not just to win a battle, but to end the war against hunger. This view was echoed by the U.S. delegation to the FAO Conference later in the same month. At the same time, many other delegations pressed for an immediate decision to extend the life of the Campaign. In the end, a compromise resolution was agreed upon, one which did not extend the Campaign as such but provided for continuance of Freedom-From-Hunger "activities" beyond 1965. The resolution requested the Director General of the FÃO to present to the 1965 FAO Conference a statement of the results achieved throughout the life of the Campaign, so that a decision could be made at that time on "the future orientation" of these activities. Thus, at least some aspects of the Campaign will continue, but not necessarily in the same form. THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL MARITIME CONSULTATIVE ORGANIZATION II-66 ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL MARITIME CONSULTATIVE ORGANIZATION DURING 1963: Annual Report of the President (Johnson) to the Congress on U.S. Participation in the U.N., Transmitted August 20, 1964 (Excerpt)12 The year 1963 was a productive one for the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) and, from the point of view of the United States, a very satisfactory one. During October 1963, the biennial IMCO Assembly, which convened for its third session in London, took several actions which the United States strongly supported. Significant among these was the adoption of 12 U.S. Participation in the UN, pp. 299–300. recommendations of the IMCO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) on the treatment of shelter-deck and other "open spaces," which dealt with how these spaces would be included in the tonnage measurement of vessels. The Assembly also approved the convening of a diplomatic conference in the spring of 1965 on the facilitation of maritime travel and transport and the convening of an international conference in the spring of 1966 on loadlines. The decision to hold an IMCO conference to draw up a loadline convention was vigorously opposed by the Soviet Union, which sought instead to convene a conference to revise a 1930 loadline convention, which is presently deposited with Great Britain as the Bureau Power. The United States, however, considers the 1930 convention to be so out of date as to make an entirely new convention greatly preferable to revision of the old one. A resolution deciding to convene the conference was adopted by a rollcall vote of 27 (U.S.) to 5, with 10 abstentions. The United States cosponsored a resolution approved by the Assembly which instructed the IMCO Secretary General to initiate the procedure whereby the IMCO may attain membership on the U.N. Technical Assistance Board (TAB)-the executive body of the U.N. Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA-see page 177).18 The resolution also asked the Secretary General to prepare a detailed report on the implications of such a step for consideration by the next session of the IMCO Council. IMCO is presently the only U.N. Specialized Agency, other than the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD-see page 265) 13 and its affiliates, that is not a member of the TAB and that does not undertake any technical assistance activities. The IMCO Assembly also adopted a resolution, supported by the United States, dealing with the marking of fixed or free floating, manned or unmanned oceanographic stations, which are being used increasingly by oceanographers and meteorologists. Attached to this resolution are detailed recommendations on color markings for such stations, as well as identification lights, radar reflectors, and fogwarning appliances with which they should be equipped to avoid danger to shipping. 13 Ibid. THE INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT II-67 OPERATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE PERIOD JANUARY 1-JUNE 30, 1963: Report of the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems, Submitted April 11, 1964 (Excerpt)14 In the 6-month period under review, the Bank authorized loans in the equivalent of $285 million, including its first loan to the State of Singapore. This compares with $164 million in loans approved by the Bank in the last half of 1962. Four countries were added to the Bank's membership, the total funded debt of the Bank declined by $18.7 million and sales of portions of Bank loans during the period increased the total of such sales through June 30, 1963, to $1.6 billion. Consortia on aid to Pakistan and India met during the period under review to consider plans for economic assistance to these countries. MEMBERSHIP AND SUBSCRIPTIONS In February, Jamaica became a member of the Bank with a capital subscription of $26.7 million, followed in March by the Ivory Coast ($20 million), by Niger ($10 million) in April, and by Upper Volta ($10 million) in May. On June 30, 1963, the Bank had 85 members with a total subscribed capital of $20,729.8 million. (See appendix table D-1.) 15 COMMITMENTS AND DISBURSEMENTS The Bank's loans are intended chiefly to stimulate economic growth of its member countries. In the current period, 16 loans in the equivalent of $285 million were authorized, primarily in Asia ($147 million) and Latin America ($103 million), for constructive projects and programs in 13 member countries. (See table 6.) 15 Of the total, approximately $113 million (40 percent) was authorized for transport improvement in Colombia, Peru, Thailand, and Yugoslavia; $95 million (33 percent) for industrial development in Colombia, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines; and $62 million (22 percent) for electrical power expansion in Colombia, El Salvador, Cyprus, Singapore, Swaziland, and Thailand. The Bank also approved irrigation loans totaling $15.1 million in Mexico and Nicaragua. Private participation by U.S. and other commercial banks in the earlier maturities of 11 loans, without the Bank's guarantee, amounted to $5.6 million. In the Philippines, both the Bank and its affiliate, the IFC, joined in providing loan and share capital to assist in the expansion of private industry in that country. 15 H. Doc. 297, 88th Cong., Apr. 14, 1964; pp. 9-14. Part III of the NAC report. Not reprinted here. |