ISSUES AT THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE 1975

U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1975

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS,

Washington, D.C.

The subcommittee met at 2:13 p.m. in room H-236, the Capitol, Hon. Donald M. Fraser (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FRASER. Let the subcommittee come to order.

Today the Subcommittee on International Organizations meets for the second time to consider the issues and the U.S. position at the forthcoming special session of the U.N. General Assembly this September.

At our first hearing on May 19, the witnesses were three nongovernmental development economists. Today we have three officials from the executive branch. The witnesses at the first hearing called for a U.S. policy which would minimize the confrontation between the United States and the developing countries, and they agreed that so far the United States has been deficient in this regard in economic relations with the developing world. They called for new policies such as commodity agreements acceptable to both rich and poor countries.

Yesterday an international panel presented to Secretary General Waldheim a report with recommendations for changing the structure of the United Nations to improve economic relations between rich and poor nations. The report, entitled "A New United Nations Structure for Global Economic Cooperation," is expected to be considered at the special session of the General Assembly this fall. We would welcome comments from our witnesses today concerning the testimony at our previous hearing and the new recommendations for structural changes at the U.N.

It is a distinct pleasure to welcome to the subcommittee Ambassador Clyde Ferguson, U.S. Representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council; Roy Morey, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; and Paul Boeker, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs.

Mr. Morey, I understand the three of you have agreed that you will speak first.

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STATEMENT OF ROY D. MOREY, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION AFFAIRS

Mr. MOREY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

This afternoon I would like to describe the nature of the General Assembly's seventh special session and the U.S. approach to it. Deputy Assistant Secretary Boeker will speak in greater detail on the economic issues which are expected to form the bulk of the substantive agenda for the session. Ambassador Ferguson will describe the situation in New York during this preparatory phase.

Considering the prominence which the Assembly's sixth special session has acquired, I believe it would be useful to our discussions, first of all, to describe the background to the upcoming seventh special session, the impact of the sixth special session-and other U.N. meetings-on preparations for it, and the differences, which we hope will be significant, between the two.

The sixth special session, which met from April 9 to May 2 last year, was totally unexpected. It was convened at the request of President Boumediene of Algeria, largely as a reaction to the Washington Energy Conference and a French proposal to hold a World Energy Conference under U.N. auspices.

The move served to divert attention from the oil price issue and to rally the developing countries around the theme of their allegedly disadvantageous trade position as commodity exporters.

After only a few weeks of very hurried preparation, the Assembly met and, under Algerian leadership, pushed through a call for the establishment of a "New International Economic Order." The declaration and the lengthy program of action, which the developing countries pushed to adoption, did not gain the concurrence of the major developed countries on the principal substantive elements and, in general, represented only LDC, that is, lesser developed countries', views on trade, development assistance, monetary reform, and other economic issues.

The seventh special session has quite different antecedents. The economic problems of the developing world have been an issue of growing importance in the U.N. since the early 1960's. By the fall of 1973, the LDC's were pressing the case for their economic interests with great vigor in the General Assembly.

Resolutions were adopted, with the support of both developed and developing countries, on the first review of implementation of the so-called international development strategy, on international monetary reform, on the soon-to-be-opened trade negotiations and other economic matters.

The compromise texts did not alleviate the intense dissatisfaction of the developing countries with what they felt to be the inadequate concern for their needs on the part of the developed countries.

This dissatisfaction resulted in the introduction of a resolution calling for what would have been the first special session of the General Assembly devoted to economic issues. As originally conceived, the General Assembly, at its special session in 1975, was to consider the broad range of international economic issues, those of concern to the developing countries in particular, as well as the related reform of the structure of the U.N. itself.

The United States, while concerned over the growing propensity of the LDC's to use the General Assembly as a forum to seek policy concessions from the industrialized world, did not object to their call for a special meeting to consider their problems.

Thus, while the sixth special session represented an immediate reaction to a critical world economic situation, the seventh special session is really the expression of longstanding concerns of the developing world which have had growing importance to the U.N. as a whole.

At the same time, the adoption last fall of resolutions on the New International Economic Order and the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States and the adoption of an equally unacceptable UNIDO (U.N. Industrial Development Organization) declaration and plan of action at Lima in March of this year, reflect a new militance on the part of the developing countries. The LDC's have demonstrated over the past year and a half a tight tactical unity, a determination not to compromise on issues of principle, and a conviction that they have the upper hand as a result of the successes of OPEC.

We have, fortunately, a considerably longer preparatory period for the seventh special session than for the sixth last year. The time is being used well, we think, and the arrangements for the work of the session, both as to formal structure and substantive content, will be more careful and more thoughtful.

The U.N. began working on its preparations in February. The United States began to consider the issues and problems as soon as the 1974 General Assembly session drew to a close in December.

If you would allow me to turn now, Mr. Chairman, to our preparations for the seventh special session and the opportunities and challenges presented to the United States.

Following our preliminary evaluation of the prospects for the session, a preparatory group was established in the State Department in February of 1975. This group was launched by Assistant Secretary Buffum of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs and is presently chaired by Under Secretary Sisco. In addition, our preparations have engaged the attention of Under Secretary Robinson and Secretary Kissinger.

The preparatory group has served to identify further the issues with which we will deal, to clarify the options available for our overall approach to the session, and to determine the various bilateral and multilateral channels we have available for us to achieve our goals. With regard to this last point, we have been holding extensive bilateral consultations with developed country representatives for the past 3 months. Our contacts with the developing countries have centered in New York; Ambassador Ferguson will describe the situation in New York in greater detail.

This past week we instructed our Embassies in about 25 major developing countries to initiate discussions on the seventh special session with their host governments. We intend to establish close bilateral contacts with both developed as well as developing countries during the entire preparatory period.

With regard to the issues, we have instructed our mission in New York and our Embassies in the field to inform the developing countries that we believe the special session can most usefully consider five general topics: International commodity trade, international food

needs, transfer of financial resources, problems of the poorer developing countries, and structural changes in the U.N. system.

The problems of commodity trade are a principal concern of the developing countries. As Secretary Kissinger indicated in his speech in Kansas City this past week, we are prepared to discuss this problem with them in a responsible manner. We believe that further international action is needed in the area of food, building on the accomplishments of the World Food Conference.

The potential sources of financial resources to finance the development efforts of the LDC's must be examined as a critical element of the world economic order. We feel the international community must turn its attention to meeting the needs of the poorest developing countries in particular, for they are the ones least able to help themselves.

Deputy Assistant Secretary Boeker will discuss these issues in greater detail. I would like to describe, however, at this point, our views on the fifth problem area, that is on U.N. structural change.

The effectiveness of U.N. system economic structures has drawn increasing criticism, from both developed and developing countries. As I indicated previously, the dissatisfaction of the developing countries with the responsiveness of the U.N. system to their problems was a major reason for calling the seventh special session.

I do not need to remind this committee and you, Mr. Chairman, of the criticisms that the United States and other developed countries have expressed regarding inefficiencies in the U.N. system.

Although the United States and the developed countries on the on hand and the developing countries on the other still find important benefits from their participation in the U.N. system, they are all convinced that major improvements in the structure and operations of the U.N. system can and must be made.

Our specific proposals to deal with the issue of U.N. system structural change will remain to be developed in detail, awaiting further consultations with other countries and more review within the Government. However, I can indicate the basic objectives that will be guiding our efforts.

No. 1. we believe that there should be rationalization and streamlining of the presently fragmented and too often duplicative development assistance mechanisms in the U.N. system.

No. 2, we are anxious to have U.N. development assistance programs more heavily oriented toward helping those countries that are most in need, those that are least able to finance their own development or to attract and obtain other resources, both public and private, for their economic own development.

No. 3, we would like to see the specialized agencies of the U.N. system freed of their heavy responsibilities for executing development assistance projects and rededicated toward their original mandates which called for promoting international cooperation through activities such as information exchange, harmonization of national policies, the promotion of research, and the setting of standards.

No. 4. we think that opportunities exist to streamline U.N. system secretariat operations through the consolidation of matters such as personnel recruitment and management, payrolling, accounting, procurement, and buildings management activities.