Asian transport decade, crisis in Africa among topics of Economic and Social Council.

The Economic and Social Council at its 1984 summer session recommended proclamation of a new international decade on transport and communications in Asia and the Pacific (1985-1994), considered consumer protection guidelines and reviewed plans for the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (1987).

It also discussed activities of transnational corporations in southern Africa, and matters related to Palestinian issues.

It was unable to reach a consensus with regard to a planned declaration on the critical economic situation in Africa and decided unanimously to ask the thirty-ninth General Assembly to consider the subject in plenary.

The Council's second regular session (4-27 July, Geneva), which adopted 64 resolutions and decisions, was devoted primarily to the "alarming" deterioration of conditions in Africa and to a review of world economic trends and policies. Its first session (April/May, New York) had mainly reviewed social and human rights issues.

Summing up the overall results of the July session, Council President Karl Fischer (Austria) stated there had been a convergence of views on several issues. The Council, he said, had "stressed the need for Member States to take concerted action in addressing the current world economic and social situation, in particular the persisting critical situation in developing countries".

The importance of international trade for developing the world economy and the need to improve and strengthen the international trading system was also emphasized, he said. The Council considered that the "continuously high or even further growing levels of interest rate would exacerbate the problems of debtor countries", he added.

The Council stated that efforts should be intensified to increase flows of official development assistance (ODA). It had drawn particular attention to the need to mobilize an additional $3 billion in supplementary funding for the International Development Association, and for a substantial and timely replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), he added.

The Council was convinced, said the President, that in order to give effective support to the development efforts of the developing countries whose underlying growth potential remained under-utilized, it was essential to strengthen the resources of international financial institutions. Appropriate domestic, fiscal, monetary, financial and investment policies of developed and developing countries were called for. The Council recognized the need for higher and stable rates of growth for both developed and developign countries in order to meet the increasing needs of the world and to make economic interdependence more beneficial and more equitable for all.

The World Economic Survey (E/1984/62), the traditional focus of the Council's debate on international economic and social policy, reported that the economic situation in much of the developing world remained "deeply troubling". The Council noted the Survey, the Secretary-General's reports on implementation of the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (A/39/332-E/1984/105) and on confidence-building measures in international economic relations (E/1984/106 and Corr. 1 and Add. 1), and summaries of economic surveys from the regional commissions.

General debate: Representatives of developing countries emphasized the severity of problems, both social and economic, caused by the failure of the economic recovery in developed countries to "trickle down". Most insisted that the recovery would not reach them unless there were fundamental changes in international economic relations. They also stressed the need for special measures to assist them in overcoming the effects of problems caused by events and policies in developed countries which were outside their control.

Third world representatives called for immediate action to deal with crises such as food shortages. They appealed for more political will to rebuild the bridges of North-South dialogue, and co-operation in establishing the new international economic order. While economic co-operation among developing countries was essential, they stated, it was not a substitute for North-South co-operation. Several representatives drew attention to the critical economic and social situation in Africa and called for concerted international action in the short-...