regional economic and social...

Regional economic and soc ia l ac t iv i t ies 2 4 3

Chapte r V

Regional economic and social activities

The five United Nations regional commissionscontinued to promote economic and social devel-opment in their respective regions during 1989.Four commissions held their regular sessions inMarch and Apr i l - t he Economic and Soc i a lCommission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),the Economic Commission for Europe ( E C E) ,

the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) andthe Economic and Social Commission for West-ern Asia (ESCWA). The Economic Commissionfor Lat in America and the Caribbean ( E C L A C )

did not meet in a regular session, but its Com-mittees of the Whole and of High-Level Govern-ment Experts held biennial meetings in March.

I n D e c e m b e r , t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l yproclaimed 1991-2000 as the Second IndustrialDevelopment Decade for Africa, and invited in-ternational financial and development bodies toconsider the African Alternative Framework toStructural Adjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic Recovery and Transformation, whichhad been adopted by ECA as a basis for dialogueand consul ta t ion. The Economic and SocialCouncil adopted resolutions on the African Insti-tute for Economic Development and Planning,interregional co-operation for facilitation of inter-national trade, and the Europe-Africa permanentlink through the Strait of Gibraltar. The GeneralAssembly adopted texts on co-operation betweenthe United Nations and the Latin American Eco-nomic System and between the United Nations andthe Southern African Development Co-ordinationConference. ESCAP worked on a strategy for re-gional social development towards the year 2000and beyond. ECE addressed ongoing economic re-forms in centrally planned economy nations, andadopted a Charter on Ground-Water Manage-ment. ESCWA and ECLAC sought ways to contrib-ute to the Fourth United Nations DevelopmentDecade, and continued work to improve regionaleconomic performance.

Regional co-operation

The Executive Secretaries of the live regionalcommissions , under the chairmanship of theDirector-General for Development and Interna-tional Economic Co-operation, met twice in 1989

(New York, 18 January; Santiago, Chile, 27 and28 April). In April, they reviewed activities inmutual priority areas, including debt, human re-source development, the role of the commissionsin reconstruction and development of war-ravagedcountries, and economic reforms in centrallyplanned economies. Also discussed were prepara-tions for a General Assembly special session oninternational economic co-operation, especiallyrevitalization of economic growth and develop-ment in developing countries, and the new Inter-national Development Strategy for the fourthUnited Nations Development Decade (see PART

THREE, Chapter I). The importance of the com-missions’ part icipat ion in those preparatoryprocesses was stressed.

The Executive Secretaries reviewed progress inimproving links between the commissions and theEconomic and Social Council, and reaffirmed therole and potential of the regional commissions inUN operational activities.

In June, the Secretary-General reported onregional co-operation,(1) describing commissionprogress achieved in promoting interregional eco-nomic and technical co-operation among develop-ing countries, and reviewing their co-operation ininternational trade facilitation (see below) as wellas progress in promoting interrgional economicand technical co-operation among developingcountries.

On 28 July, the Economic and Social Councilnoted the Secretary-General’s report (decision1989/191) and documents on international eco-nomic and social policy (decision 1989/182), in-cluding the summaries of: the survey of economicand social conditions in Africa, 1987-1988;(2) theeconomic and social survey of Asia and the Pa-cific, 1988;(3) the economic survey of Europe in1988-1989;(4) the economic survey of LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, 1988;(5) the surveyof economic and social developments in the Eco-nomic and Social Council for Western Asia(ESCWA) region during the Third United NationsDevelopment Decade.(6)

On 22 December, the General Assembly, byresolution 44/226, requested regional commis-sions to contribute to preventing illegal traffic intoxic and dangerous products and wastes by con-tinuous monitoring and regional assessments ofsuch traffic and its environmental and health im-plications, through interaction among themselves

2 4 4 Regiona l ques t ions

and in co-opera t ion wi th U N E P and o ther re levantUN bodies (see a lso P A R T T H R E E, Chap te r VI I I ) .

Trade facilitation

O n 1 0 F e b r u a r y , t h e E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a lCounci l , ac t ing on jo in t recommendat ions madeby the commission Executive Secretaries pursuantto a 1982 decision,(7) decided to consider in 1989in te r reg iona l co-opera t ion in in te rna t iona l t radefac i l i t a t ion (dec i s ion 1989 /101) .

In Apr i l , the Execut ive Secre ta r ies formula tedproposals for co-opera t ion between the commis-sions to establish a trade facilitation network andtrade facilitation activities in the regions and pro-m o t e t h e U N R u l e s f o r E l e c t r o n i c D a t a I n t e r -change for Administration, Commerce and Trans-p o r t ( U N / E D I F A C T ) , b e i n g d e v e l o p e d b y E C E ( s e e

below).

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ACTION

On 28 July, the Economic and Social Council,o n t h e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n o f i t s F i r s t ( E c o n o m i c )C o m m i t t e e , a d o p t e d r e s o l u t i o n 1 9 8 9 / 1 1 8 w i t h -ou t vo te .

Interregional co-operation for facilitation ofin te rna t iona l t r ade

The Economic and Social Council,Recalling its decision 1982/174 of 30 July 1982, in which

it requested the executive secretaries of the regional com-missions to submit recommendations concerning a sub-ject for interregional co-operation of common interestto all regions, and noting ongoing activities undertakenby the regional commissions within this framework,

Taking note of the report of the Secretary-General onregional co-operation, in particular section IV thereof,

Conscious of the global importance of trade facilitationand of the work carried out by the regional commissionsto reduce, simplify and harmonize formalities, proce-dures and documentation for the development of inter-national trade, and of the technical co-operation activi-ties carried out by the United Nations Conference onTrade and Development to promote and implement suchmeasures pursuant to the decision adopted by the Eco-nomic and Social Council on 31 July 1969,

Noting that the Rules for Electronic Data Interchangef o r A d m i n i s t r a t i o n , C o m m e r c e a n d T r a n s p o r t(EDIFACT) being developed and maintained within theEconomic Commission for Europe allow for the progres-sive replacement of trade documents by electronicmessages,

Recalling in the light of Economic Commission for Eu-rope decision L(44) of 21 April 1989, that considerationshould be given to augmenting the existing facilities inthe Commission for the development and the main-tenance of EDIFACT, given the central importance ofthese facilities for the use of EDIFACT by all countriesconcerned,

Recognizing that the introduction of trade facilitationmeasures leading to simpler, faster and more economi-cal documentary procedures might require the modifi-cation of trade-related practices,

Noting that the introduction of electronic data inter-change is contingent upon the availability of appropri-ate data-processing equipment and telecommunicationsfacilities, as well as relevant business management tech-niques, which have still to be established in many coun-tries, particularly developing countries,

1. Invites the regional commissions to formulate,jointly with the United Nations Conference on Tradeand Development, within existing resources, a draft pro-posal for interregional co-operation based on projectsdetailing technical and resource requirements, duly tak-ing into account the national laws and regulations andthe needs and concerns of the various regions, especiallythose of the developing countries, in the area of tradefacilitation, and in particular the phased application ofEDIFACT, wherever appropriate, and to submit the draftproposal for approval to the Council at its second regu-lar session of 1990;

2. Requests the regional commissions to consult withfunding organizations, notably the United Nations De-ve lopment Programme, concern ing the f inanc ia lresources available for possible execution of the draft pro-posal after approval by the Council at its second regu-lar session of 1990;

3. Recommends to the Executive Secretary of the Eco-nomic Commiss ion for Europe tha t , in examiningclosely the resources required for maintenance and de-velopment activity now under way, consideration begiven to the issue of what resources, from within exist-ing resources of the Commission, might be made avail-able to support this activity.

Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/118

28 July 1989 Meeting 37 Adopted without vote

Approved by First Committee (E/1989/142) without vote. 20 July (meeting24); 16-nation draft (E/1989/C.1/L.), based on recommendation in reportof Secretary-General (E/1989/96) and orally revised; agenda item 6.

REFERENCES(1)E/1989/96. (2)E/1989/68. (3)E/1989/55. (4)E/1989/61.(5)E/1989/59. (6)E/1989/69. (7)YUN 1982, p. 797, ESCdec. 1982/174, 30 July 1982.

Africa

T h e E c o n o m i c C o m m i s s i o n f o r A f r i c a ( E C A )held i t s twenty-four th sess ion ( f i f teenth meet ingof the Conference of Ministers) at Addis Ababa,Ethiopia, from 6 to 10 April.(1)

Major agenda i tems dea l t wi th the search foran African Alternative to Structural AdjustmentProgrammes; review and appraisal of progressmade in the implementat ion of the UN Pro-gramme of Action for African Economic Recov-ery and Development 1986-1990 ( UNPAAERD)(2)

and Africa’s Priority Programme for EconomicRecovery: 1986-1990 (APPER), as well as the reportand recommendations of the tenth meeting of theTechnical Preparatory Committee of the Whole(3)(Addis Ababa, 27 March-3 April), which dealtwith a whole range of specific issues, from food,agriculture, environment, industrial development,


transport and communications to social develop-ment, population and operational activities.

The Conference of Ministers of the Commis-sion adopted resolutions covering the UN TrustFund for African Development, prevention ofcrime, the current African economic situation,meteorology and development, information sys-tems for development, the light against locusts, in-dustrial development, creation of an African Eco-nomic Association, establishment of the AfricanMonetary Fund, integration of women in devel-opment, popular participation in Africa’s recov-ery, resource mobilization for operational activi-ties, and programme questions.

Six resolutions were proposed for adoption bythe Economic and Social Council. They dealt with:proclamation of a second Industrial DevelopmentDecade for Africa; strengthening of MultinationalP r o g r a m m i n g a n d O p e r a t i o n s C e n t r e s ( M U L -

P O Cs) ; measures for strengthening ECA’s specialprogramme for least developed, land-locked andisland countries; the African Institute for Eco-nomic Development and Planning; a proposedprogramme of work and priorities for the bien-nium 1990-1991; and the African AlternativeF r a m e w o r k f o r S t r u c t u r a l A d j u s t m e n t P r o -grammes for Socio-economic Recovery and Trans-formation. (See below, under specific headings.)

ECA subsidiary bodies meeting in 1989 includedthe Joint Intergovernmental Regional Committeeon Human Settlements and Environment (AddisAbaba, 13-17 February); the Conference of Afri-can Ministers of Finance on the African Frame-work for Structural Adjustment Programmes(Blantyre, Malawi, 6-8 March), which adopted theBlantyre Statement on the Alternative Frameworkfor Structural Adjustment Programmes; the In-tergovernmental Committee of Experts of AfricanLeast Developed Countries (Addis Ababa, 22-25March); the Conference of Ministers of AfricanLeast Developed Countries (Addis Ababa, 4-5April), which adopted a declaration to the secondUnited Nations Conference on Least DevelopedCountries for acceleration of the development pro-cess; the Conference of African Ministers of In-dustry (Harare, Zimbabwe, 29-31 May); the Con-ference of African Ministers of Social Affairs(Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 27-28 Oc-tober); the Intergovernmental Committee of Ex-perts for Science and Technology Development(Addis Ababa, 6-9 November); the Conference ofAfrican Ministers of Transport, Communicationsand Planning (Tangier, Morocco, 15-16 Novem-ber); the Conference of African Ministers of Trade(Addis Ababa, 17-18 November) and the Confer-ence of African Ministers of Tourism (AddisAbaba, 20-25 November). These and other de-velopments were reflected in the biennial reportof the Executive Secretary for 1988-89.(4)

E c o n o m i c a n d s o c i a l t r e n d s

The ECA summary of the survey of economicand social conditions in Africa 1988-1989(5) indi-cated that after crises in the 1980s, includingprolonged and widespread droughts, economicperformance had improved modestly in 1988 and1989. Nevertheless, the economic situation re-mained extremely fragile and highly susceptibleto exogenous factors and domestic structural limi-tations. Structural rigidities, notably fragmenta-tion, narrowness and backwardness of the produc-tion base and infrastructure, as well as continuedexternal resource constraints, dampened recovery.Inadequate findings for policy reforms and escalat-ing debt service obligations negatively affected theregion’s development efforts. Coffee and cocoaprices fell to a 14-year low, with devastating effectson the economies of a number of countries, nota-bly Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Côted’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

The gross domestic product (GDP) at factor costgrew by 2.9 per cent, up from 2.4 per cent in 1988and 0.4 per cent in 1987. A major factor in themodest recovery was two years of good weather foragriculture, reinforced by the favourable impactof domestic policy reforms. The agricultural out-put rise of 3.1 per cent, up from 2.8 per cent in1988, together with improving food supply, helpedboost the allied sectors; notably agro-based indus-tries, trade and transport. Further growth impe-tus came from the mining sector and higher ex-port earnings.

Growth in manufacturing output rose from 2.6per cent in 1987 and 4.5 per cent in 1988 to 4.9per cent in 1989, despite intensified protectionismin many developed countries and increasingly dis-criminatory technological policies seriously erod-ing African manufacturing export competitiveness.

Cereal output was estimated at 77.9 million tonsin 1989-15.4 per cent higher than in 1987, but2.6 per cent lower than the 1988 bumper crop,partly due to locust infestation of the eastern Sa-helian zone. An increasing number of countriesheld food grain surpluses for export in 1989, to-talling 1.2 million tons. However, the food grainimport requirements of Africa’s food-deficit coun-tries were estimated to have risen by about 3.8 percent, to reach 18.4 million tons. Except for cocoaand tobacco, production of major industrial cropsincreased in 1989. Producer prices, however, fell.

The bleak social situation persisted, with fami-lies facing growing financial and food insecurityand inaccessibility to basic goods, including de-cent housing and minimal medical care. The num-ber of refugees swelled to 6 million, mostly womenand children, following frequent natural and man-made disasters, civil conflicts and war; the disabledwere estimated at 10 per cent of the population.The African population growth rate increased


much more rapidly than elsewhere, with a high per-centage of persons—45 per cent—under 15 yearsold, compared to 22 per cent in developed regions.

The subregions encompassing East and south-ern Africa and West Africa showed rates of growtharound 3 per cent-generally better than 1988. Per-formance in Central and North Africa continuedto be weak, with GDP growing at 1.6 per cent and2.8 per cent respectively, well below the rates of popu-lation growth. Growth in African least developedcountries (LDCs) was generally higher than in othereconomic groupings, although they remained struc-turally and economically the weakest. The num-ber of countries experiencing negative growth ratessharply declined from 15 in 1987 to four in 1989.However, only Botswana and Mauritius were ableto record consistently high rates of growth over thisperiod.

The slow growth in investment spending duringthe 1980s resulted in a precipitous erosion of capi-tal stock and the rundown of physical and infra-structure facilities. The 1989 current account def-icit stagnated at a high $13.8 billion. External debtrose by about 2.9 per cent to $256.9 billion.

Intensified efforts at policy reforms gave in-c r ea sed p r io r i t y t o t he ag r i cu l tu r a l s ec to r .Several countries, including Egypt, the LibyanArab Jamahiriya, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda,achieved the 20 to 25 per cent ratio in total in-vestment allocation recommended by APPER toupgrade production techniques and agriculturali n f r a s t ruc tu r e . A number o f i n i t i a t i ve s t ostrengthen the agricultural sector and improvefood security were launched at the subregionallevel.

In a 7 April resolution,(6) the Conference ofMinisters requested the Executive Secretary to con-tinue preparing the annual survey of African eco-nomic and social conditions and to present annu-ally the economic report on Africa as a summarypreview of the survey to ECA. Member States wereurged to respond promptly to requests for infor-mation on their economic conditions. In anotherresolution,(7) the Ministers expressed deep concernthat the World Bank/UNDP report on Africa’s ad-justment and growth in the 1980s was, in manyrespects, at variance with the mid-term review ofUNPAAERD and with the reality of the African eco-nomic situation. They called on the Executive Secre-tary to publish, for an objective evaluation of thecontinent’s economic situation, the technical andstatistical variances contained in the report.

A c t i v i t i e s i n 1 9 8 9

Development pol icy andregional economic co-opera t ion

In his biennial report for 1988-1989,(4) the Ex-ecutive Secretary reviewed activities aimed at in-

itiating actions at the national, subregional, regionaland international levels to implement a process ofsustained socio-economic growth and developmentin African countries.(8) Legislative organs of allthe MULPOCs met during 1989. They were basedat Tangier; Niamey, Niger; Gisenyi, Rwanda; Lu-saka, Zambia; and Yaoundé, Cameroon.

In response to a 1988 General Assembly reso-lution,(“) ECA prepared the commission’s contri-bution to the preparation of the International De-velopment Strategy for the fourth United NationsDevelopment Decade. Noting the disappointingdevelopment experience during the third UnitedNations Decade, the contribution particularly em-phasized the necessity of an equitable and just in-ternational economic order regarding commodityissues, resource flows and transfer of technology.

Al te rna t ive f ramework tos t ruc tura l ad jus tment p rogrammes

The ECA secretariat promoted the search for analternative to existing policy frameworks, partic-ularly those associated with conventional structuraladjustment programmes, to make them more co-herent and consistent with Africa’s real develop-ment priorities and objectives as stipulated inregionally agreed development strategies.

In May, Ethiopia transmitted to the Economicand Social Council the African Alternative Frame-work to Structural Adjustment Programmes forSocio-Economic Recovery and Transformation( A A F - S A P ) , ( 1 0 ) a d o p t e d b y t h e C o n f e r e n c e o fMinisters in April, and endorsed a Joint Statementby African Ministers of Economic Planning andDevelopment and Ministers of Finance, declaringthat AAF-SAP should constitute a basis for con-structive dialogue between African countries andtheir development partners in implementing andfinancing country programmes. The alternativeframework gave a structural analysis of the politi-cal economy of Africa, asserting that policy reforma imed mere ly a t improvemen t s i n f i nanc i a lbalances and price structures were unlikely to suc-ceed. It reiterated the development objectives ofA P P E R a n d U N P A A E R D , w i t h i n t h e c o n t e m p o r a r yimperatives of recovery with transformation, con-cluding that stabilization and structural adjust-ment programmes in Africa were inadequate toaddress the region’s real causes of economic, finan-cial and social problems. The proposed alterna-tive framework was based on three sets of macro-entities: operative forces, available resources andneeds.


On 28 July 1989, the Economic and SocialCouncil, on the recommendation of its First Com-mittee, adopted resolution 1989/116 without vote.


African Alternative Framework to StructuralAdjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic

Recovery and TransformationThe Economic and Social Council,Recalling General Assembly resolution 43/27 of 18

November 1988, in particular paragraph 55(c) of theannex, in which the Assembly recommended that Afri-can countries increase their efforts in the search for aviable conceptual and practical framework for economicstructural adjustment programmes in keeping with long-term development objectives and strategies at the na-tional, subregional and regional levels,

Convinced of the urgent need for African economics tobring about structural transformation and sustainedgrowth and development,

1.. Takes note with interest of the African AlternativeFramework to Structural Adjustment Programmes forSocio-Economic Recovery, and Transformation, adoptedby the Conference of Ministers of the Economic Com-mission for Africa in resolution 676(XXIV) of 7 April1989,, and the joint statement on Africa’s long-term de-velopment adopted by the meeting of agencies concernedwith Africa’s economic and social progress held atWashington, D.C., on 10 May 1989;

2. Requests the General Assembly to consider takingaction on the Framework, as appropriate;

3. Calls upon the international Community, especiallydevelopment countries and multilateral institutions, to con-sider requests to provide support to the country pro-grammes prepared by African countries.

Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/11628 July 1989 Meeting 37 Adopted without vote

Approved by First Committee (E/1989/142) without vote, 21 July (meeting25); draft by Ethiopia for ECA Conference of Ministers (E/1989/C.1/L.5),orally revised: agenda item 6.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTION

B y d e c i s i o n 4 4 / 4 1 1 o f 1 7 N o v e m b e r , t h eGeneral Assembly, act ing on the quest ion ofAAF-SAP, decided that act ivi t ies support ingUNPAAERD(2) should be cont inued pending i t sfinal review and appraisal by the Assembly at theforty-sixth (1991) session, in accordance with its1988 RESOLUTION.(11)

O n t h e s a m e d a t e , t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l yadopted resolution 44/24 by recorded vote.

African Alternative Framework to StructuralAdjustment Programmes for Socio-Economic

Recovery and TransformationThe General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution S-13/2 of 1 June 1986, the annexto which contains the United Nations Programme ofAction for African Economic Recovery and Develop-ment 1986-1990,

Recalling also its resolution 43/27 of 18 November 1988and, in particular, paragraph 55(c) of the annex to thatresolution, in which African countries were urged to in-crease their efforts in the search for a viable conceptualand practical framework for economic structural adjust-ment programmes in keeping with the long-term devel-opment objectives and strategies at the national,subregional and regional levels,

Taking note of the final document on the critical eco-nomic situation in Africa adopted by the Ninth Con-

ference of Heads of State or Government of Non-AlignedCountries, held at Belgrade from 4 to 7 September 1989,as well as paragraph 12 of section II of the CaracasDeclaration of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of themember count r ies of the Group of S e v e n t y - s e v e n ,adopted at the special ministerial meeting of the Group,held at Caracas from 21 to 23 June 1989,

Recalling resolution CM/RES.1222(L) adopted by theCouncil of Ministers of the Organization of AfricanUnity at its fiftieth ordinary session, held at Addis Ababafrom 17 to 22 July 1989,

Recalling also Economic and Social Council resolution1989/116 of 28 July 1989,

1. Takes note with interest of the African AlternativeFramework t o S t ruc tu ra l Ad jus tmen t Programmes forSocio-Economic Recovery and Transformation;

2. Invites the international community, including themultilateral financial and development institutions, toconsider the African Alternative Framework as a basisfor constructive dialogue and fruitful consultation.

General Assembly resolution 44/24

1 7 N o v e m b e r 1 9 8 9 M e e t i n g 6 0 1 3 7 - 1 - 0 ( r e c o r d e d v o t e )

Draft by Lesotho (A/44/L.20/Rev.1): agenda item 155.

Recorded vote in Assembly as follows:

In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola. Antigua and Barbuda,Australia, Austria. Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium,Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Bur-kina Faso. Burundi, Byelorussian SSR, Cameroon. Canada. Cape Verde.Central African Republic, Chad, Chile. China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo,Côte d’Ivorie, Cuba. Cyprus, Czechoslovakia. Democratic Yemen. Den-mark. Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France.Gabon. Gambia, German Democratic Republic, Germany, Federal Repub-lic of, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti,Honduras, Hungary, India, Iran. Iraq. Ireland. Israel. Italy. Jamaica, Japan.Jordan, Kenya. Lesotho. Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg.Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives. Mali. Malta, Mauritania,Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanamr, Nepal.Netherlands. New Zealand, Nicaragua. Niger. Norway. Oman. Pakistan.Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland. Portugal, Qatar,Romania. Rwanda. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao Tome and Prin-cipe, Saudi Arabia. Senegal. Seychelles. Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solo-mon Islands. Somalia, Spain. Sudan. Suriname. Swaziland, Sweden. SyrianArab Republic. Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey,Uganda, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. United Arab Emirates. United Kingdom,United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yu-goslavia, Zaire. Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against:: United States.Abstaining: None.

African institute forEconomic Development and Planning

The African Institute for Economic Develop-ment and Planning (IDEP) faced a critical finan-cial crisis in 1989 with the decline in contributionsfrom member States and UNDP’s decision to with-draw its assistance for the Institute’s training ac-tivities and the funding of its core staff by the endof the year. The IDEP Governing Council, at itsthirty-first session (Addis Ababa, 20-22 March),adopted a special memorandum, noting that thenon-payment of contributions and the withdrawalof UNDP’s assistance would provoke an imminentcollapse of the Institute. The Governing Councilappointed a sub-committee to review IDEP’s struc-ture and management and make recommenda-tions for restructuring. In a 7 April resolution,(12)the ECA Conference of Ministers urged the UNDP

Administrator to reconsider the decision, and ap-


pealed to the General Assembly to approve the in-corporation of four core posts at the Institute inthe UN regular budget.


On 28 July, the Economic and Social Council,on the recommendation of its First Committee,adopted resolution 1989/117 without vote.

African Institute for Economic Developmentand P lanning

The. Economic and Social Council,Recalling its resolution 1985/62 of 26 July 1985,Noting with satisfaction the achievements of the African

Institute for Economic Development and Planning, theservices it has rendered to African Governments andthe increasing and continued interest of Member Statesin its activities,

Considering the critical financial crisis facing the Insti-tute, the decline in the contributions of member Statesand the decision of the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme to withdraw its assistance for training atthe Institute and funding of its core staff at the end of1989,

Noting with satisfaction that the Governing Council ofthe Institute has appointed a sub-committee to reviewthe structure and management of the Institute and makerecommendations on its restructuring,

Expressing appreciation for the support that the UnitedNations Development Programme has so far given theInstitute,

1. Urges the Governing Council of the African Insti-tute for Economic Development and Planning to expe-dite the work of restructuring and rationalizing the ac-tivities and means of the Institute in order to establish,as early as possible, a renewed and financially viableInstitute for the benefit of African development;

2. Invites the Administrator of the United NationsDevelopment Programme to reconsider, in the light ofthe progress made in the restructuring process, the de-cision to cease the funding of the Institute after Decem-ber 1989 and to provide support, as appropriate;

3. Earnestly urges African Governments to pay theircontributions in a regular and timely manner and makeplans to pay gradually their accumulated arrears.

Economic and Soc ia l Counc i l r e so lu t ion 1989 /117

28 July 1989 Meeting 37 Adopted without vote

Approved by First Committee (E/1989/142) without vote. 21 July (meeting25); draft by Ethiopia for ECA Conference of Ministers (E/1989/C.1/L.6),based on recommendation in report of Secretary-General (E/1989/96) andorally revised; agenda item 6.

Financial implications. S-G, E/1989/C.1/L.11.

Leas t developed count r ies

The ECA secretariat continued to implement theSubstantial New Programme of Action (SNPA) forthe 1980s for LDCs (see PART THREE, Chapter I)and part icipated in country round tables onBurundi, Lesotho and Sao Tome and Prinicipe.

T h e n i n t h m e e t i n g o f t h e C o n f e r e n c e o fMinisters of African LDCs (Addis Ababa, 4 and5 April) prepared for the second UN conferenceon LDCs,(13) to be held in 1990, drawing up adeclaration reviewing the implementation of SNPA

and containing proposals on policies and measuresfor the 1990s.

Food and agriculture

D u r i n g 1 9 8 9 , E C A , i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h t h eFood and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO), continued to carry out substantiveagricultural activities. To build national capabili-t i es in agr icu l tu ra l deve lopment po l icy , p lanningand programming, field missions were undertakenin the eastern, southern, West African and Cen-tral African subregions. Reports submitted tomember countries suggested measures for har-monizing national food plans and policies. Therepor ts h ighl ighted problems of ins t i tu t iona l in -adequacies, limitations on grass-roots participa-tion in planning and policy-making, unrealisticplanning and policy objectives due to lack of data,and scarcity of funds. ECA assisted member coun-tries in developing systems for collection, synthe-sis, analysis, processing and storage of agriculturaldata, and, in particular, improved the agriculturaldata base.

E CA activities to strengthen co-operation andtrade in food and agricultural products aimed to

improve institutions and increase food crop andlivestock production. ECA reports were preparedon the importance of sub-regional co-operation inthe area of cereals and tubers; non-conventionalfood sources; strategic food commodities; women’sland rights; and multinational co-operation in fish-ery development.

Activities in agricultural marketing services con-centrated in the areas of credit institutions, pricepolicies, and training and manpower.

E CA continued to assist member countries toformulate policies aimed at efficient organizationand distribution of agricultural inputs to smallf a r m e r s , a n d t o h a r m o n i z e p r i c i n g p o l i c i e s o nstaple food crops to stimulate interregional trade.

Population

Population policies and development planning,demographic analysis in the context of economicand social development planning, and regionaltraining and research continued to be concerns ofthe ECA population programme in 1989. Provisionof advisory services to member States was also em-phasized.

E CA studied the implications of demographicpatterns for implementing APPER and UNPAAERD.

Repor ts were comple ted for the s ix th Jo in t Con-f e r e n c e o f P l a n n e r s , S t a t i s t i c i a n s a n d D e m o -graphers on: age-sex data evaluation of recent Afri-can censuses; nat ional experiences in imple-menting population policies in ECA member Statesin re la t ion to the Ki l imanjaor Programme of Ac-t ion; fe r t i l i ty inf luences of the re la t ive ro les ofmaternal and child health care and family plan-

Regional economic and social activities 2 4 9

ning programmes, proximate determinants andsocio-economic correlates; methodological andtechnological innovations in demographic data col-lection, processing and analysis; and the biennialreport on activities of the population informationnetwork for Africa (POPIN-Africa).

Other studies concerned the impact of mater-nal and child health and family planning pro-grammes on fertility, infant and childhood mor-tality and maternal health; the effect of nuptialityvariables on fertility in selected African countries;a comparison of infant and childhood mortalityand its relationship to fertility, cultural factors andsocio-economic development in selected Africancountries; patterns, causes and consequences of ur-banization in Africa; and status and prospects ofpopulation policies in ECA member countries.

Assistance continued for the Regional Institutefor Population Studies (RIPS) in Ghana, the In-stitut de formation et de recherche démograo-hiques (IFORD) in Cameroon and the Sahel Insti-tute in Mali.

On 26 July, the Economic and Social Counciladopted resolution 1989/94 requesting the UNsystem to give priority to population needs andproblems in Africa in accordance with U N -

PAAERD. The Secretary-General was asked to en-sure continued fund availability for technical co-operation in the population field, particularly withthe UN-supported Cairo Demographic Centre,RIPS, I F O R D and other UN demographic centresand programmes serving African countries.

Natura l resources and energy

ECA continued technical and administrativeassistance to member States, as well as to theCentral African Mineral Resources Develop-m e n t C e n t r e ( C A M R D C ) a n d t h e E a s t e r n a n dSouthern African Mineral Resources Develop-ment Centre ( ESAMRDC) , located respectively atB r a z z a v i l l e , C o n g o , a n d D o d o m a , U n i t e dRepublic of Tanzania. An evaluation was madeo f C A M R D C , a n d a d v i c e w a s p r o v i d e d t oE S A M R D C on the development of infras t ructualfacilities, comprising a mineral dressing labora-tory, a rock and soil mechanics laboratory, an in-dustrial minerals laboratory and a library anddocumentation unit. To increase knowledge ofcontinental mineral potent ials , s tudies weremade of copper and bauxite/alumina/aluminiumand on iron ore production and its future in WestAf r i ca . A s tudy on t he exp lo i t a t i on o f t hemineral, trona, in Chad continued.

In promoting river and lake basin developmentand as part of the continuing co-operation betweenECA and UNDP, a ministerial meeting was held atAddis Ababa on 10 January. The second meetingof the Committee on River and Lake Basins tookplace at Harare on 27 and 28 April. ECA also ad-

vised Lesotho on its highlands water project. A fact-finding mission visited eight Nile riparian coun-tries in May and June to help develop the river basin’sresources with UNDP assisting.

Energy activities were aimed at assisting ECA

members develop indigenous resources and inte-grate energy policies into their overall socio-economicdevelopment and economic growth policies. Mis-sions were sent to Burundi, Rwanda, Sudan,Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A studywas made of inter-connecting the electrical gridsof neighbouring States of the Economic Commu-nity of the Great Lakes Countries.

A meeting of plenipotentiaries took place (AddisAbaba, 22-25 May) on the establishment of the Afri-can Nuclear Energy Commission.

Science and technology

ECA continued to strive to increase the aware-ness of member States regarding the applicationsof science and technology in socio-economic devel-opment, seeking to strengthen policies and insti-tutions, develop and mobilize endogenous manpowerand achieve greater collaboration in regional andinterregional projects. It also organized the sixthmeeting of the Intergovernmental Committee ofExperts for Science and Technology Development(Addis Ababa, 6-9 November).

Support was given to the planning and servic-ing of the second meeting (25-26 January) of theNorth African subregional Working Group of theIntergovernmental Committee of Experts for Scienceand Technology Development; participation in around table (Nairobi, Kenya, 1-3 February) on in-vention licensing and commercialization optionsfor research; and a symposium (Arusha, 27February-3 March) on technological developmentand transfer for rural development, held in collabo-ration with the African Regional Centre for Tech-nology ( A R C T ) .

The ECA, in collaboration with the Organiza-tion of African Unity (OAU), helped organize thesixth meeting (Addis Ababa, 6-9 November) of theIntergovernmental Committee of Experts for Scienceand Technology Development, which reviewed,among other things, the implementation of theVienna Programme of Action on Science and Tech-nology for Developemnt(14) and made recommen-dations for the coming decade. An ECA-supportedtraining workshop was held (Oshodi, Nigeria, 24-28 July) on developing capabilities in handling scien-tific and technological information.

Envi ronment

Development of environmental capabilities, in-cluding the conservation of resources and pollu-tion control, was the focus of ECA effort in thisarea. Combating drought and controlling deser-tification were considered priority areas to help al-


leviate Africa’s social and economic crises. Severalsubregional intergovernmental organizations ad-dressed those issues, including the PermanentInter-State Committee for Combating Drought int h e S a h e l ( C I L S S ) , t h e I n t e r - g o v e r n m e n t a lAuthority on Drought and Development in theHorn of Africa, the Southern African Develop-ment Co-ordination Conference (SADCC), and theMinisterial Conference on Desertification and theArid Lands Committee of the African MinisterialConference on the Environment.

At the fifth meeting of the Joint Intergovern-mental Regional Committee on Human Settle-ments and Environment (Addis Ababa, 13-17February),(4) two reports were presented: on thedevelopment of suitable measures for combatingdesertification, and on modalities for incorporat-i n g t h e C a i r o P r o g r a m m e o f t h e A f r i c a nMinisterial Conference on the Environment intoongoing programmes of ECA member States. An-other report-on the management of environmen-tal degradation, particularly drought and deser-tification aspects, i n t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o fAPPER-was presented in April to the ECA Con-ference of Ministers.

The UNDP Environmental Perspective to theYear 2000 and Beyond(15) and the report of theWorld Commission on Environment and Devel-opment(16) generated ECA action on environmen-tal management for sustainable development, in-c lud ing p repa ra t ions fo r a min i s t e r i a l - l eve lregional conference on environmental and sus-tainable development in Africa, scheduled forKampala in June.

On 27 July, the Economic and Social Counciladopted resolution 1989/103, by which it urgentlyappealed to the international community, partic-ularly donor countries, to support efforts towardsa joint policy to combat desertification by the Per-manent Inter-State Committee on Drought Con-trol in the Sahel and the IntergovernmentalAuthority on Drought and Development and theMinis ter ia l Conference. The United Nat ionsSudano-Sahel ian Office was urged to assis tSudano-Sahelian countries to prepare for the UNConference on Environment and Development.The Secretary-General was requested to placegreater emphasis in the World Economic Surveyon the situation of countries stricken by desertifi-cation and drought.

Transpor t , communica t ions and tour i sm

ECA continued to support advisory services, stud-ies, technical publications and professional meet-ings on transport, communications and tourism.The Conference of African Ministers of Transport,Communications and Planning(17) met in Tangierfrom 15 to 16 November, Recommendations weremade to help open up land-locked countries.

Guidelines for evaluating international practicesin road transport were prepared. Attention wasg iven t o p romot ing an Af r i can i ndus t ry t omanufacture transport equipment and spare partsin order to reduce imports. Advisory services ingeneral and multimodal transport were renderedto Burundi, Rwanda and Zaire to determine ca-paci ty to “containerize” exports or importsthrough the ports of Dar es Salaam, UnitedRepublic of Tanzania, and Mombasa, Kenya.

In shipping, the ECA assessed Africa’s capabil-ities for a shipbuilding and repair industry andidentified existing bottle-necks hampering thesmooth flow of African maritime trade. Work con-tinued towards convening a ministerial conferenceon maritime transport for eastern and southernAfrica. Regarding inland water transport, themajor activities included identification of transportfacilitation problems, ways to ease Africa’s inter-national traffic flow, and a study of activities toensure the safety of navigation on Lakes Kivu andTanganyika.

ECA spearheaded preparations for an Africanpolicy to deal with changes in the air transport en-vironment, stemming from deregulation in theUnited States, liberalization in Europe, noise res-trictions, and introduction of a computerizedreservation system. The first Inter-agency Co-ordinat ing Commit tee meet ing of the secondUnited Nations Transport and CommunicationsDecade for Africa was held in Addis Ababa on16 and 17 March. The ECA also organized a meet-ing of the f ive ministers responsible for co-ordinating the implementation at the subregionallevel of the Yamoussoukro Declaration, adoptedin 1988 by the Special Conference of AfricanMinisters of Civil Aviation(18) and conductedstudies on the western, eastern and southern Afri-can subregions.

In the area of communications, ECA conductedstudies, organized seminars, provided technical as-sistance to member States, and issued technicalpublications. A report on the telecommunicationsdevelopment process and policy in Africa waspresented to meetings of the Councils of Ministersof the MULPOCs.

The Conference of African Ministers of Tour-ism(4) (Addis Ababa, 20-25 November) set upmechanisms for co-operation between African in-tergovernmental organizations, as well as with in-stitutions outside Africa. ECA organized in Parison 25 August the first meeting on preparations forAfrican Tourism Year in 1991. The General As-sembly of the World Tourism Organization (WTO)(Paris, 28 August-2 September) adopted the WTO

Commission for Africa programme.Missions were undertaken to the Preferential

Trade Area of Eastern and Southern AfricanStates, SADCC, the Organization for the Develop-

Regional economic and social activities 251

ment of the Senegal River, the African Develop-ment Bank, West Africa and southern Africa. Aninter-agency committee for tourism developmentin Africa was established in November 1989.

Transpor t and Communica t ions Decade

The twelfth meeting of the Inter-Agency Co-ordinat ing Committee (Addis Ababa, 14-17March) formally began preparations for the Sec-ond Transport and Communications Decade inAfrica (1991-2000).(19) Following a further meetingin June, a draft policy document was preparedcontaining proposed global and sectoral objectivesand strategies.

By d e c i s i o n 4 4 / 4 5 5 o n 2 2 D e c e m b e r , t h eGeneral Assembly noted the Secretary-General’sprogress report(20) on the Second Decade.

An evaluation of the first Transport and Com-munications Decade (1978-1988) showed that tenyears was hardly sufficient to complete so gigan-tic a task as was envisaged during the Decade, theSecretary-General reported.

Europe-Africa Link

In April, the Secretary-General reported(21) onthe Europe/Africa permanent link through theStrait of Gibraltar, as requested by the Economicand Social Council in 1987.(22) He reviewed re-cent studies on reconnaissance of the physicalstructure (geodesy, cartography, bathymetry, seis-mic reflection, refraction, physical oceanography,meteorology, geology and geotechnics), as well asengineering, economic and financial and legalaspects. The economic studies dealt with theanalysis of the flow of transport through the Straitof Gibraltar and the benefits that the fixed linkacross the Strait would offer regarding terms oftrade. Work carried out under the Governmentsof Morocco and Spain in 1987 and 1988 confirmedthe seriousness with which the two countriesregarded the fixed link. As in the past, the ECA

and ECE secretariats wanted the Economic andSocial Council to underscore the project’s inter-national nature and encourage the United Nationsto participate more actively in its related studies.It was also hoped that the project’s financingwould also reflect its international character.



Europe-Africa permanent link through theStrait of Gibraltar

The Economic and Social Council,Recalling its resolutions 1982/57 of 30 July 1982,

1983/62 of 29 July 1983, 1984/75 of 27 July 1984, 1985/70of 26 July 1985 and 1987/69 of 8 July 1987,

Having considered the conclusions contained in the in-terim report prepared in compliance with Council reso-lution 1987/69 by the Executive Secretaries of the Eco-nomic Commiss ion for Afr ica and the EconomicCommission for Europe on the progress being made inthe studies relating to the project for a Europe-Africapermanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar,

Bearing in mind the new dynamism being brought tothe region owing, in particular, to the proclamation ofthe Maghreb Arab Union and to the greatly expand-ing land transport infrastructure leading to the Straitof Gibraltar,

Noting the resolution adopted on 1 February 1989 bythe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europeregarding measures to encourage the construction of amajor traffic artery in south-western Europe and tostudy thoroughly the possibility of a permanent link be-tween Europe and Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar,

Also noting the resolution adopted by the Conferenceof African Ministers of Transport, Communications andPlanning at its sixth meeting, held at Kinshasa in March1988, concerning the establishment of an entity for thedevelopment of transport in the North Africa region,

Aware that the studies on the permanent link have con-tributed to other regional projects, such as the connec-tion of the electricity grids of Morocco and Spain andthe Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline,

Welcoming the co-operation between the EconomicCommission for Africa, the Economic Commission forEurope, the Governments of Morocco and Spain andthe Transport Study Centre for the Western Mediter-ranean,

Conscious of the importance of the project for the de-velopment of transport in the region, the consolidationof North-South relations and the promotion of scien-tific and technological research at the international level,

1. Invites interested Governments and the enterprisesand institutions concerned, as well as other competentorganizations, to participate in the international sym-posium on the permanent link to be held at Marrakeshfrom 16 to 18 May 1990 with a view to the implementa-tion of the project;

2. Also invites the countries concerned to co-operatewith the Economic Commission for Africa and the Eco-nomic Commission for Europe in accelerating the cre-ation of transport networks leading to the Strait ofGibraltar and in harmonizing transport regulations witha view to facilitating the transport of goods and mer-chandise between the two areas;

3. Requests the Executive Secretaries of the EconomicCommission for Africa and the Economic Commissionfor Europe:

(a) To submit, at the Marrakesh symposium, a globalevaluation of the studies and work relating to the pro-ject based on the reports of the Executive Secretariestransmitted by the Secretary-General to the Economicand Social Council;

(b) To allocate as far as possible the resources neces-sary for the evaluation of the studies and work relatingto the project and of the results and recommendationsof the Marrakesh symposium;

(c) To submit an interim report on the project to theEconomic and Social Council at its second regular ses-sion of 1991.


Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/11928 July 1989 Meeting 37 Adopted without vote

Approved by First Committee (E/1989/142) without vote, 20 July (meeting24); 2-nation draft (E/1989/C.1/L.3); agenda item 6.

Sponsors: Morocco, Spain.

Trade and finance

During 1989, ECA carried out activities undersubprogrammes for domestic, intra-African andnon-African trade; international financial andmonetary policies; and activities of transnationalcorporations.

The Conference of African Ministers of Trade,at their tenth meeting (Addis Ababa, 13-18 Novem-ber),(“) postponed adoption of the draft of “TheAddis Ababa Strategies for Revitalizing Africa’sTrade Recovery and Growth in the 1990s”(23) tothe first half of 1990 to allow more considerationat the national level. The Strategies aim to makeoperational the trade-related measures containedin the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action for the Im-plementation of the Monrovia Strategy for theEconomic Development of Africa(24) with a viewto restructuring and expanding Africa’s trade inthe next decade.

The Ministerial Conference reviewed a reporton the Intra-African trade situation, its problemsand prospects. Publications in 1989 included amanual on standardization of intra-African tradedocumentation and procedures, a volume of theAfrican Trade Bulletin, and the African Trade Directory1989. A second regional symposium was organ-ized in Port Louis, Mauritius, in October involv-ing the African State Trading Organizations, theInternational Association of State Trading Organi-zations, and the Mauritius State Trading Corpo-ration.

Reports were issued on trade with non-Africancountries, including trends in interregional tradebetween Africa and other developing countries;implementation of the Global System of TradePreferences among developing countries; recentdevelopments in the situation of trade relations be-tween Africa and China; and implementation ofthe Integrated Programme for Commodities.

Domestic trade reports were submitted on al-ternative patterns of domestic trade structures andmechanisms for the establishment of more rationaldistribution channels and on mechanisms of in-tegrating women in trade and commerce. A tech-nical publication concerned consumer goods andmarketing channels to promote domestic produc-tion and trade in African countries.

Regarding international monetary and finan-cial policies, the third session of the Conferenceof African Ministers of Finance was held in Blan-tyre from 6 to 8 March.(4) Participants discussedresource management including external debt, re-viewed the establishment of the African MonetaryFund, and adopted the Blantyre Statement of Afri-

can Ministers of Finance on the Alternat iveF r a m e w o r k f o r S t r u c t u r a l A d j u s t m e n t P r o -grammes.(25)

In April , the E C A Conference of Minis tersadopted a resolution on the establishment of theAfrican Monetary Fund,(26) regretting the con-siderable delay in establishing the Fund and decid-ing to reactivate and expand the ad Commit-tee of Ministers, known as the Committee ofLibreville, which was to examine all outstandingissues and take all necessary measures to speedilyestablish the Fund. The first meeting of the En-larged Ministerial Committee of Libreville (AddisAbaba, 11-12 April) decided to hold an ad hoc meet-ing of experts (Addis Ababa, 27 November-l De-cember) to review the revised study on the Fund.

A meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, of repre-sentatives of OAU, ECA and the African Develop-ment Bank was held to seek agreement on modal-ities for implementing decisions on the Africancommon position on Africa’s external debt crisis.Its results were reviewed at an international semi-nar on the African common position held in Cairofrom 28 to 30 August.

Indus t r ia l deve lopment

The General Assembly, on the recommenda-tion of the Economic and Social Council, in 1989proclaimed (resolution 44/237) the period 1991-2000 as the Second Industr ia l DevelopmentDecade for Africa (see below). Implementationo f t h e p r o g r a m m e f o r t h e f i r s t I n d u s t r i a lDeve lopmen t Decade fo r Af r i ca ( I D D A ) a n d

UNPAAERD continued to be undertaken underECA programmes of policy development, plan-ning and institution building; development of basisindustries; development of agro- and forest-basedindustries; and development of small-scale in-dustries.

The ECA jointly organized the ninth meeting(Harare, 29-31 May) of the Conference of Afri-can Ministers of Industry, in co-operation with theGovernment of Zimbabwe and O A U , to reviewprogress made towards African industrialization.Documents under review included eight progressreports by the secretariats of ECA, OAU and theU N I n d u s t r i a l D e v e l o p m e n t O r g a n i z a t i o n( UNIDO ) ; and a progress report on promotion ofthe African Industrial Development Fund. Otherreports concerned measures to strengthen the Afri-can Regional Centre for Engineering Design andManufacturing ( ARCEDEM); programmes and ac-tivities in the context of UNPAAERD; implemen-tation of UNPAAERD regarding food processing in-dustries; pulp and paper industries and projectsin Africa; and prospects for the rationalization anddevelopment of pulp and paper industry in Africa.

Ten annual reports on implementation of IDDA

projects in the chemical, engineering, metal and


agro-based industries were presented to MULPOC

meetings during the first quarter of 1989. Theninth meeting of the OAU, ECA and UNIDO

secretariats on implementation of the programmefor IDDA within the framework of the 1980 LagosPlan of Action was held in Addis Ababa from8 to 10 February.



Proclamation of a second industrial developmentdecade for Africa

The Economic and Social Council,Recalling its resolution 1987/70 of 8 July 1987, in which

it recommended that, after appropriate evaluation of theIndustrial Development Decade for Africa, the procla-mation of a second decade should be considered in orderto accelerate further the industrialization of Africa,

Noting resolution CM/RES.1188(XLIX) of the Councilof Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, inwhich the Council of Ministers urged the Industrial De-velopment Board of the United Nations Industrial De-velopment Organization to adopt an appropriate deci-sion with a view to the proclamation by the GeneralAssembly at its forty-fourth session of a second indus-trial developement for Africa,

Noting also Industrial Development Board decisionIDB.5/Dec. 7 of 6 July 1989, in which the Board recom-mended that the General Conference of the United Na-tions Industrial Development Organization request theGeneral Assembly to proclaim, at its forty-fourth ses-sion, a second industrial development decade for Africa,

Recalling also Economic and Social Council resolution1989/84 of 24 May 1989 on guidelines for internationaldecades in economic and social fields,

Noting that an independent evaluation of the im-plementation of the Industrial Development Decade forAfrica has been completed by a team of experts,

Taking note of resolution 656(XXIV) of 7 April 1989of the Conference of Ministers of the Economic Com-mission for Africa,

Noting that the Conference of Ministers invited theConference of African Ministers of Industry at its ninthmeeting to examine the report on the evaluation of theimplementation of the Decade and present its views onthe modalities of launching a second decade for submis-sion to the General Assembly at its forty-fourth sessionthrough the Economic and Social Council and the In-dustrial Development Board,

Having heard the statement made by the ExecutiveSecretary of the Economic Commission for Africa on10 July 1989,

1. Recommends that the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session consider proclaiming the period 1991-2000the second industrial development decade for Africa;

2. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultationwith the Director-General of the United Nations Indus-trial Development Organization, to submit to theGeneral Assembly at its forty-fourth session proposals,with cost estimates, for the preparation of the pro-gramme for the second industrial development decade

for Africa, taking into account resolution 2(IX) of31 May 1989 of the Conference of African Ministers ofIndustry.

Economic and Soc ia l Counc i l r e so lu t ion 1989 /11528 July 1989 Meeting 37 Adopted without vote

Approved by First Committee (E/1989/142) without vote, 20 July (meeting24); draft by Ethiopia for ECA Conference of Ministers (E/1989/C.1/L.4),based on recommendation in report of Secretary-General (E/1989/96) andorally revised: agenda item 6.

Repor t o f the Secre ta ry-Genera l . As reques tedby Economic and Soc i a l Counc i l r e s o l u t i o n1989/115, on 29 November the Secretary-Generalsubmitted a report(27) of cost estimates for thepreparation of the programme for the second in-dustrial development decade for Africa to theGeneral Assembly, including a timetable for thepreparatory phase and detailed activities.


On 22 December 1989, on the recommendationof the Second (Economic and Financial) Commit-tee, the General Assembly adopted reso lu t ion44/237 without vote.

Second Industrial Development Decade for AfricaThe General Assembly,Recalling its resolution 35/66 B of 5 December 1980

on the Industrial Development Decade for Africa,Recalling Economic and Social Council resolution

1987/70 of 8 July 1987, in which the Council recom-mended that, after appropriate evaluation of the Indus-trial Development Decade for Africa, the proclamationof a second decade should be considered in order to ac-celerate further the industrialization of Africa,

Recalling also resolution AHG/Res.180(XXV), adoptedby the Assembly of Heads of State and Government ofthe Organization of African Unity at its twenty-fifth or-dinary session, held at Addis Ababa from 24 to 26 July1989, on the proclamation of a second industrial devel-opment decade for Africa and on an Africa industriali-zation day,

Taking note of Economic and Social Council resolution1989/115 of 28 July 1989 on the proclamation of a sec-ond industrial development decade for Africa,

Welcoming Industrial Development Board decisionIDB.5/Dec.7 of 6 July 1989 on the Industrial Develop-ment Decade for Africa, in which the Board recom-mended that the General Conference of the UnitedNations Industrial Development Organization shouldrequest the General Assembly to proclaim a second in-dustrial development decade for Africa,

Welcoming also resolution GC,3/10 of 23 November 1989of the General Conference of the United Nations In-dustrial Development Organizaiton on the second in-dustrial development decade for Africa,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-Generalon the preparation for the second industrial develop-ment decade for Africa (1991-2000), containing proposalsfor the preparation of the programme for the seconddecade,

1. Proclaims the period 1991-2000 the Second Indus-trial Development Decade for Africa;

2. Also proclaims 20 November Africa Industrializa-tion Day, for the purpose of mobilizing the commitment


of the international community to the industrializationof Africa;

3. Endorses the proposals of the Secretary-General,as contained in his report, on the participation of theUnited Nations, through the Economic Commission forAfrica, in the preparation of the programme for the Sec-ond Industrial Development Decade for Africa;

4. Requests the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations, in consultation with the Director-General ofthe United Nations Industrial Development Organiza-tion, the Secretary-General of the Organization of Afri-can Unity, the relevant subregional and regional eco-nomic groupings in Africa and the United Nationsbodies concerned, to make the necessary preparationsfor the Second Industrial Development Decade forAfrica and to submit to the General Assembly at itsforty-fifth session, through the Economic and SocialCouncil, a report on those preparations.

G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y r e s o l u t i o n 4 4 / 2 3 7

2 2 D e c e m b e r 1 9 8 9 M e e t i n g 8 5 A d o p t e d w i t h o u t v o t e

Approved by Second Committee (A/44/832/Add.1) without vote, 11 Decem-ber (meeting 49); draft by Vice-Chairman (A/C.2/44/L.74). based on in-formal consultations on draft by Kenya for African States (A/C.2/44/LK.46);agenda item 12.

Financial implications. 5th Committee, A/44/885; S-G. A/C.2/44/L.77,A/C.5/44/49.

Meeting Numbers. GA 44th session: 2nd Committee 15-17, 19, 20, 25, 29,31, 34, 41, 44, 46, 48, 49; 5th Committee 53, 57, 58; plenary 85.

Publ ic adminis t ra t ion and f inance

During 1989, ECA assisted member States in de-ve loping and implement ing programmes in pub-l ic adminis t ra t ion and management and in deve l -opment of budgetary and taxa t ion sys tems.

The ECA secretariat advised the African Centrefor Applied Research and Training in Social De-velopment in Tripoli, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, onchanges in its organization structure; collaboratedw i t h t h e G o v e r n m e n t o f U g a n d a i n r e v i e w i n gproblems of decent ra l iza t ion and in developingt r a i n i n g p r o g r a m m e s f o r s t a f f o f d e c e n t r a l i z e dunits of government; and assisted the Ministry ofLoca l Government in the Gambia in reorganiz -ing its local government structures. It assisted theManagement Serv ices and Tra in ing Depar tmentof the Federal Civil Service Commission in Nige-r ia to o rgan ize a na t iona l conference on humanresources development and utilization policy. ECA

also organized a series of training programmes andissued a number of technica l documents on pub-l ic adminis t ra t ion and management as wel l as ondevelopment of budgetary and taxa t ion sys tems.

Socia l development

E C A s o c i a l d e v e l o p m e n t s u b p r o g r a m m e s c o v -ered in tegra ted rura l deve lopment ; youth and so-c ia l wel fa re ; and in tegra t ion of women in deve l -opment. The fifth Conference of African Ministersof Social Affairs and its Intergovernmental ExpertG r o u p b o t h m e t a t A r u s h a f r o m 2 3 t o 2 8 O c -tober (4) . Two work ing documents covered soc ia ldeve lopment ac t iv i t i es be tween Apr i l 1985 and

September 1989 and summarized social trends andmajor soc ia l development problems in Afr ica . Arepor t on the impact o f rura l youth employmentprogrammes on rural development was presented,as was a report on juvenile delinquency, crime andjus t ice in the l ight of soc io-economic condi t ionsin Africa.(23)

The Conference of Minis te rs adopted a reso lu-tion on strengthening the capabilities of subregionaland regional structures for the integration of womenin development.(28) The inaugural meeting of theGoverning Council of the United Nations AfricanInstitute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treat-ment of Offenders (UNAFRI) was held in Kampala,Uganda , on 14 and 15 June .

The tenth meeting (Addis Ababa, 23-25 March)of the Afr ica Regional Co-ord ina t ing Commit teefor the Integration of Women in Development re-viewed regional perspectives for the advancementof women. The fourth Regional Conference on theIntegration of Women in Development (Abuja, Ni-ger ia , 6 -10 November ) resu l ted in publ ica t ion of“The Abuja Dec la ra t ion on Par t i c ipa to ry Deve l -o p m e n t : t h e R o l e o f W o m e n i n A f r i c a i n t h e1 9 9 0 s ” , a d o c u m e n t h i g h l i g h t i n g t h e e x t e n t t owhich the 1984 Arusha s t ra teg ies fo r women(29)h a d b e e n i m p l e m e n t e d .

Informat ion

The Regional Technical Committee for the Pan-Afr ican Documenta t ion and Informat ion Sys tem( P A D I S ) , a t i t s four th mee t ing (Addis Ababa , 23-25 March) , (30) cons idered i s sues re la ted to userneeds and to harmoniza t ion and s tandard iza t iono f d o c u m e n t a t i o n a n d i n f o r m a t i o n s y s t e m s a tECA-sponsored reg iona l and subreg iona l ins t i tu -t ions . I t d iscussed the proposed es tabl i shment ofthe Eas te rn and Southern Afr ican Documenta t ionand Informat ion Sys tem ( E S A D I S) a t Lusaka andthe Cent ra l Afr ican Documenta t ion and Informa-t i o n S y s t e m ( C A D I S ) a t K i n s h a s a , Z a i r e , a n ddecided to change the Sys tem’s t i t le to the Pan-A f r i c a n D e v e l o p m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m .

In a 7 Apr i l reso lu t ion , (31) the Conference ofMinis ters endorsed the Commit tee’s recommen-dations, called for financial support to PADIS andr e q u e s t e d t h e E x e c u t i v e S e c r e t a r y t o d e v e l o p asubprogramme on development informat ion sys-tems in Afr ica in the E C A medium-term plan for1 9 9 2 - 1 9 9 7 , i n c l u d i n g d e v e l o p m e n t a n d m a i n -tenance of da ta bases and a ne twork promot ingthe exchange of information among member Statesfor balanced and self-reliant African development.

PA D I S ac t iv i t i es inc luded de l ivery of t ra in ing ,advisory services and other forms of technical co-opera t ion for E C A member S ta tes on informat ionmanagement and deve lopment ; da ta base deve l -opment and ne twork bui ld ing; provis ion of userserv ices ; s tud ies and publ ica t ions ; and serv ic ing


of legislative and other meetings including expertgroups .

A d m i n i s t r a t i v e q u e s t i o n s

O n 7 A p r i l 1 9 8 9 , t h e E C A C o n f e r e n c e o fM i n i s t e r s e n d o r s e d a p r o p o s e d p r o g r a m m e o fwork and priorities for the biennium 1990-1991(32)inc luding addi t ions emanat ing f rom the M U L P O C

meet ings and the Conference of Minis ters .I n a r e s o l u t i o n o n a d r a f t m e d i u m - t e r m

plan , (33) the Conference dec ided to es tab l i sh anopen-ended ad hoc committee empowered to exam-ine the Executive Secretary’s draft proposals andt o m a k e r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s t o t h e S e c r e t a r y -Genera l on the Commiss ion’s behal f .

The Economic and Soc ia l Counci l adopted de-c i s i o n 1 9 8 9 / 1 8 4 , a c c e p t i n g t h e o f f e r o f t h eG o v e r n m e n t o f t h e L i b y a n A r a b J a m a h i r i y a t ohost the twenty-f i f th sess ion of E C A and the s ix-teenth meet ing of the Conference of Minis ters in1990 in Tripoli .

The Genera l Assembly endorsed the Commit -tee for Programme and Co-ord ina t ion recommen-dations(34) on ECA, asking the Secretary-Generalto prepare for the for ty- f i f th Assembly a p lan toreduce the current high vacancy rate in the Com-miss ion.


On 21 December, on the recommendation of theFifth (Administrative and Budgetary) Committee,the Assembly adopted reso lu t ion 44 /201 B, sec-t i o n V I I I , w i t h o u t v o t e .

Sec t ion 13 . Economic Commiss ion for Afr ica[The General Assembly ]1. Endorses the recommendations contained in Para-

graphs 181 to 183 of the report of the Committee forP r o g r a m m e a n d C o - o r d i n a t i o n a n d r e q u e s t s t h eSecretary-General to review the adequacy of resourcesfor the United Nations Programme of Action for Afri-can Economic Recovery and Development 1986-1990,and to intensify his efforts to reduce the currently highvacancy rate in the Economic Commission for Africa,including the preparation of a specific plan to that end,and to report thereon to the General Assembly at itsforty-fifth session;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to review the trans-lation and interpretation services for all official languagesin the Economic Commission for Africa, including thequestion of the retention of trained personnel and thepossibility of restoration of the Training Centre, and toreport on the results of this review to the General As-sembly at its forty-fifth session;

3. Decides that the post proposed by the Secretary-General for a Chief, Office Automation, in the Eco-nomic Commission for Africa should be an establishedpost in the programme budget for the biennium 1990-1991, and that the post of evaluation officer should berestored on a non-recurrent basis, subject to renewal;

4. Requests the Secretary-General to review the questionof the resources for the evaluation function in the regionalcommissions, prior to the preparation of the proposedprogramme budget for the biennium 1992-1993;

Genera l Assembly r e so lu t ion 44 /201 B . s ec t ion VI I I

2 1 D e c e m b e r 1 9 8 9 M e e t i n g 8 4 A d o p t e d w i t h o u t v o t e

Approved by Fifth Committee (A/44/905) without vote, 19 December (meet-ing 591: draft by Vice-Chairman (A/C.5/44/L.25); agenda item 123.

Meeting numbers. GA 44th session: 5th Committee 11-18, 27, 28, 59; ple-nary 84.

C o - o p e r a t i o n w i t h S A D C C

In an Augus t 1989 repor t on co-opera t ion be-t w e e n t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s a n d S A D C C , ( 3 5 ) r e -q u e s t e d b y a 1 9 8 7 G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y r e s o l u -t i o n , ( 3 6 ) t h e S e c r e t a r y - G e n e r a l r e p o r t e d aremarkable increase in activities in all SADCC pro-jec t sec tors except manpower development , wi thoverall total project costs of nearly $7.2 million asat August 1988, representing an increase of almost13 per cent. However, the gap in funding for thosecosts was still very substantial-about 50 per cent.

A t t he 1989 S A D C C Annual Consu l ta t ive Con-fe rence (Luanda , Angola , February) , d i scuss ionsconcent ra ted on rev iewing the guide l ines on or -ganization governing the relations between SADCC

and the UN sys tem. I t was agreed tha t the ro leo f w o m e n i n t h e S A D C C P r o g r a m m e o f A c t i o nshould be enhanced and that while efforts shouldcontinue to expand emergency assistance to front-line States, such fundraising should not adverselyaf fec t cont r ibut ions to the S A D C C Programme ofAct ion tha t addressed the long- term developmentneeds of member Sta tes .


On 22 December 1989, on the recommendationof the Second Commit tee , the Genera l Assemblyadopted reso lu t ion 44 /221 wi thou t vo te .

Co-operation between the United Nations andthe Southern African Development

Co-ordina t ion ConferenceThe General Assembly,Recalling its resolutions 37/248 of 21 December 1982,

38/160 of 19 December 1983, 39/215 of 18 December1984, 40/195 of 17 December 1985 and 42/181 of 11 De-cember 1987, in which it , inter a l i a , requested theSecretary-General to promote co-operation between theorgans, organizations and bodies of the United Nationssystem and the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference and urged intensification of con-tacts in order to accelerate the achievement of the ob-jectives of the Lusaka Declaration of 1 April 1980, by

which the Conference was established,Having considered the report of the Secretary-General

on co-operation between the United Nations and theConference,

Recalling the significant progress made by the Confer-ence in formulating concrete development programmesand in implementing them under its Programme of Action,


Reaffirming its recognition that successful implemen-ta t ion of these development programmes can bea c h i e v e d o n l y i f t h e C o n f e r e n c e h a s a d e q u a t eresources at its disposal,

Concerned that the gap that still exists between theneeds and the resources available to the Conferencecontinues to widen,

Deeply concerned about the critical economic and secu-rity situation in southern Africa and the particularlydifficult environment for regional co-operation causedby acts of destabilization committed by South Africa,

Reaffirming that increased self-reliance by Statesmembers of the Conference would contribute to thestruggle against the apartheid policies of South Africa,

Noting the progress made by some organs, organiza-tions and bodies of the United Nations system inworking out mechanisms for formulating and execut-ing co-operation programmes with the Conference,

1. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General,which describes the progress made in the implementa-tion of the resolutions of the General Assembly deal-ing with co-operation between the United Nations andthe Southern Afr ican Development Co-ord ina t ionConference;

2. Commends the Member States and organs, or-ganizations and bodies of the United Nations systemthat have extended concrete assistance to the Confer-ence and expresses appreciation to those which haveestablished contacts and relationships with it;

3. Calls upon the Member States and organs, or-ganizations and bodies of the United Nations systemthat have not yet established contact and relationshipswith the Conference to explore the possibility of doingso;

4. Commends the Conference for the considerableachievements it has made since its founding in imple-menting projects covering all the major sectors of co-operation, in spite of difficulties due to destabilizationpolicies of the South African régime and its acts of ag-gression agains t the Sta tes members of the Con-ference;

5. Renews its appeal to the international communityto increase substantially its financial, technical andmaterial support to the Conference in order to enableit to implement fully its expanding programmes;

6. Appeals to the specialized agencies and other or-gans and organizations of the United Nations systemto continue to co-operate fully in the development pro-grammes of the Conference;

7. Welcomes the impending independence of Na-mibia, which will bring additional possibilities for ex-panded economic co-operation in southern Africa;

8. Also welcomes the ongoing peace initiatives by theGovernments of Angola and Mozambique to end vio-lence in these two Member States, and urges the inter-national community to assist in the reconstruction oftheir economies;

9 . Inv i tes the donor communi ty and o ther co-operating partners to participate at a high level in theSouthern African Development Co-ordination Con-ference Annual Consultative Conference, to be held atLusaka from 31 January to 2 February 1990;

10. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultationwith the Executive Secretary of the Southern AfricanDevelopment Co-ordination Conference, to continueto intensify contacts aimed at promoting and har-

monizing co-operation between the United Nationsand the Conference;

11. Also requests the Secretary-General to report tothe General Assembly at its forty-sixth session on theimplementation of the present resolution.


22 December 1989 Meeting 85 Adopted without voteApproved by Second Committee (A/44/746/Add.6) without vote, 11 De-

cember (meeting 49); 28-nation draft (A/C.2/44L.56), orally revised:agenda item 82 (e).

Meeting numbers. GA 44th session: 2nd Committee 43, 44, 46, 49; ple-nary 85.

REFERENCES(1)E/1989/35. (2)YUN 1986, p. 446, GA res. S-13/2, annex, 1June 1986. (3)E/ECA/CM.15/47. (4)E/ECA/CM.16/2.(5)E/1990/53. (6)E/1989/35 (res. 668 (XXIV)). (7)Ibid. (res.671(XXIV)). (8)YUN 1988, p. 269. (9)YUN 1988, p. 319, GAres. 43/182, 20 Dec. 1988. (10)A/44/315. (11)YUN 1988, p. 279,GA res, 43/27, 18 Nov. 1988. (12)E/1989/35 (res. 669(XXIV)).(13)YUN 1987, p.392, GA res. 42/177, 11 Dec. 1987. (14)YUN1979, p. 636. (15)YUN 1987, p. 661, GA res. 42/186, 11Dec. 1987. (16)Ibid. p. 679, GA res. 42/187, 11 Dec. 1987.(17)E/ECA/TCD/66. (18)YUN 1988, p. 273. (19)YUN 1988,p. 276, GA res. 43/179, 20 Dec. 1988. (20)A/44/255-E/1989/62.(21)E/1989/58. (22)YUN 1987, p. 520, ESC res. 1987/69, 8 July1987. (23)E/1990/42. (24)YUN 1980. p. 548. (25)E/ECA/CM.15/21. (26)E/1989/35 (res. 670(XXIV)). (27)A/44/842.(28)E/1989/35 (res. 666(XXIV)). (29)YUN 1984, p. 618.(30)E/ECA/CM.15/25. (31)E/1989/35 (res. 658(XXIV)). (32)Ibid.

(35)A/44/374. (36)YUN 1987. p. 531. GA res. 42/181. 11(res. 675(XXIV)). (33)Ibid. (res. 674(XXIV)). (34)A/44/16.

Dec. 1987.

Asia and the Pacific

The forty-fifth session of the Economic and So-cial Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, from 27 March to5 April, had as its theme, “Restructuring the de-veloping economies of Asia and the Pacific in the1990s”. Five resolutions were adopted.(1)

A r e s o l u t i o n o n r e g i o n a l s o c i a l d e v e l o p m e n tstrategy towards the year 2000 and beyond(2) urgedthe E S C A P Execut ive Secre ta ry to incorpora te thethemes of distributive justice, poverty eradicationand popular participation in the strategy. Carefulconsideration was asked for the topics of the fam-ily in development and of drug abuse in implemen-tation of the 1988 Jakarta Plan of Action on HumanResources Development in the ESCAP region.(3) TheCommission also requested its Executive Secretaryto pursue, within existing resources, establishmento f a d e p o s i t o r y c e n t r e f o r U N h u m a n r i g h t smaterials(4) and welcomed designation of the ESCAP

Social Development Division as a regional focal pointon human rights. In another resolution, on regionalsupport for International Literacy Year,(5) all mem-bers and associate members were urged to partic-ipate actively in the World Conference on Educa-


t i o n f o r A l l - M e e t i n g B a s i c L e a r n i n g N e e d s ,p lanned fo r Bangkok in 1990 .

Regard ing an in tegra ted p rogramme on ru ra ldevelopment,(6) ESCAP stressed the need to allocateresources fo r ru ra l pover ty a l lev ia t ion . Membersand associates were invited to accord priority alsoto natural disaster reduction and mitigation in theirnational development plans.(7)

I n a m e s s a g e t o E S C A P , t h e U N S e c r e t a r y -Genera l dec la red tha t improved growth per form-ance of the industrial nations during 1988 had helpedto stimulate the general economic recovery and im-prove the performance of most developing coun-tries of the Asian and Pacific region. But, for many,the debt burden continued to impede developmentefforts and a number of countries, particularly theleast developed and Pacific island countries, hadnot regis tered s igni f icant economic growth , con-tinuing to require special support measures and as-sistance. He considered the Commission’s discussionon res t ruc tur ing the deve loping E S C A P economiesin the 1990s mos t t imely ; implementa t ion of theJakarta Plan of Action and the Tokyo Programmeon Technology for Development in Asia and thePacific(8) was of particular significance, he added.

In a policy statement, the ESCAP Executive Secre-tary said that while the region’s average growth hadincreased to 8 per cent in 1988, there had been in-sufficient recognition of the growth disparity be-tween the dynamic and the less resilient develop-ing member countries, causing exaggeration of overallregional progress. Although he was optimistic aboutthe region’s future, absolute poverty still affected600 million people, and about 85 per cent of thedeveloping region’s population had very low averageper capita incomes. Although the Substantial NewProgramme of Action for the 1980s for the LeastDeveloped Count r ies had been adopted as an in-ternational rescue effort, the extremely low livingconditions in most member least developed coun-tries had sunk even lower during the disappoint-ing decade. With the threatened collapse of the Uru-guay Round(9) o f mul t i l a t e ra l t r ade nego t ia t ionsbecause of disputes between the industrial nations,developing member countries, especially those moreexport-oriented, should consider asserting their eco-nomic rights and responsibilities more forcefully.At the same time, the region should look more toitself for sources of growth. He pointed to the poten-t ia l benef i t s of growing reg ional complementar i -ties and interdependence to augment export earningsand fuel growth impulses. It was advisable, how-ever, to supplement existing regional credit and mar-ket ing mechanisms.

E c o n o m i c a n d s o c i a l t r e n d s

Although the regional growth of developing econ-omies was notably less dependent upon the growth

of industrial countries at the end of the 1980s. theslow-down of the world economy in 1989 considerablyaffected the overall growth rate, which had fallento 6.1 per cent in 1989, compared with 9.2 per centin 1988, it was reported in the Economic and SocialSurvey of Asia and the Pacific 1989(10) and a later sum-mary.(11) This was largely explained, it went on,by the weakening of the stimulus that developingeconomies of the region had received in the sec-ond ha l f o f the 1980s : the prev ious ly dec l in ingUni ted S ta tes do l la r s t reng thened in 1989 , in te r -national interest rates rose instead of falling, andoi l p r ices f i rmed up .

Deceleration of growth rates was more markedin the economies of East and South Asia than inthose of South-East Asia, where growth rates re-mained close to the high rates of the previous twoyears . China and the newly indus t r ia l iz ing econ-omies of Eas t As ia sharp ly dece le ra ted in 1989from double-digit growth rates in previous years,wi th China’s ra te s tanding a t 6 .5 per cen t com-pared to 11.4 per cent in 1988. Hong Kong’s econ-omy, the growth rate of which had already in 1988fallen to 7.4 per cent from 13.8 per cent in 1987,f u r t h e r d e c e l e r a t e d i n 1 9 8 9 t o 5 p e r c e n t . T h egrowth rate of the Republic of Korea deceleratedto 6.5 per cent from 11.3 per cent in 1988.

I n S o u t h - E a s t A s i a , I n d o n e s i a ’ s g r o w t h p e r -formance improved f rom 5 .7 per cen t in 1988 to6.2 per cent in 1989, as a result of the continuedsuccessfu l economic d ivers i f ica t ion to reduce o i land gas dependency . Malays ia sus ta ined a ra teclose to the 7.8 per cent of 1988. In Thailand, rapidgrowth in manufac tur ing expor t s and an inves t -ment boom suppor ted by la rge fore ign d i rec t in-ves tment inf lows were major fac tors in i t s be ingone of the region’s fas tes t growing economies in1989, although the growth rate was expected to beabout 1 per cent below the 11 per cent growth of1988. The economies of the Philippines and Sin-gapore decelerated somewhat in 1989, the former’sgrowth rate falling to 5.7 per cent from 6.3 per centin 1988. Viet Nam's economy improved consider-ab ly in 1988 , wi th na t iona l income growing a t5.9 per cent compared to 2.1 per cent in 1987, ana p p a r e n t r e s p o n s e t o t h e G o v e r n m e n t ’ s r e c e n tliberalization policies.

In South Asia, India’s rate of economic growthdec l ined to an es t imated 4 .5 per cen t f rom 10 .6per cent in 1988. Pakistan’s growth decelerated to5.1 per cent from 6.2 per cent in 1988. It had hadan average rate of 6.8 per cent between 1985 and1988 as a result of efforts to contain high fiscal andbalance-of -payments def ic i t s . In Sr i Lanka , con-tinued political problems, a decline in foreign as-sistance and worsening terms of foreign trade hadresulted in the slowed growth since 1987, but in1989 a 3.21 per cent expansion was expected, com-pared wi th 2 .7 per cen t the year before .


Among the region’s leas t developed count r ies ,A f g h a n i s t a n ’ s g r o s s d o m e s t i c p r o d u c t ( G D P )declined 6.8 per cent in 1988 owing to sharp fallsin agricultural and industrial production. In Ban-g ladesh , the rea l GDP growth ra te dec l ined f roma 4.3 per cent average in 1986-1987 to 2.6 per centin 1988 and an estimated 2.4 per cent in 1989 dueto devastating floods in 1987 and 1988.

Bhutan and Maldives were the two least devel-oped countries which had achieved relatively highra tes of g rowth in recent years , the former a t an8 . 7 p e r c e n t c o m p o u n d r a t e o f r e a l e c o n o m i cg r o w t h b e t w e e n 1 9 8 0 a n d 1 9 8 7 . S p u r r e d b ys i g n i f i c a n t g r o w t h i n f i s h e r y a n d t o u r i s m , t h eMaldives GDP grew 13.9 per cent in 1987, moder-a t i n g t o 8 . 7 p e r c e n t i n 1 9 8 8 . M y a n m a r ' s G D P

grew 3.2 per cent in 1988, improving on 2.3 perc e n t i n 1 9 8 7 . N e p a l s u f f e r e d a d e c e l e r a t i o n i nGDP growth to 1 .5 pe r cen t in 1989 , comparedwith 9.7 per cent in 1988.

Many South Paci f ic economies per formed wel li n 1 9 8 9 , w i t h F i j i a n t i c i p a t i n g a d o u b l e - d i g i tg r o w t h r a t e . H o w e v e r , P a p u a N e w G u i n e a , t h elargest island country of the region, stagnated afteri t s minera l p roduc t ion was d i s rup ted by c losureof its largest mining complex in Bougainville. TheSolomon Islands achieved a 5 per cent growth ratein 1988 , revers ing a wea ther - re la ted dec l ine of3 per cent in 1987.

Agr icu l ture remained the pr ime sec tor in mostof the reg ion’s developing economies . The sharpd r o p i n a g r i c u l t u r a l g r o w t h - t o a r o u n d 2 . 8 p e rcen t in 1989 f rom abou t 7 .3 pe r cen t in 1988-was due to weather - re la ted uncer ta in t ies , p r icechanges in the wor ld marke t and pol icy- inducedchanges , and was a major fac tor in modera t ingovera l l economic growth .

The region’s industrial progress was significantby the end of the 1980s, with many countries at-t e m p t i n g , t h r o u g h r e s t r u c t u r i n g a n d p o l i c y r e -forms, to consol ida te and sus ta in the i r momen-tum. There was cons iderable d ivers i ty , however ,in industrial growth rates. China exercised govern-ment restraints to bring its industrial growth ratedown to around 10 per cent in 1989 from 2.07 percent in 1988, in order to maintain price stabilityand consolidate growth. In the Republic of Korea,from an annual rate of 16.8 per cent during 1985-89 , manufac tu r ing ou tpu t g rowth fe l l d ras t i ca l lyi n 1 9 8 9 d u e t o f r e q u e n t w o r k s t o p p a g e s , r a p i dwage increases and apprec ia t ion of the cur rency .The least developed countries of the region, witht h e i r n a r r o w i n d u s t r i a l b a s e , r e m a i n e d w e a k .Manufac tur ing cont r ibu ted on ly 8 percen t to theGDP of Bangladesh and grew at an average 4 percen t dur ing the 1980s . Nepa l ’ s indus t ry , main lyl igh t manufac tu r ing , had s t agna ted s ince 1988 .

Fore ign t rade in the reg ion’s developing econ-omies slowed after two years of rapid growth, with,

as in 1988 , many count r ies ’ impor t s inc reas ingf a s t e r t h a n e x p o r t s . I n t h o s e c o u n t r i e s , t h i swidened the t rade def ic i t ; though in a few coun-t r ies , such as the Republ ic of Korea , i t reducedthe surplus. The least developed and small islandeconomies continued to face relatively large deficitsin the i r t rade and payment ba lances , a l though ins o m e c a s e s i m p r o v e m e n t s h a d b e e n a c h i e v e din 1988 largely through moderate import growth.

A d m i n i s t r a t i v e c o n t r o l s o n p r o d u c t i o n , t r a d eand investment activities were being liberalized inmany of the region’s developing countries. Fiscaland monetary policies and measures tended to as-s u m e g r e a t e r i m p o r t a n c e i n e c o n o m i c m a n a g e -ment and s tab i l iza t ion as wel l as in developmen-tal functions of resource mobilization, investmentstimulation and resource allocation. Their role re-mained important in serving social objectives, suchas g rea te r d i s t r ibu t iona l equ i ty .

Tota l government expendi ture as a p ropor t ionof GDP varied widely, the survey said, from 12 percen t in Hong Kong to 34 per cen t in Sr i Lanka .No major changes had occur red in recen t yearsi n g o v e r n m e n t s h a r e s o f G D P . R e v e n u e s h a r e swere generally lower than expenditure shares, al-though in some cases the share of expenditures hadtended to dec l ine , re f lec t ing pol ic ies in tended tol imi t the Government’s ro le in the economy andreduce budgetary def ic i t s . Many economies madesuccessful efforts in the 1980s to attain fiscal sys-t e m a d j u s t m e n t t h r o u g h p u b l i c e x p e n d i t u r e r a -t iona l iza t ion and tax s t ruc ture re form.

Leas t developed and i s land economies

The leas t deve loped and Pac i f ic i s lands coun-t r ies shared severa l bas ic common denominatorsof underdevelopment, setting them apart from them a i n s t r e a m o f t h e d e v e l o p m e n t p r o c e s s i n t h eESCAP developing region. Those included: low percapi ta income; the predominant share of subs is -tence activities and limited contribution of indus-trial output to GDP or net material product (NMP );h igh unemployment or d isguised unemployment ;and genera l ly poor ind ica tors o f l i fe qua l i ty ( in -fan t mor ta l i ty , adu l t l i t e racy , nu t r i t iona l l eve l s ,hea l th care , access to safe water , hous ing s tand-ards, among others). Historical factors and signif-icant inflows of capital and remittances largely ac-counted for improved performance of some Pacifici s land count r ies .

A combinat ion of h ighly d i f f icu l t developmentcondi t ions and cons t ra in ts impacted adverse ly ont h e p a c e a n d p a t t e r n s o f e c o n o m i c g r o w t h a n ds t r u c t u r a l t r a n s f o r m a t i o n . W i t h f e w e x c e p t i o n so ther than Bhutan and Mald ives , the increase inaggrega te product ion and income was very s lowr e l a t i v e t o c o n s u m p t i o n a n d i n v e s t m e n t n e e d s ,par t icu la r ly in the la rger economies of the As ianleast developed and the Pacific island subregions.


Average growth rates in GDP/NMP , ranging mostlyfrom 2 per cent to 6 per cent annually during the1970s and the 1980s, were inadequate to producenoticeable improvement in local living standards.Economic growth in the Pacific islands slowed con-siderably in the 1980s, causing a deterioration orstagnation in personal income over a large part ofthe subregion .

T h e C o m m i s s i o n r e v i e w e d i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o fthe 1981 Substantial New Programme of Action forthe 1980s for the Least Developed Countries,(12)not ing tha t most of them had launched extens ivedevelopment programmes. However , lack of re -sources hindered them from achieving their goals,and i t was cons idered urgen t tha t an appropr ia teac t ion programme for the 1990s be fo rmula ted .

Socia l development

T h e u r b a n i z a t i o n p r o c e s s a n d i t s p r o b l e m sbrought sharp ly in to focus many of the reg ion’spressing social issues. Pushed by rural poverty andp u l l e d b y u r b a n o p p o r t u n i t i e s a n d a m e n i t i e s ,urban popula t ions were exper ienc ing a pro jec tedthreefo ld increase over 40 years - f rom 360 mi l -lion in 1960 to more than 1.2 billion by 2000. Alarge portion of all city dwellers were concentratedin a small number of large-sized cities, with Bang-kok, Bombay, Calcutta, Dhaka, Jakarta, Karachi,M a d r a s , M a n i l a , N e w D e l h i , S e o u l a n d S h a n g -hai developing into “mega-cities”. Most had morethan 5 million people by 1980, and were expectedto contain between 10 and 16 million by the turnof the century .

H e a l t h a n d n u t r i t i o n i m p r o v e m e n t s h a dresu l ted in most count r ies meet ing the averagem i n i m u m c a l o r i e r e q u i r e m e n t , l o w e r i n g i n f a n tmortality rates, increasing life expectancy and im-proving health services. But prevailing standardswere still far below those in some other regions.

An exper t group meet ing and a meet ing of se-nior officials on human resources development inthe reg ion were he ld in Bangkok in January .

E S C A P a c t i v i t i e s i n 1 9 8 9

ESCAP continued activities in a wide variety ofareas, including food and agriculture, the environ-ment, human settlements, trade and finance, tech-nology, sh ipping , t ranspor t and communica t ions ,popula t ion and na tura l d i sas te r s .

Three Commit tees he ld the i r f i r s t sess ions , a l lin Bangkok: the Committee on Development Plan-n ing and S ta t i s t i c s (24-28 Ju ly) ; the Commit teeon Indus t ry , Technology and Human Se t t l ements(11-15 September); and the Committee on Agricul-t u r e , R u r a l D e v e l o p m e n t a n d t h e E n v i r o n m e n t( 1 3 - 1 7 N o v e m b e r ) . T h e C o m m i t t e e o n N a t u r a lR e s o u r c e s a l s o m e t , i n i t s f i f t e e n t h s e s s i o n , a tBangkok (9 -13 Oc tober ) .

Agriculture and rural development

Commiss ion ac t iv i t ies focused on improvementof agricultural policies, planning and informations y s t e m s ; i n c r e a s i n g p r o d u c t i o n a n d i m p r o v i n gsupply, distribution, marketing and use of criticalfarm inputs through the services of the FertilizerAdvisory , Development and Informat ion Networkfor Asia and the Pacific and the agricultural req-u is i tes scheme for Asia and the Pac i f ic ; and in-tegrated rural development, with emphasis on thea l lev ia t ion of pover ty . The Commiss ion adopteda reso lu t ion(6) on an in tegra ted programme onrural development, asking for a report in 1991 ons t rengthening and implement ing an in te r -agencyco-ordinated plan of action and for the holding ofper iodic consul ta t ions wi th member count r ies toassess their needs for their poverty alleviation pro-grammes for d isadvantaged groups .

Meet ings , t ra in ing courses and seminars wereheld , cover ing such subjec ts as : fe r t i l i zer use inVie t Nam's sou thern reg ion ; in tegra ted rura l de-ve lopment ; por t handl ing of minera l fe r t i l i zers ;chemica l fe r t i l i zers impor t management ; sa te l l i t ec r o p m o n i t o r i n g ; t h e i m p a c t o f i n t e r n a t i o n a lagricultural price stability on primary producers;South Pac i f ic fe r t i l i zer sec tor development ; andsoc io-economic cons t ra in ts on rura l a rea use ofnew and renewable energy technologies .

Envi ronment

Work continued on ways to achieve environmen-ta l ly sound and sus ta inable deve lopment . In ac-c o r d w i t h a 1 9 8 8 C o m m i s s i o n r e s o l u t i o n , ( 1 3 )workshops, seminars and meetings took place on:soil conservation and soil salinity control; strength-ening a regional network of research and trainingcentres on desertification control in Asia and thePacific; environment integration into development;“greening” the development process ; s t rengthen-ing the conserva t ion and management of c r i t i ca lecosys tems; envi ronmenta l ly sound and sus ta in-a b l e d e v e l o p m e n t i n A s i a ; a n d d e s e r t i f i c a t i o ncont ro l .

H u m a n s e t t l e m e n t s

ESCAP's programme for human settlementsconcentrated in three major areas: integrated set-t lements pol ic ies and p lanning; development ofshe l te r , in f ras t ruc ture and land ; and s t imula t ionof ins t i tu t iona l capab i l i t i e s and publ ic par t i c i -p a t i o n . P r i o r i t y w a s a c c o r d e d t o t e c h n i c a l c o -operation among developing countries (TCDC) ac-t iv i t ies in se t t lement p lanning and development ;s t rengthening ins t i tu t iona l capabi l i t i es th roughtechnica l co-opera t ion ; and promot ion of publ icpar t ic ipa t ion in human se t t l ements f inanc ing anddevelopment . Encouragement and ass i s tance were


given for the formulation of shelter strategies to-wards the year 2000, as requested by the Commis-sion in 1988.(13)

Training courses, meetings and workshops wereorgan ized in : appropr ia te bu i ld ing mate r ia l s andcons t ruc t ion technology; management of humans e t t l e m e n t s ; h o u s i n g d e v e l o p m e n t a n d m a n a g e -m e n t ; d e v e l o p m e n t b u i l d i n g c o m p o n e n t s i n d u s -t r ies th rough appl ica t ion of upda ted modular co-o r d i n a t i o n r u l e s ; i n n o v a t i v e c o m m u n i t y - b a s e dhousing finance and credit systems for low-incomehouseholds; urban transport in Asia; housing ands e t t l e m e n t i m p r o v e m e n t ; l o c a l h o u s i n g p r o -g r a m m e s f o c u s i n g o n p a r t n e r s h i p b e t w e e n c i t yauthorities and people; low-income housing policyand appropr ia te t echnology; and women’s in i t i a -t ives for par t ic ipa tory deve lopment .

In te rna t iona l t r ade

A c t i v i t i e s i n t h e a r e a o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a d ecentred on its expansion, promotion and develop-ment, development of commodities of regional in-terest, and promotion of subregional, regional andin te r reg iona l t rade co-opera t ion . Technica l andt ra in ing ass i s tance in t rade fac i l i t a t ion was ex-tended to deve loping count r ies in co l labora t ionw i t h U N C T A D a n d t h e C u s t o m s C o - o p e r a t i o nCouncil. Special assistance to Pacific island coun-t r i e s i n t r a d e f a c i l i t a t i o n w a s p r o v i d e d p a r t l ythrough publ ica t ion of the Pac i f ic HaremonizedCustoms Tar i f f Schedule . Emphas is cont inued oneffective utilization of trade information for tradee x p a n s i o n t h r o u g h a p r o g r a m m e o f a c t i v i t i e sd r a w n u p f o r t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e R e g i o n a lT r a d e I n f o r m a t i o n N e t w o r k (T I S N E T ) . H i g h l ysought -a f te r publ ica t ions , inc lud ing t rade in for -m a t i o n g u i d e s a n d a s e r i e s o f c o u n t r y s p e c i f i ct raders ’ manua ls , were produced .

Other ac t iv i t ies inc luded meet ings , workshopsand seminars, such as those on: sericulture; tradepromot ion wi th Eas te rn European soc ia l i s t coun-t r ies ; smal l and medium enterpr i se expor t s ; andone for women execut ives on expor t market ing .The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Con-su l ta t ive Forum of Deve lop ing Tropica l T imberProduc ing /Expor t ing Count r ies was he ld in Ma-ni la , Ph i l ipp ines , in October .

Technology for development

Some E S C A P ac t iv i t i e s in 1989 were a imed a ts t r e n g t h e n i n g a n d e s t a b l i s h i n g a n i n s t i t u t i o n a linfrastructure for science and technology, strength-ening the technologica l capabi l i t i es of membersa n d a s s o c i a t e s , a n d m o n i t o r i n g m a j o r b r e a k -t h r o u g h s i n s c i e n c e a n d t e c h n o l o g y . T h o s e i n -c luded a T C D C exchange of s tudy v is i t s be tweenChina and Tha i land (March , Apr i l and May) onplanning , deve lopment and eva lua t ion of po l ic iesin science and technological development; a work-

shop in Minsk , USSR, in May-June on advancedmaterials technology and development; and an adhoc expert group meeting in Bangkok in Septem-ber on integration of women into technological de-velopment. The Governing Board of the Asian andPacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT)held its fourth session in Bangkok in November.The Governing Body of the Regional Network forAgricultural Machinery held its twelfth session inK h a t m a n d u , N e p a l , i n D e c e m b e r . O t h e r s e m i -nars , meet ings and workshops dea l t wi th e lec t r i -cal conservation in commercial and domestic sub-sec tors and wi th technologica l rehabi l i t a t ion ofsmal l foundry indus t r ies .

The Commission expressed general satisfactionwith the progress of implementation of the TokyoP r o g r a m m e o n T e c h n o l o g y f o r D e v e l o p m e n t i nAsia and the Pacific, noting the heightened aware-ness among pol icy p lanners and dec is ion makersof development based on science and technology.I t commended the cont r ibut ion of A P C T T to im-plement ing the Tokyo Programme and the f inan-c ia l suppor t p rovided by U N D P .

Transna t iona l corpora t ions

A seminar on t ransna t iona l corpora t ions f romdeveloping Asian count r ies was he ld in Bangkokin February. An expert group meeting on environ-menta l management of t ransna t iona l corpora t ionsin pol lu t ion- in tens ive indus t r ies in the E S C A P re-gion met, also in Bangkok, in May. Several pub-l i c a t i o n s w e r e c o m p l e t e d b y t h e E S C A P / U N C T C

Joint Unit on Transnational Corporations, includ-ing the Asia-Pacific TNC Review 1989 and The Socio-economic Impact of Transnational Corporations in the FastFood Industry. The Joint Unit completed its researchp r o j e c t o n e n v i r o n m e n t a l m a n a g e m e n t i npol lu t ion- in tens ive indus t r ies .

Shipping , t ranspor t and communica t ions

National efforts towards an integrated approachto medium- and long- te rm planning of the t rans-por t and communica t ions sec tor were suppor tedby ESCAP in 1989. The subjects of meetings, semi-n a r s a n d w o r k s h o p s i n c l u d e d : d e m o n s t r a t i o n o fcos t -e f fec t ive ra i lway s igna l l ing and te lecommu-nica t ion sys tem; in tegra ted t ranspor t p lanning;modern methods of te lecommunica t ion p lanning;t ranspor t energy conserva t ion and subs t i tu t ion ;computer ized wagon cont ro l sys tems; and how tospeed up met re gauge l ines in developing coun-tries. An Asian and Pacific Railway Co-operationG r o u p M e e t i n g m e t i n N e w D e l h i , I n d i a , i nNovember . The s ix th sess ion of the In tergovern-m e n t a l R a i l w a y G r o u p M e e t i n g t o o k p l a c e i nB a n g k o k i n N o v e m b e r a n d D e c e m b e r .

Training courses dealt with identifying railwayderailment causes in China; optimal standards ford e s i g n , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m a i n t e n a n c e o f r u r a l

Regional economic and soc ia l ac t iv i t ies 261

roads in humid a reas ; and op t imal s tandards ford e s i g n , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d m a i n t e n a n c e o f r u r a lroads in a r id and semi-ar id a reas .

Population

The Commission sought greater awareness con-cerning population aging, through generating pri-mary data in four countries in the region and de-ve loping pol icy and programme recommendat ionson ag ing . Inves t iga t ions were launched on in te r -r e l a t i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n u r b a n i z a t i o n , e c o n o m i cstructure and the role of migrant workers, partic-ularly women. An analytical study was begun onimplications of changes in the demographic situ-a t ion for the var ious aspec ts of human resourcesdevelopment .

The topics covered by some E S C A P -sponsoredmeet ings , seminars and workshops inc luded: in-te rac t ion be tween c l ien ts and grassroots fami ly-p lanning workers ; access ib i l i ty of cont racept ivemethods ; consequences of popula t ion changes inAsia ; urbaniza t ion and soc io-economic develop-m e n t i n t h e r e g i o n ; d a t a c o m m u n i c a t i o n s a n dm i c r o c o m p u t e r s f o r p o p u l a t i o n p r o g r a m m emanagers and policy makers; and family planningservice statistics analysis and interpretation usingmicrocomputers . Fe l lowships ass i s ted count r ieswith limited or no training facilities to develop acadre of manpower t ra ined in demography.

S ta t i s t i cs

Significant progress was made towards strength-en ing na t iona l s ta t i s t i ca l capab i l i t i e s . E S C A P ac-tivities in that area included seminars and train-ing courses on: employment and unemploymentstatistics; social statistics and indicators for chil-dren and women; sampl ing and household surveymethodology; computer-assisted coding; transportstatistics; projections for social and economic plan-ning; and managing national statistics services inthe 1990s.

Na tu ra l d i sas t e r s

The Commiss ion , in the context of the des ig-na t ion of the 1990 ' s as the In te rna t iona l Decadef o r N a t u r a l D i s a s t e r R e d u c t i o n , ( 1 4 ) a d o p t e d aresolution(7) urging Governments to designate ap-propr ia te mechanisms to implement , co-ord ina teand monitor activities related to reduction of nat-ural disasters such as cyclones, typhoons, floods,d r o u g h t s , l o c u s t i n f e s t a t i o n s , t s u n a m i s , e a r t h -quakes, landslides and volcanic eruptions. The Ex-ecutive Secretary of ESCAP was to set up appropri-a te a r rangements to ensure tha t the in te rsec tora lc h a r a c t e r o f n a t u r a l d i s a s t e r r e d u c t i o n w a sr e f l e c t e d i n a l l r e l e v a n t p r o g r a m m e a c t i v i t i e s .Prepara t ion of a p rac t ica l and in te r sec tora l p ro-gramme of ac t ion for the Decade a t the count ry

level was requested, as was a report to the Com-mission at its forty-sixth session in 1990.

O r g a n i z a t i o n a l q u e s t i o n s

On 28 July, the Economic and Social Council,i n r e s o l u t i o n 1 9 8 9 / 1 8 3 , d e c i d e d t h a t t h e C o m -miss ion’s for ty-s ix th sess ion should be he ld a tKua la Lumpur , Ma lays i a i n 1990 .

REFERENCES(1)E/1989/33. (2)Ibid. (res. 45/1). (3)YUN 1988, p. 282.(4)E/1989/33 (res.45/2). (5)Ibid. (res. 45/3). (6)Ibid. (res. 45/4).(7)Ibid. (res. 45/5). (8)YUN 1988, p. 286. (9)YUN 1986,p. 1210. (10)Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 1989,Sales No. E.90.II.F4. (11)E/1990/52. (12)YUN 1981, p. 406.(13)YUN 1988, p. 282. (14)YUN 1987, p. 459, GA res. 42/169,11 Dec. 1987.

Europe

The forty-fourth session of the Economic Com-mission for Europe (Geneva, 11-21 April 1989)1989)(1)took p lace as the na t ions of eas te rn Europe andthe Soviet Union moved at varying speeds towardspluralistic forms of governance and decentralizedmarket economies . The ongoing economic re formprocess in many centrally planned economies ac-celerated dramatically in 1989, together with po-litical change, creating new opportunities for en-hanced East-West regional economic co-operation.The in tegra t ion processes under way in Europeand Nor th Amer ica a t r eg iona l and subreg iona llevels also promised improved economic relation-ships in the 1990s.

D u r i n g t h e s e s s i o n , s o m e E C E m e m b e r s e x -pressed concern tha t in tegra t ion processes , suchas movement towards a s ing le marke t wi th in theE u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t y a n d f r e e t r a d e i n N o r t hAmerica, could divert trade away from current ex-ternal trading partners. Problems persisted in suchareas as protectionism in world trade, barriers totrade in advanced technology products, indebted-ness , and imbalance in cur ren t accounts of themajor indus t r ia l count r ies .

Environmental issues were considered to be in-c r e a s i n g l y i m p o r t a n t . M o r e t h a n e v e r , i n t e r n a -tional co-operation was seen as essential to avertand repa i r envi ronmenta l damage and to e f fec-tively confront global problems resulting from cli-mate change, ozone depletion, nuclear and indus-trial accidents, and disposal of hazardous waste.T h e a d o p t i o n ( 2 ) b y E C E o f t h e C h a r t e r o nG r o u n d - W a t e r M a n a g e m e n t ( 3 ) w a s c o n s i d e r e dnotewor thy .

In Apr i l , the Commiss ion adopted one reso lu-tion, on its work as a whole and its future activi-ties, again calling on member Governments to take


full advantage of the Commission’s potential as anins t rument for d ia logue , for s t rengthening eco-nomic re la t ions and for mul t i l a te ra l reg iona l co-operation.(4) In a decision brought to the Economicand Soc ia l Counci l ’ s a t ten t ion , the Commiss ionrecommended tha t e lec t ronic da ta in te rchange beused to facilitate international trade through world-wide application of UN/EDIFACT.(5)

Among other decis ions adopted were those on:c l i m a t e c h a n g e ; ( 6 ) s t a t i s t i c s ; ( 7 ) e n e r g y c o -opera t ion(8) ; ea r thquake p red ic t ion ; (9 ) Repor t o fthe World Commiss ion on Envi ronment and De-velopment; (10) follow-up of the World Conferenceto Review and Appra ise the Achievements of theUni ted Nat ions Decade for Women; (11) envi ron-m e n t a l p r o t e c t i o n a n d w a t e r r e s o u r c e s c o -operation;(12) air pollution;(13) evolution in dimen-s i o n s o f l o a d i n g u n i t s ; ( 1 4 ) t r a n s p o r t c o -operation;(15) economic co-operation in the Med-iterranean in the light of the Final Act of the Con-f e r e n c e o n S e c u r i t y a n d C o - o p e r a t i o n i n E u -rope ; (16) standardization and related activities;(17)eng ineer ing indus t r i es and au tomat ion ; (18) andanalysis of economic growth conditions: medium-and long- te rm economic prospec ts and i ssues . (19

E c o n o m i c t r e n d s

According to the summary of the economic sur-vey of Europe, 1989-1990,(20) economic perform-a n c e o f E C A m a r k e t e c o n o m i e s r e m a i n e d q u i t efavourable, although average expansion tended tobe moderate. In centrally planned economies, eco-nomic ac t iv i ty subs tan t ia l ly s lowed, tu rn ing tor e c e s s i o n i n s e v e r a l c o u n t r i e s . W h i l e p o l i t i c a lchange was of ten qui te rap id , economic ad jus t -ment was generally slower and the economic per-formance of Eastern European countries worsenedin 1989. Aggregate growth for the five reportingEastern European countries was only half of 1 percent. Apart from Czechoslovakia and the GermanDemocra t ic Republ ic , ou tpu t in Eas te rn Europefell or stagnated, contracting in absolute terms ina t l eas t two count r ies . In the Sovie t Union , ou t -p u t r o s e b y l e s s t h a n 2 . 5 p e r c e n t , d o w n f r o m4.5 per cent in 1988.

E a s t e r n E u r o p e a n e c o n o m i c p r o b l e m s w e r epar t ly respons ib le for , and compounded by , so-c ia l unres t , ranging f rom s t r ikes to la rge-sca lee m i g r a t i o n . P o l i c y - m a k e r s w e r e p r e o c c u p i e dwi th res tor ing soc ia l s tab i l i ty and implement ingeconomic s tab i l iza t ion programmes , which wereexpected to impose heavy burdens on the popu-la t ion for the immedia te fu ture . However , wi than emerging soc ia l consensus , formal economics t a b i l i z a t i o n p r o g r a m m e s w e r e b e i n g p u t i np lace . For the f i r s t t ime, Western marke t econ-omy count r ies s ta ted the i r wi l l ingness to suppor tthe reform process .

O u t p u t g r o w t h s l o w e d i n N o r t h A m e r i c a a n dremained broadly unchanged in Wes te rn Europe .T o t a l o u t p u t i n m a r k e t e c o n o m i e s a v e r a g e d agrowth rate of 3.5 per cent, compared with morethan 4 per cent in 1988. Business investment con-t inued to be the major dr iv ing force of domest icd e m a n d , b u t p r i v a t e c o n s u m p t i o n r e m a i n e dstrong. Domestic demand stimulated internationaltrade, making for considerable export and importgrowth. Western Europe’s employment growth wasabout 1 per cent; unemployment fell from 8.5 percen t in 1988 to a s t i l l h igh 8 per cen t . The em-ployment rate in the United States grew by 2 percent and, despi te an economic s low-down, unem-ployment fell to 5 per cent, the lowest rate since1973. Consumer prices rose somewhat faster thanin 1988, although the average increase in 1989 of4.5 per cent concealed a stabilization, or even de-celeration, in the second half of the year, helpedby the eas ing of non-oi l commodi ty pr ices and ares t r ic t ive monetary pol icy .

Eas t -West t rade showed a decrease in expor tsfor Eas te rn Europe and an increase in impor ts .In some count r ies , no tab ly Czechos lovakia andHungary, trade regime changes appeared to favourexpor t growth . Overa l l , expor ts s lowed by some3 per cent in the first nine months of 1989 and wereexpected to be lower still as political events affectedthe supply of exportables. Imports from the Westrose by 13 per cent in the first nine months of 1989,main ly re f lec t ing t rade l ibe ra l i za t ion in Hungaryand Poland . Impor t g rowth appeared to s low to-wards year’s end, reflecting efforts to improve cur-rent accounts or hold down the growth of foreigndebt, which rose by an aggregate net of $1.5 bil-l ion in 1989.

In the Soviet Union, export growth slowed sub-stantially, in part due to supply difficulties regard-ing fue ls and t ranspor t . Terms of t rade wi th theWest improved, owing to higher world fuel prices.There was nonethe less a repor ted sharp wideningi n t h e S o v i e t t r a d e d e f i c i t w i t h t h e W e s t - f r o msome $3 bill ion in 1988 to $6.5 bill ion. The cur-rent account deficit continued to worsen, increas-ing from $26.5 billion to $36.5 billion, in nominalterms.

The E C E secre ta r ia t examined the ques t ion ofw h e t h e r a n e w “ M a r s h a l l P l a n ” - t h e U n i t e dSta tes a id p rogramme to ass i s t war - ravaged Eu-rope a f te r the Second Wor ld War-would be ap-propr ia te now to ass i s t Eas te rn Europe . Despi tes o m e s i m i l a r i t i e s i n p r o b l e m s f a c i n g p o s t - w a rWestern Europe and those of Eas te rn Europe in1989, the differences in the basic economic struc-ture of the two economic systems, particularly theircapacity to absorb foreign financial aid, were seenas being so wide that it was concluded that a pro-gramme pa t te rned a f te r the Marsha l l P lan wouldb e i n a p p r o p r i a t e a t p r e s e n t . I n f a c t , w h e r e a s


Marsha l l P lan a id had cons is ted mos t ly of g ran taid, with a relatively small proportion of techni-cal assistance, that proportion might more usefullybe reversed with regard to Eastern European coun-t r i e s , g i v e n t h e n a t u r e o f t h e i r s t r u c t u r a lproblems-a lack of institutional infrastructure ap-propriate to a market economy. Also, the time re-qui red for Eas te rn programmes was seen as hav-i n g t o b e m u c h l o n g e r t h a n t h e e s t i m a t e d f o u ryears for which Marshall aid was originally com-mi t ted .

A proposal was also made to create, similar tothe Marsha l l P lan , a Cen t ra l European PaymentsUnion to p romote mutua l conver t ib i l i ty and thusfacilitate the transition of Eastern European coun-tries to a system of free trade and multilateral set-tlements. Close monitoring and review of both theWestern programmes and the Eastern reform pro-cess were considered especially important given thepreva i l ing uncer ta in t ies .

A c t i v i t i e s i n 1 9 8 9

Regional economic co-opera t ion

The Senior Economic Advisers to ECE Govern-ments (twenty-fifth session, Geneva, 13-17 Febru-ary) (21) exchanged in format ion on medium- andlong- term economic development in the E C E re-gion. The Executive Secretary of ECE, addressingthe meeting, underlined three complex issues: re-f o r m s i n t h e U S S R a n d m o s t c e n t r a l l y p l a n n e deconomies ; in tegra t ion processes in count r ies ofWeste rn Europe , Nor th Amer ica and the Counci lf o r M u t u a l E c o n o m i c A s s i s t a n c e ; a n d c o -ord ina t ion of na t iona l economic pol ic ies . Gener -ally agreed were the necessity of structural adjust-m e n t s i n m a r k e t e c o n o m i e s a n d , i n c e n t r a l l yplanned economies , re forms to modernize p lan-n ing and management sys tems. The Senior Eco-nomic Advisers agreed that the secretariat’s workon a data base and macro-economic models shouldbe continued as a long-term effort. Special atten-tion was given to analysis of growth conditions for1991-1995.

Co-opera t ion among Medi te r ranean count r ies

By an April decision,(16) the Executive Secre-tary was asked to continue co-operation with theExecut ive Secre ta r ies of E C A and the Economicand Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)and other relevant UN bodies and to pursue con-t a c t s w i t h n o n - E C E M e d i t e r r a n e a n c o u n t r i e s o nsubjec ts of common in teres t wi th in E C E 's compe-tence . Non-E C E Medi te r ranean count r ies par t i c -ipa ted in E C E meet ings on agr icu l tu re , e lec t r icpower, gas, steel, timber, trade and transport. TheExecutive Secretary was to report on possible co-opera t ion in envi ronmenta l p ro tec t ion .

International trade

The Commit tee on the Development of Trade(thirty-eighth session, Geneva, 4-8 December)(22)continued to review recent and prospective trends,policies and problems affecting interregional andintraregional trade, particularly in the context ofeconomic and pol i t i ca l changes tak ing p lace inmany count r ies of the reg ion . I t examined Eas t -West trade in services, analysing developments andprospec t ive t rends , and reques ted informat ion oneffor t s requi red by E C E member count r ies to ex-tend and improve the existing data base on East-West service transactions. In a decision on statis-t ics , (7) the Commit tee sugges ted a jo in t meet ingof experts with the Conference of European Statis-ticians to discuss East-West trade statistics dispar-ities and to suggest means to improve internationalcomparabi l i ty . On compensa t ion t rade , the Com-mittee decided to convene a special meeting of ex-p e r t s i n 1 9 9 0 , o n b o t h g o v e r n m e n t a l a n d n o n -governmental levels, to consider countertrade ef-fec ts on smal l - and medium-s ized enterpr ises .

A seminar on indus t r ia l equipment leas ing inEast-West trade was held in September, which is-sued a report on development of market informa-t i o n a n d t e c h n i q u e s a n d i m p r o v e d b u s i n e s scontacts.(23)

Taking into consideration the successful Meet-ing of Exper ts on Eas t -West Jo in t Ventures he ldin Genoa , I t a ly , in March , the Commit tee askedfor an ECE study on conditions for promoting for-eign direct investment, including special economiczones, joint ventures and other forms of industrialco-opera t ion in the reg ion .

The Work ing Par ty on In te rna t iona l Cont rac tPrac t ices in Indus t ry met in June and Novemberand had before it drafts for a guide on legal aspectsof new forms of indus t r ia l co-opera t ion . I t ap-proved portions concerning international counter-purchase cont rac t s ; cons idered a dra f t t ex t dea l -i n g w i t h i n t e r n a t i o n a l b u y b a c k c o n t r a c t s ; a n ddecided that its next topic would be “legal aspectsof financing the new and developing forms of East-Wes t t r ade” .

The Work ing Par ty on Fac i l i t a t ion o f In te rna-t iona l Trade Procedures met in March and Sep-tember and adopted , fo r t r i a l use , a number ofU N / E D I F A C T messages re la ted to cus toms opera-tions. The Working Party planned to continue todevelop s tandard messages , to update i t s recom-mendat ions whenever necessary , and to promotepractical implementation world wide. (See above,E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a l C o u n c i l r e s o l u t i o n1 9 8 9 / 1 1 8 ) .

Transport

The Inland Transport Committee held its fifti-eth regular session (Geneva, 30 January-3 Febru-


ary)(24) and a special fifty-first session (2-10 Oc-tober).(25) During its regular session it discussedmeasures to s impl i fy in te rna t iona l t ranspor t andincrease efficiency. Analysis of traffic flows on traf-fic corridors aimed at establishing an intermodalapproach to transport within an international con-text was considered in light of economic and po-l i t i ca l deve lopments in Eas te rn Europe . The ap-plication and possible undating of all internationali n s t r u m e n t s p r e p a r e d u n d e r t h e C o m m i t t e e ’ sauspices was examined. The body endorsed thedecis ion to organize the f i r s t “ E C E Road Safe tyWeek” in 1990 as an effort to reduce traffic acci-dents . I t en t rus ted subordina te bodies wi th ques-t ions concern ing envi ronmenta l p roblems. (24)

Given the constant increase in transport of dan-gerous goods, the Committee decided to devote aspecial session to discussion of a draft conventionon civil liability for damage caused during carriageof dangerous goods by road, rail and inland navi-ga t ion vesse l s , (26) as a bas i s fo r adequa te andrapid compensa t ion to v ic t ims of damage causedduring the transport of such goods internationally.

Indus t ry

The twenty-second session of the Chemical In-dustry Committee (Geneva, 4-6 October)(27) com-ple ted i t s s tudy on membrane technology in thechemica l indus t ry . (28) I t endorsed repor t s f rommeet ings on aromat ic hydrocarbons , o le f ins , theper iod ic survey , the ra t iona l use of water in thec h e m i c a l i n d u s t r y , a n d s u b s t i t u t e s f o rt r ipolyphosphate in de tergents . Two new s tudieswere au thor ized: on engineer ing p las t ics and onrecycl ing of p las t ics in E C E member countr ies .Seminars were held on the use of electrical energyin the chemica l indus t ry and on the ro le of thechemica l indus t ry in envi ronmenta l p ro tec t ion .

T h e W o r k i n g P a r t y o n E n g i n e e r i n g I n d u s -t r i e s a n d A u t o m a t i o n ( n i n t h s e s s i o n , G e n e v a ,20-23 February) (29) endorsed repor t s on food-process ing machinery , inc luding packaging tech-niques ; s ta t i s t ics concern ing engineer ing indus-t r i e s a n d a u t o m a t i o n ; a n d n e w m e a n s f o r a i rp r o t e c t i o n i n e n g i n e e r i n g i n d u s t r i e s . I n f o r m a -t i o n f r o m a s e m i n a r o n c o m p u t e r - i n t e g r a t e dm a n u f a c t u r i n g w a s c o n s i d e r e d . I n A p r i l , t h eC o m m i s s i o n a p p r o v e d t h e C o m m i t t e e ’ s w o r kprogramme fo r 1989-1993 , (18) au thor iz ing con-t i n u e d w o r k i n l o w - w a s t e p r o c e s s i n g , t h e r e -h a b i l i t a t i o n o f e n g i n e e r i n g , a n d n e w m a t e r i a l sand the i r appl ica t ion in engineer ing indus t r ies .

T h e f i f t y - s e v e n t h s e s s i o n o f t h e S t e e l C o m -m i t t e e ( G e n e v a , 2 5 - 2 7 O c t o b e r ) ( 3 0 ) r e v i e w e drepor ts on shor t - and medium-term t rends in thesteel market and relevant industry statistical data.It discussed and endorsed the reports of meetingson the steel market and steel statistics, technicala n d e c o n o m i c a s p e c t s o f c o a t e d s t e e l p r o d u c t s

m a n u f a c t u r e a n d a p p l i c a t i o n , r e c u p e r a t i o n a n deconomic utilization of iron and steel industry by-products , and i ron and s tee l indus t ry impor tancefor the economic ac t iv i t ies of member count r ies .Work cont inued on the Annua l Bul le t in o f Euro-pean Steel Statistics and the Bulletin of Statisticsof World Steel Trade. A seminar was held on eco-nomic and technical aspects of iron and steel in-d u s t r y m o d e r n i z a t i o n i n P o l a n d i n M a y . T h eCommit tee , in adop t ing i t s 1990-1994 work p ro-g r a m m e , w a s t o c o n t i n u e w o r k o n s e m i n a r s o nt e c h n i c a l a n d e c o n o m i c a s p e c t s o f c o a t e d s t e e lp r o d u c t m a n u f a c t u r e a n d a p p l i c a t i o n a n d o nusers ’ meta l lu rg ica l requi rements in the weld ingof steel products, as well as a study on steel prod-uc t qua l i ty and maximum u t i l i za t ion o f sc rap .

Energy resources

Fol lowing a dec is ion taken by the Senior Ad-v i s e r s t o E C E G o v e r n m e n t s o n E n e r g y a t t h e i rsixth (1988) session,(31) a Preparatory Meeting forthe S tudy on the In te r re la t ionship be tween En-v i r o n m e n t a l a n d E n e r g y P o l i c i e s t o o k p l a c e i nMay 1989 . (32) The Sympos ium on the Opt imumUse of Pr imary Resources in Meet ing F ina l Hea tDemand was he ld in June in Prague . A Prepara -tory Meet ing for a Symposium on Energy Eff i -c i e n c y M e a s u r e s i n I n d u s t r y w a s h e l d i nNovember .

The Coal Commit tee he ld i t s e ighty- f i f th ses-sion from 30 October to 2 November,(33) focusingon the reg ion’s genera l energy problems. Workc o m m e n c e d o n a u n i f o r m c o d e o f p r a c t i c e s f o rdraught survey techniques and equipment specifi-cations for determining the weight of bulk coal car-r ie rs . The meet ing a lso reviewed the recommen-d a t i o n s o f a s y m p o s i u m o n f o r e c a s t i n g a n dprevent ion of rockburs t s and sudden outburs t s o fcoa l , rock and gas .

The for ty-seventh sess ion of the Commit tee onElectric Power (Geneva, 6-9 February)(34) exam-i n e d p r o b l e m s o f p l a n n i n g a n d o p e r a t i n g l a r g epower sys tems, the re la t ionship be tween e lec t r i -city and the environment, implications of climaticchange, and East-West and Balkan electric powerinterconnections. A seminar on new developmentsin geothermal energy was held in May in Turkey.Preparations continued for a 1990 seminar in Iassi-M o l d a v i a , R o m a n i a , o n t h e r a t i o n a l u s e o felectricity.

The thirty-fifth session of the Committee on Gas(Geneva , 16 -19 January ) (35) examined genera lenergy problems in the region, as well as medium-and long-term prospects, and reviewed expert-levelwork on gas statistics, resources, production, usea n d d i s t r i b u t i o n . A s y m p o s i u m o n c u r r e n t d e -ve lopments and t rends in underground s torage ofnatural gas and liquid petroleum gas was held inPar i s (29 May-2 June) . P repara t ions were made


for a symposium on the use of computers in thegas indus t ry . P lans were made for a symposium,in co-operation with ESCWA and ECA, on long-termprospects of gas market developments in the respec-tive regions and another on use of isotopes in nat-ura l gas p rospec t ing .

W a t e r

In Apr i l , E C E ado ted the Char te r on Ground-Water Management (2) on the recommendat ion ofthe Senior Advisers. The Charter underlined thatground water should be recognized as a commoditywith economic and ecological value. Governmentswere called on to formulate and implement long-term policies to protect ground water as a naturalresource by preventing pollution and over-use bothat national and international levels. Ground-waterpolicies should co-ordinate legal, administrative,regulatory and economic instruments with the bestava i lab le t echnolog ies and educa t ion , and publ icinformation should be made available to increaseawareness of inherent ground-water problems ands t rengthen in te rna t iona l co-opera t ion , the Char -te r s ta ted .

The E C E Senior Advisers a l so cont inued workon a code of conduct on accidental pollution of trans-boundary inland waters and formulated recommen-dations on waste-water treatment, liability in caseof accidental pollution and an ecosystems approachto water management. They analyzed current andfuture prospects for water resources utilization andpollution control in the region, and established atask force on the application of environmental impactassessment pr inc ip les to pol ic ies , p lans and pro-grammes, producing a final report with draft recom-m e n d a t i o n s .

The Advisers endorsed recommendations to ECE

Governments on dam safety, with an emphasis onsmall dams,(36) and held a joint symposium, withthe Commit tee on Agr icu l tura l Problems, on im-proving i r r iga t ion prac t ices to preserve and pro-tec t water resources and increase c rop y ie lds .

Agriculture and timber

T h e f o r t i e t h s e s s i o n o f t h e C o m m i t t e e o nAgricultural Problems (Geneva, 6-10 March)(37)rev iewed repor t s on t rade and commodi t ies ; Eu-r o p e a n t r a d e i n a g r i c u l t u r a l p r o d u c t s ; a n d t h emarke t s i tua t ion fo r g ra ins , l ives tock and mea t ,dairy products and eggs. It adopted its 1989-1993work programme, re launch ing work on agr icu l -t u r e o u t p u t a n d i n p u t s a l l o w i n g f o r c o m m o npresentation of country data irrespective of socio-economic differences. Meetings were held to con-sider standardization of porcine and bovine meat,n e w a n d n o n - c o n v e n t i o n a l f e e d s i n r u m i n a n tnutrition, and improved irrigation practices to pre-s e r v e a n d p r o t e c t w a t e r r e s o u r c e s a n d i n c r e a s e

crop yields. A technical draft report was preparedon modern possibilities of genetic engineering forthe se lec t ion of agr icu l ture p lan ts .

The for ty-seventh sess ion of the Timber Com-mittee (Geneva, 9-13 October)(38) completed stud-ies on long- term developments in the USSR andin North America. Preparations were going aheadfor the fifth in the same series of studies, on Eu-ropean t imber t rends and prospec ts to the year2000 and beyond. The 1990-1994 work programmewas approved. A study, sponsored by the Commit-tee and the International Tropical Timber Organi-za t ion ( ITTO) , was pub l i shed on European t radeand marke ts for t rop ica l hardwoods .

S e m i n a r s w e r e h e l d i n F i n l a n d o n t r a i n i n gprofessional forest workers; in Belgium on soil im-pac t of fores t opera t ions mechaniza t ion ; and in‘Turkey on mechanization of mountain-terrain har-v e s t i n g o p e r a t i o n s . A j o i n t F A O / E C E W o r k i n gParty on Forest Economics and Statistics held itsbiennial meeting in December, completing prepa-rations for the temperate-zone part of the GlobalForest Resource Assessment 1990, with FAO deal-ing wi th t ropica l -zone i ssues .


T h e S e n i o r A d v i s e r s t o E C E G o v e r n m e n t s o nScience and Technology held their seventeenth ses-sion in Geneva (18-22 September).(39) They ex-changed v iews on the t rans i t ion f rom an indus-t r ia l and technologica l soc ie ty to one tha t wassc ien t i f ic and informat iona l . Cons idera t ion wasgiven to possible directions of international scien-tific and technological co-operation in the region,including promoting contacts among young scien-tists; ways and means to increase innovation worko f s m a l l - a n d m e d i u m - s i z e d e n t e r p r i s e s ; a n dfollow-up action to the report of the World Com-m i s s i o n o n E n v i r o n m e n t a n d D e v e l o p m e n t .

The Senior Advisers continued collecting infor-mation for the inventory of existing safety guide-lines in biotechnology. They reviewed the resultsof seminars on eva lua t ion in the management ofr e s e a r c h a n d d e v e l o p m e n t a n d o n e a r t h q u a k epred ic t ion and in i t i a ted fo l low-up ac t ion . Prepa-ra t ions began for a seminar on the ro le of long-term forecasting in the formulation of science andtechnology policies, to be held in Prague in April1990.

Envi ronment

T h e S e n i o r A d v i s e r s t o U N / E C E G o v e r n m e n t son Envi ronmenta l and Water Problems , a t the i rsecond session (Geneva, 28 February-3 March)(40)m a d e p r o g r e s s o n a r e g i o n a l a g r e e m e n t o n e n -v i r o n m e n t a l i m p a c t a s s e s s m e n t i n a t r a n s b o u n -dary contex t . Consul ta t ions of exper t s on f lo ra ,fauna and their habitats were held in La Laguna,S p a i n , i n J a n u a r y a n d T r o y a , P o r t u g a l , i n


O c t o b e r / N o v e m b e r . T h e g r o u p d r a f t e d a E u r o -pean Red Lis t o f Threa tened Animals and P lan tsfor consideration by the Senior Advisers. A semi-nar on the economic impl ica t ions of low-wastet e c h n o l o g y ( T h e H a g u e , N e t h e r l a n d s , O c t o b e r )p r e p a r e d d r a f t r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s , f o c u s i n g o nlegal, administrative and economic instruments topromote the development and application of suchtechnology, i t s benef i t s for indus t ry and soc ie ty ,and problems encountered in i t s implementa t ion .W o r k c o n t i n u e d o n e v a l u a t i n g t h e c o s t -effectiveness of energy- and resource-saving tech-n o l o g i e s a n d o n r e c o v e r y , r e c y c l i n g a n d r e -utilization of industrial wastes. The Working Partyo n L o w - a n d N o n - w a s t e T e c h n o l o g y r e c o m -mended e labora t ion of a reg iona l s t ra tegy on in-t e g r a t e d w a s t e m a n a g e m e n t .

Transboundary air pollution

Under the Execut ive Body for the Convent ionon Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (sev-enth session, Geneva, 21-24 Novermber),(41) twonew subs id ia ry bodies began work in 1989: theWorking Group on Abatement S t ra teg ies , to de-velop internationally agreed target loads; and theWorking Group on Vola t i l e Organic Compounds ,to develop a draft protocol to control emissions ofsuch compounds . Three new task forces were es-tablished on the exchange of technology, mappingof critical levels and loads, and emissions of heavymeta ls .

International co-operative programmes were de-veloped on a i r pol lu t ion ef fec ts on f reshwaters ,f o r e s t s , m a t e r i a l s , a g r i c u l t u r e a n d t e r r e s t r i a lecosys tems. The Execut ive Body began ar range-ments for rev is ion of ex is t ing , or prepara t ions ofnew, pro tocols to i t s Convent ion on Long-RangeTransboundary Air Pollution for further reductionof sulphur emissions after 1993. It also consideredmeasures to promote an exchange of technology,informat ion and exper t s to e f fec t ive ly reduce a i rpol lu tan t emiss ions .

In April, ECE(13) appealed to member Govern-ments to in tens i fy ef for ts to pro tec t and improvethe envi ronment , g iv ing h igh pr ior i ty to a i r po l -lu tan t con t ro l and reduc t ion , such as su lphur d i -oxide and n i t rogen oxide emiss ions .


The fiftieth session of the Committee on Hous-ing , Bui ld ing and P lann ing (Geneva , 12-15 Sep-tember) (42) d i scussed how to adapt exper iencesder ived f rom E C E ac t iv i t ies to ass i s t developingcountries in implementing the Global Strategy forShelter to the Year 2000. A seminar on the effec-tiveness of settlement planning (London, October)adopted conclusions on government policy, recom-mending tha t the Commit tee pursue fur ther workon human se t t lements aspec ts of sus ta inable de-

v e l o p m e n t . P l a n s w e r e m a d e f o r a s e m i n a r o ncomprehens ive pol ic ies for renewal and moderni -za t ion of se t t lements , to be he ld in the USSR inMay 1991, and for a symposium on internationaltourism, to be held in the early 1990s. Studies onrent policy and research were completed, as werethe f ina l chapters of the Compendium of ModelProvisions for Building Regulations. The Commit-tee cons idered a draf t ac t ion-p lan on promot ionof international trade in construction products, in-c l u d i n g a d r a f t f r a m e w o r k a g r e e m e n t u n i f o r mrules for approval and certification of constructionproducts . A second jo in t meet ing on human se t -tlements statistics, held in March in co-operationw i t h t h e C o n f e r e n c e o f E u r o p e a n S t a t i s t i c i a n s ,stressed the importance of developing statistics onmodernization, land-use, housing distribution andqual i ty aspec ts .

S ta t i s t i cs

The th i r ty-seventh p lenary sess ion of the Con-ference of European Statisticians (Geneva, 12-16June)(43) discussed co-ordination of the statisticalac t iv i t i es o f European in te rgovernmenta l o rgani -za t ions and reg iona l s ta t i s t i ca l co-opera t ion , andcontinued to provide methodological assistance tom e m b e r c o u n t r i e s o n e c o n o m i c , s o c i a l , d e m o -graphic, energy and environmental statistics. It en-dorsed the importance of developing internationals t a n d a r d s f o r e l e c t r o n i c d a t a i n t e r c h a n g e o fs ta t i s t ica l in format ion wi th in the f ramework ofU N / E D I F A C T. Genera l agreement was reached onenhancing the informative role of statistics throughcomprehensive analysis and interpretation of data.Substantive discussions were also held on the useof micro-computers in statistical services. Work ineconomic statistics continued to focus on revisingand in tegra t ing the two sys tems of na t iona l ac-c o u n t i n g a n d c o m p a r i n g m a c r o - e c o n o m i c d a t aand purchas ing power par i t i es . Increased a t ten-tion was given to new areas, such as statistics ofs e r v i c e s , a n d s u b j e c t s o n w h i c h i n t e r n a t i o n a lguide l ines had not ye t been found to work , suchas income d is t r ibu t ion s ta t i s t ics .

S tandard iza t ion

In April ,(44) ECE decided that in the first halfof 1990 i t would convene the e leventh Meet ingof Government Off ic ia ls Respons ib le for S tand-ard iza t ion Pol ic ies . The Exper t s on S tandard iza-t ion Pol ic ies met in Geneva in May and agreedo n p r e p a r a t o r y w o r k t o b e d o n e . C o - o r d i n a t o r sa n d r a p p o r t e u r s m e t ( S e p t e m b e r , W a s h i n g t o n ,D.C.) to advance that work and to visit standardsb o d i e s . P r e p a r a t i o n s c o m m e n c e d f o r a o n e - d a yseminar on in te rna t iona l s tandards for envi ron-mental protection, to be held around the eleventhM e e t i n g .


W o m e n

In April,(11) the Commission noted the Execu-t ive Secre ta ry’s repor t (45) on the Commiss ion’scontribution to follow-up of the World Conferenceto Review and Appra ise the Achievements of theUN Decade for Women and asked for a fur therrepor t .

I n N o v e m b e r , t h e C o n f e r e n c e o f E u r o p e a nStatisticians convened a Joint Meeting with the In-ternational Research and Training Institute for theA d v a n c e m e n t o f W o m e n o n s t a t i s t i c s o fwomen.(46)

REFERENCES(1)E/1989/34. (2)Ibid. (dec. E(44)). (3)E/ECE/1197. (4)E/1989/34(res. 1(44)). (5)Ibid.(dec. L(44)). (6)Ibid. (dec. B(44)). (7)Ibid. (dec.

)C(44)). (8)Ibid. (dec. D.(44)). (9)Ibid. (dec. F(44)). (10)Ibid. (dec.G(44)). (11)Ibid. (dec. H(44)). (12)Ibid. (dec. I(44)). (13)Ibid. (dec.J(44)). (14)Ibid. (dec. K(44)). (15)Ibid. (dec. M(44)). (16)Ibid. (dec.N(44)). (17)Ibid. (dec. O(44). (18)Ibid. (dec. p(44)). (19)Ibid. (dec.Q(44)). (20)E/1990/51. (21)ECE/EC.AD/34. (22)E/ECE/1199.(23)ECE/TRADE/SEM.9/2. (24)ECE/TRANS/74 Add.1.(25)ECE/TRANS/78. (26)ECE/TRANS/79. (27)ECE/CHEM/74.& Corr.1.. (28)ECE/CHEM/72. (29)ECE/ENG.AUT/38.(30)ECE/STEEL/67. (31)YUN 1988, p. 291. (32)ECE/ENERGY/AC.10/4. (33)ECE/COAL/119. (34)ECE/EP/78. (35)ECE/GAS/94.(36)ENVWA/SEM.1/3. (37)ECE/AGRI/101. (38)ECE/TIM/49.(39)ECE/SG.TECH/37. (40)ECE/ENVWA/9. (41)ECE/EB.AIR/20. (42)ECE/HBP/76. (43)ECE/CES/34. (44)ECE/STAND/31.(45)E/ECE/1181. (46)E/ECE/1212.

Latin America and the Caribbean

The Economic Commiss ion for Lat in Amer icaa n d t h e C a r i b b e a n ( E C L A C ) C o m m i t t e e o f t h eWhole held its twentieth session(1) in New York on30 and 31 March . The Commit tee o f High-Leve lGovernment Experts also took place in New Yorkfrom 27 to 29 March and again from 22 to 24 May.I t s b iennia l repor t covered the per iod 28 Apr i l1988-11 May 1990 . (2 ) Bo th Commi t t ee agendasfocused on two substantive items: preparations forthe new four th In te rna t iona l Development Dec-ade , and economic evolu t ion of the reg ion s ince1987. The region’s economy in 1988 saw a prolon-gation of the decade’s economic stagnation, withthe debt c r i s i s a pr ime cause .

The Commit tee of the Whole adopted reso lu-t ions on prepar ing an in te rna t iona l deve lopments t ra tegy for the four th UN Development Decadeand on suppor t to Nicaragua fo r recons t ruc t ionfo l lowing Hurr icane Joan .

Economic t rendsAs the 1980s drew to a close, most countries of

L a t i n A m e r i c a a n d t h e C a r i b b e a n c o n t i n u e d t os t ruggle wi th inf la t ion and s tab i l iza t ion e f for t s ,despite favourable results in boosting exports, ac-cording to a summary(3) of the Economic Survey of

Latin America and the Caribbean, 1989.(4) Stagnationand h igh inf la t ion resu l ted la rge ly f rom t ransferof resources abroad, through debt servicing in 1989amounting to $26 billion. After eight years of at-t e m p t i n g t o a t t a i n a d j u s t m e n t , s t a b i l i z a t i o n ,growth and produc t ion res t ruc tur ing , mos t coun-t r ies swayed under the burden of ex terna l debtand , wi th l i t t l e access to f resh ex terna l f inance ,continued to display a complex syndrome of struc-tural imbalance, fiscal deficit and low levels of in-ves tment , f requent ly accompanied by h igh inf la -t ion and ser ious de te r iora t ion in rea l wages .

The average G D P d id increase by 1 .1per cen tin 1989, a little more than the year before, but stillless than population growth. Thus the average percapi ta product dec l ined for the second year run-ning, falling to 1977-1978 levels. Overall, the aver-age per capita product was 8 per cent lower thani t h a d b e e n i n 1 9 8 0 , a n d t o t a l i n v e s t m e n t h a dplummeted , the huge soc ia l cos ts of which werecons idered a t l eas t par t ly the reason for se r iousoutbreaks of violence in 1989 in some countries.

S igni f ican t per cap i ta growth-more than 2 perc e n t - w a s r e g i s t e r e d o n l y i n B a r b a d o s , C o s t aRica, Paraguay and, most of all, Chile, where theper capita product rose by almost 7 per cent. Theslight improvement in the region’s average prod-uc t came pr inc ipa l ly f rom a modes t 3 per cen tgrowth rate in Brazil and Mexico, the economiesof which accounted for a lmost two th i rds of theeconomy of the region.

Average regional inflation surged for the thirdsuccessive year, for the first time reaching almost1,000 per cent. New records were set in Argentina(5,000 per cent), Peru and Brazil . Ecuador, Uru-guay and Venezue la ranged be tween 50 and 100per cent. Some countries contained inflation rates;i n o t h e r s , t h e r e w e r e s i g n i f i c a n t r e d u c t i o n s .Nicaragua’s rate of 30,000 per cent in 1988 wasbrought down to 3 ,500 per cen t a f te r a d ras t i cstabilization programme. Mexico experienced themost s t r ik ing progress , due to severe cont ro ls ofthe fiscal sector and price/wage reconciliation poli-cies; its rate went down, from 52 per cent in 1988to less than 20 per cent a year later. Overall, therewas a marked decline in the number of countriess t i l l immune to in f la t ion , espec ia l ly in Cent ra lAmer ica . Only Barbados , Ha i t i and Panama re -m a i n e d f r e e o f s i g n i f i c a n t i n f l a t i o n p r o b l e m s ,registering price increases of less than 10 per centa year. The main inflationary pressure was the in-ability of fiscal systems to discharge essential func-t ions whi le main ta in ing ex terna l debt payments .Cases of ex t raord inar i ly h igh inf la t ion s temmedfrom the inabi l i ty to cont ro l the publ ic def ic i t ,sometimes combined with a growing financial bur-den of h igh rea l in te res t ra tes on domest ic debt ,uncertain future economic trends, and runs on for-e ign exchange .


There was a genera l ly modes t increase in ex-por t va lue and cont rac t ion in impor t s . Yet , des -p i te a cons iderab le surp lus , the number of coun-t r i e s i n a r r e a r s w i t h e x t e r n a l d e b t s e r v i c eincreased, along with the number of them obligedto give up fully servicing external debts, includ-ing, for the first time together, three of the fourbiggest debtors-Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.Only 5 of 19 countries for which up-to-date infor-mation was available had fully serviced their debton t ime.

Although the value of exports rose by 9 per cent,tha t ra te was s ign i f ican t ly down f rom 1987 and1988. Due to international interest-rate increases,reg ional in te res t and prof i t s payments increasedb y n e a r l y $ 4 b i l l i o n . O i l c o u n t r i e s ’ e x p o r tg r o w t h - $ 5 . 4 b i l l i o n - w a s c o n s i d e r e d s u f f i c i e n t ,not only to cover their $1.7 billion increase in fac-tor service payments but also to leave a substan-tial surplus (equivalent to 10 per cent of imports),to be used for import increase or augmenting in-te rna t iona l reserves . In non-oi l -expor t ing coun-tries, however, the $2.5 billion interest increase ondebt wiped out most of the modest export growth.

General labour market trends in 1989 were simi-lar to 1988, the Economic Survey reported. Severerecession in several countries led to increased un-d e r e m p l o y m e n t . R a t e s o f u r b a n u n e m p l o y m e n tr o s e c o n s i d e r a b l y i n A r g e n t i n a , N i c a r a g u a ,P a n a m a , P e r u a n d V e n e z u e l a . I n C h i l e , C o s t aR i c a , a n d G u a t e m a l a , w h o s e e c o n o m i e s e x -per ienced s teady growth or became over-hea tedthrough an excess ive expans ion of demand, tha tr a t e f e l l n o t a b l y . U n e m p l o y m e n t t e n d e d t o d e -crease even in count r ies which had s low or nearzero growth rates, such as Brazil, Colombia, Hon-duras , Mexico and Uruguay . A cont inued r i se inalready high rates of open unemployment was seenonly in Bol iv ia and Ecuador .

A c t i v i t i e s i n 1 9 8 9

Development pol icy andregional economic co-opera t ion

The Commit tee as a Whole of E C L A C revieweddocuments on preparations for a new internationald e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g y ( 5 ) a n d r e c e n t e c o n o m i ct r e n d s i n L a t i n A m e r i c a a n d t h e C a r i b b e a n . ( 6 )These were cons idered toge ther to lay a founda-t i o n f o r a r e g i o n a l p o s i t i o n . T h e C o m m i t t e ed e c i d e d t o a s k t h e E C L A C s e c r e t a r i a t t o f o l l o wcarefully the strategy’s entire preparatory process,in c lose consul ta t ion wi th Governments of mem-ber S ta tes . The Commit tee of High- leve l Exper t swanted cont inued d iscuss ions on a common pos i -t i o n . A w o r k i n g g r o u p w a s s e t u p t o d i s c u s s ad o c u m e n t ( 7 ) a d o p t e d b y t h e E x p e r t s : “ B a s i cguide l ines o f the La t in Amer ican and Car ibbeancountries for the process of formulation of the in-

te rna t iona l deve lopment s t ra tegy for the four thU n i t e d N a t i o n s d e v e l o p m e n t d e c a d e ” .

The e igh th meet ing(8) o f the La t in Amer icanand Car ibbean Ins t i tu te fo r Economic and Soc ia lDevelopment (ILPES) Regional Council for Plan-ning (Montevideo, Uruguay, 9 May) adopted a re-port on its 1988 activities and its 1989 draft workprogramme. The Institute continued work in pub-l ic pol icy p lanning and co-ord ina t ion in the eco-n o m i c a n d s o c i a l f i e l d s , i n c l u d i n g a d v i s o r yass i s tance , t ra in ing and appl ied research .

The Car ibbean Development and Co-opera t ionC o m m i t t e e ( C D C C ) h e l d i t s t e c h n i c a l m e e t i n g4 - 6 D e c e m b e r a n d t h e t w e l f t h s e s s i o n o f i t sministerial meeting on 7-8 December in Curaçao,Netherlands Antilles.(9) Resolutions were adoptedon co-opera t ion be tween C D C C and reg iona l andin te rna t iona l o rganiza t ions and spec ia l ized agen-c i e s , e s t a b l i s h i n g a w o r k i n g g r o u p o n n o n -independent Car ibbean count r ies , suppor t o f theremoval o f l anguage bar r ie r s , and co-ord ina t ionbetween C D C C and the secre ta r ia t o f the Car ib-bean Communi ty ( C A R I C O M) in re la t ion to non-C A R I C O M m e m b e r c o u n t r i e s .

In the b iennia l per iod , seven technica l repor t swere publ i shed on such top ics as an account ingf ramework for eva lua t ing f i sca l po l icy in La t inAmerica, fiscal policy in the 1980s, the measure-ment and breakdown of the public deficit in LatinA m e r i c a a n d t h e r e s u l t s o f f o u r n a t i o n a l c a s e -studies. National seminars were held to discuss theresults of the case-studies, and a regional meetingon methodologies for measur ing the publ ic def i -cit and evaluating fiscal policy also took place. Re-g a r d i n g s t a b i l i z a t i o n , a d j u s t m e n t a n d e x t e r n a ldebt , E C L A C subreg iona l headquar te rs in Mexicomade progress in moderniz ing debt recording inthe Cent ra l Amer ican count r ies . E C L A C providedtechnical assistance to ministers responsible for fol-l o w i n g u p t h e S p e c i a l P l a n o f E c o n o m i c C o -opera t ion for Cent ra l Amer ica . In co-ord ina t ionwith the secretariat of the General Treaty on Cen-t ra l Amer ican Economic In tegra t ion , the Cent ra lA m e r i c a n R e s e a r c h I n s t i t u t e f o r I n d u s t r y a n dUNDP, work continued on drafting a document onassess ing Cent ra l Amer ican indus t r ia l reconver -s ion needs.

T h e C o m m i s s i o n c o n t i n u e d m o n i t o r i n g i n t e r -n a t i o n a l e c o n o m i c t r e n d s , e s p e c i a l l y e c o n o m i cchanges in the indus t r ia l ized count r ies , to ascer -t a i n e f f e c t s o n r e g i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t . E C L A C

jo in t ly organized a h igh- leve l seminar (Sant iago ,C h i l e , 4 - 6 A p r i l ) w i t h t h e D e u t s c h e G e s e c h a f tfür Technische Zusammenarbe i t (German Agencyfor Technical Co-operation) and the Economic De-velopment Institute of the World Bank on adjust-ment with growth and on public finances in LatinAmerica. Meetings and seminars were held on ob-s t a c l e s t o t h e a n t i - p o v e r t y s t r a t e g y i n C e n t r a l


America; trade policy; and adjustment policies andin tegra t ion in Cent ra l Amer ica .

Industrial, scientificand technologica l development

The main indus t r ia l deve lopment ac t iv i t i es o fE C L A C cont inued to focus on indus t r ia l res t ruc-t u r i n g a t t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l l e v e l a n d i n L a t i nAmerica, support for small and medium-scale in-dustry, and the capital goods industry. A high-levelmeeting was held (Santiago, Chile, 26-27 January)i n p r e p a r a t i o n f o r a n E C L A C / U N D P p r o j e c t o ndes igning pol ic ies to s t rengthen the capaci ty fortechnological innovation and increase the interna-t iona l compet i t iveness of Lat in Amer ican indus-t ry . Seminars were he ld on indus t r ia l res t ruc tur -ing and international competitiveness using Italyas one example .

As for sc ience and technology, E C L A C ac t iv i -t i e s f o c u s e d o n t e c h n o l o g i c a l d e v e l o p m e n t a n dchallenges related to the current world-wide revo-lution in the field. Case-studies were carried outo n t e c h n o l o g i c a l i n n o v a t i o n a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a lcompet i t iveness in Argent ina , Braz i l , Colombia ,C o s t a R i c a a n d M e x i c o . A m e t h o d o l o g i c a l a p -proach was developed to s tudy l inks be tween in-te rna t iona l t rade and technology t ransfer . An in-te r reg iona l meet ing (Fe ldaf ing , Federa l Republ icof Germany, 22-26 February) on international co-opera t ion in sc ience and technology for develop-m e n t a n d a r e g i o n a l m e e t i n g ( S a n J o s e , C o s t aRica, 8-14 April) on the progress of science andtechnology for regional development were organ-ized by the United Nations Centre for Science andTechnology for Development .

In te rna t iona l t rade and deve lopment f inance

The In te rna t iona l Trade and Deve lopment Di -vision focused on three main areas: Latin Americaa n d t h e p r o p o s e d n e w i n t e r n a t i o n a l e c o n o m i corder; economic relations between Latin Americaand o ther reg ions ; and economic in tegra t ion andco-opera t ion .

In a follow-up to the multilateral trade negoti-a t ions wi th in the Genera l Agreement on Tar i f f sand Trade (GATT), known as the Uruguay Round,repor t s ident i fy ing the s t ra teg ic in te res t pursuedby Lat in Amer ican count r ies were prepared anda n a l y z e d i n c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h U N C T A D . T h egrowing role of commodity exchanges, especiallyf u t u r e s m a r k e t s , i n t h e p r i c i n g o f c o m m o d i t i e swere cons idered in specia l s tudies of the LondonMeta l Exchange , the Chicago gra in marke t andthe New York t rop ica l commodi t ies marke t . Theimpact of the latest forms of technological progresson market prospects for some commodities and onglobal examination of the current status of LatinAmerica’s expor t commodi t ies were cons idered .

Meetings took place on financial and monetaryco-operation in connection with regional trade; thes ta tus and prospects of commodi t ies expor ted byLatin America; and technological options and de-v e l o p m e n t o p p o r t u n i t i e s r e g a r d i n g r e g i o n a la luminium and t in indus t r ies . A four th meet ingof Officials Responsible for the External Trade ofthe Member Count r ies of the Lat in Amer ican In-tegra t ion Assoc ia t ion ( A L A D I) took p lace in San-tiago on 11-12 September.

Natura l resources and energy

Promotion and support of regional co-operationin water resources management, development andc o n s e r v a t i o n o f h i g h - a l t i t u d e r i v e r b a s i n s , c o -opera t ion in minera l explo i ta t ion and ass i s tancein e labora t ing na t iona l po l ic ies concern ing theoceans were the focus of the work of the NaturalResources and Energy Div is ion . Other a reas ofconcern were : energy forecas t ing , energy pr icesand the i r impac t on wor ld energy marke ts , andu p d a t i n g t h e E C L A C e n e r g y d a t a b a n k .

T r a i n i n g c o u r s e s a n d m e e t i n g s w e r e h e l d o nt r a i n i n g i n t h e m a n a g e m e n t o f w a t e r r e s o u r c ep r o j e c t s a n d s y s t e m s ; w a t e r r e s o u r c e s m a n a g e -m e n t ; i n t e r n a t i o n a l d r i n k i n g w a t e r s u p p l y a n ds a n i t a t i o n ; t h e m i n i n g / m e t a l l u r g i c a l s e c t o r i nr e g i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t ; e c o n o m i c b e n e f i t s o fmetero logica l se rv ices ; and e lec t r ica l in te rcon-nect ions .

The Jo in t Meet ing of the River Lempa Execu-t ive Commiss ion/Elec t r ica l In terconnect ion Sys-tem for Central America was held in San Salvador.

Transport

During 1989, three major projects were carriedout in the area of transport on: regional economicco-operation in establishing interior cargo termi-na ls ; t echnica l co-opera t ion among Lat in Amer i -can count r ies on expor t t ranspor t , d i s t r ibu t ion ,m a r k e t i n g , a n d c o m p e t i t i v e n e s s ; a n d i m p a c t o fsubs id ies and d i f fe r ing cont ro l and organiza t ionon urban publ ic t ranspor t sys tems.

Other meet ings and seminars dea l t wi th : con-ta iner iza t ion on the South Amer ican eas t coas tand its role in export stimulation; the chain of dis-tribution and the competitiveness of Latin Ameri-can exports regarding Chilean fruit; and the qual-i ty o f reg iona l u rban co l lec t ive t ranspor t .

Socia l development

Major s tud ies dur ing the year f rom the E C L A C

Socia l Development Div is ion concerned: a b roadpolicy outline of regional human resources devel-opment ; pos i t ions of d i f fe rent soc ia l and ins t i tu-t i o n a l a g e n t s r e g a r d i n g i n c o r p o r a t i o n o f n e wproduct ion technologies , based on f ie ld work in


Argen t ina , Bol iv ia , Chi le and Ecuador ; p r inc ipa linstitutional problems regarding social policy withspecial reference to health problems, based on na-tional experiences of Argentina, Brazil and Peru;existing problems and potentialities in implement-ing soc ia l po l ic ies a t the loca l leve l wi th in thef r a m e w o r k o f d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n , b a s e d o n w o r kd o n e i n C o l o m b i a , C o s t a R i c a a n d G u a t e m a l a ;living conditions and prospects for youth and theelderly; and the deterioration of social conditionsa s a r e s u l t o f t h e c u r r e n t e c o n o m i c c r i s i s a n dprospec ts for fu ture soc ia l t rends resu l t ing f romthe reg ion’s new s t ruc tura l condi t ions .

A seminar was held in Santiago (29-31 May) onthe exper ience of Sweden and Lat in Amer ica re-gard ing deve lopment , democracy and equi ty , incollaboration with the International Centre of theSwedish Workers ’ Movement .

Population

W o r k o f t h e L a t i n A m e r i c a n D e m o g r a p h i cCent re ( C E L A D E ) , complement ing tha t of E C L A C,aimed at furthering regional economic and socialdeve lopment through a work programme address -ing problems re la t ing spec i f ica l ly to popula t ionand development . Seminars were he ld on infantmor ta l i ty in Cos ta Rica ; demographic e f fec ts ofdevelopment pro jec ts ; and the e lder ly .

In tegra t ion of women

T h e P r e s i d i n g O f f i c e r s e l e c t e d a t t h e f o u r t hRegional Conference on the Integration of Womeni n t o t h e E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a l D e v e l o p m e n t o fLatin America and the Caribbean held their ninthmee t ing (Pana jache l , Gua temala , 26-27 Sep tem-ber). They considered: substantive documents pre-pared s ince the four th Regional Conference , thenext regular Regional Conference, and guidelinesfor the p repara tory mee t ing for the 1995 Wor ldC o n f e r e n c e o n W o m e n .

Envi ronment

Act iv i t i es car r ied ou t by the Jo in t E C L A C / U N E P

D e v e l o p m e n t a n d E n v i r o n m e n t U n i t a i m e d a ts t r e n g t h e n i n g t h e e n v i r o n m e n t a l d i m e n s i o n i nE C L A C ' s work and a t p romot ing reg iona l ac t ionregarding strategies and policies for environmen-ta l ly sus ta inable deve lopment .

Seminars were he ld on: pr ior i t ies for sus ta in-ab le reg iona l envi ronmenta l deve lopment ; envi -ronmenta l impact assessment as an ins t rument ofenvironmental management; the sustainable devel-opment strategy for southern Honduras; pollutionf rom the Esmera ldas S ta te Ref inery in Ecuadorin the Esmeraldas and Teaone Rivers; rehabilita-tion of terraces and other traditional technologies;m e t h o d s u s e d i n c o n s t r u c t i n g t h e M a g a l l a n e sna tu ra l he r i t age accoun ts ; and na tu ra l he r i t age

inventories and accounts in the state of Morelos,Mexico .


The human settlements programme, carried outj o i n t l y b y E C L A C a n d t h e UN C e n t r e f o r H u m a nSet t lements , s t rengthened research and develop-ment ac t iv i t ies , espec ia l ly regard ing func t ion ingo f m e t r o p o l i t a n c e n t r e s , s t r e n g t h e n i n g o f l o c a lg o v e r n m e n t c a p a c i t y t o m a n a g e h u m a n s e t t l e -ments and hous ing pol icy formula t ion wi th in na-t iona l deve lopment s t ra teg ies . The un i t a l so d idpreliminary work on the role of non-governmentala n d c o m m u n i t y o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n m a n a g i n g t h ehab i t a t .

A seminar on medium-s ized c i t ies was he ld inSan t i ago (15-16 June) , o rgan ized by “ SUR Profe-s iona les ,” an N G O , E C L A C and the La t in Amer i -can Counci l for the Socia l Sc iences .

Food and agr i cu l tu re

Significant progress was made in collaborationwith FAO on a study on potentials for agriculturaland rura l deve lopment in La t in Amer ica and theCar ibbean and a l so in improving methodologiesu s e d t o p r o c e s s q u a n t i t a t i v e i n f o r m a t i o n f o rprospec t ive agr icu l tu ra l ana lys i s .

The seventh Conference of Ministers and Headsof P lanning of La t in Amer ica and the Car ibbeanwas he ld in Montev ideo f rom 8 to 10 May. TheMinis te rs of Agr icu l ture of the Count r ies of theAndean Group met in Lima in August/September.O t h e r E C L A C - s p o n s o r e d m e e t i n g s d e a l t w i t h :t rade and macroeconomic pol ic ies and the i r im-pac t on agr icu l tu re in the s t ruc tu ra l ad jus tmentcontext; regional agroindustrial development poli-c ies ; and reg iona l agr icu l tu ra l and ru ra l deve l -o p m e n t .

S ta t i s t ics and economic pro jec t ions

D e v e l o p m e n t o f t h e E C L A C s t a t i s t i c s p r o -gramme for the b iennium focused on: expans ionof data banks; technical co-operation; and dissemi-na t ion of in format ion , t echnologica l innovat ionsand in te rna t iona l s tandards .

The Directors of Statistics of the Americas helda mee t ing in San t iago f rom 26 to 29 September .Four seminars were held on: field personnel train-ing for on-s i te ac t iv i t ies ; economic censuses andregis te rs of es tab l i shments ; da ta bases and com-puter ized da ta t ransmiss ion; and s ta t i s t ics of in -te rna t iona l t rade in se rv ices .

Transna t iona l corpora t ions

The jo in t E C L A C/Cent re on Transna t iona l Cor -porations (T N Cs) unit focused on two areas: iden-t i fy ing the cont r ibu t ion and impact of T N Cs onregional development, and studies of particular is-


sues in individual countries and sectors. A reportwas i ssued on the per formance of t ransna t iona lbanks and the in te rna t iona l ex te rna l deb t c r i s i s .Elaboration of a regional directory of foreign in-ves tment con t inued . In 1989 , the jo in t un i t pa r -ticipated in the fifteenth session (New York, 5-14Apri l ) of the Commiss ion on T N Cs . .

Co-operat ion between the UN and theLatin American Economic System

In compl iance wi th a 1988 Assembly reso lu-tion(10), the Secretary-General reported(11) in Oc-tober that since the 1975 establishment of the LatinAmerican Economic Sys tem ( S E L A) , cons iderab leco-opera t ion had taken p lace be tween i t and theUnited Nations, particularly with ECLAC, but alsowi th o ther UN organiza t ions , agencies and pro-g r a m m e s .

Co-opera t ion was h ighly d ivers i f ied , he sa id ,and a natural, close and fruitful co-operation hadcont inued to develop be tween E C L A C and S E L A.In many cases, the co-operation had become morepermanent th rough var ious agreements and con-vent ions . Some UN en t i t i es tha t were not car ry-ing ou t ac t iv i t i es wi th S E L A had expressed the i rdes i re to explore jo in t ac t iv i t ies . E C L A C par t i c i -pa ted in the th i rd in formal meet ing of organiza-tions working in areas related to services (Caracas,1 9 M a y ) . J o i n t E C L A C / S E L A m e e t i n g s w e r eplanned on f ive serv ice sec tors : te lecommunica-t ions , f inanc ia l se rv ices , a i r t ranspor t , cons t ruc-t ion and engineer ing , and audiov isua l mate r ia l s ,in order to define regional interests more clearlywi th regard to the t rade of those serv ices wi th int h e U r u g u a y R o u n d s a n d i n t h e r e g i o n a l a n dsubregiona l contex t .

The Latin American Council, at i ts 15th meet-ing (Cartagena, 25 July-l August), adopted a reso-lu t ion on co-opera t ion be tween the Lat in Amer i -c a n e c o n o m i c s y s t e m a n d t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s ,giving high prioirity to the development of closec o - o p e r a t i o n w i t h E C L A C i n p r o m o t i n g a t r u l yregional system of co-operation. It also expressedthe need to deepen co-opera t ion wi th U N D P andnoted with satisfaction the relations of co-operationw i t h U N E S C O , U N I C E F , U N C T A D , U N I D O a n dW I P O .


O n 1 7 O c t o b e r 1 9 8 9 , t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l yadopted reso lu t ion 44 /4 wi thou t vo te .

Co-operation between the United Nations and theLatin American Economic System

The General Assembly,Recalling its resolution 43/5 of 17 October 1988 on co-

operation between the United Nations and the LatinAmerican Economic System,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-Generalon co-operation between the United Nations and theLatin American Economic System,

Taking into account decision 289 of 1 August 1989 onco-operation between the United Nations and the LatinAmerican Economic System, adopted at the fifteenthregular session of the Latin American Council,

Considering that the Economic Commission for LatinAmerica and the Caribbean has developed close ties ofco-operation with the Latin American Economic Sys-tem and that efforts have been successfully made to co-ordinate their activities,

Bearing in mind that the Permanent Secretariat of theLatin American Economic System has carried outvarious programmes with the support of the UnitedNations Development Programme in areas that are con-sidered of priority for the economic development of theregion,

Considering also that the Latin American Economic Sys-tem is developing joint activities with the specializedagencies and other bodies and programmes of the UnitedNations system, such as the United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development, the United Nations Educa-tional, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the UnitedNations Industrial Development Organization, theWorld Meteorological Organization, the World HealthOrganization, the World Intellectual Property Organi-zation, the United Nations Environment Programme,the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corpora-tions. the Office of the United Nations Disaster ReliefCo-ordinator, the United Nations Institute for Train-ing and Research and the International Telecommuni-cation Union,

1. Takes note with satisfaction of the report of theSecretary-General;

2. Expresses satisfaction with decision 289 of the LatinAmerican Council of the Latin American EconomicSystem;

3 . Urges the Economic Commiss ion for Lat inAmerica and the Caribbean to broaden and deepen itsco-ordination and mutual support activities with theLatin American Economic System;

4 . Urges the Uni ted Nat ions Development Pro-gramme to strengthen and broaden its support to theprogrammes that the Permanent Secretariat of the LatinAmerican Economic System is carrying out;

5. Urges the specialized agencies and other organi-zations and programmes of the United Nations systemto continue and intensify their support for and co-operation with the activities of the Latin American Eco-nomic System;

6. Requests the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations to promote, in close collaboration with the Per-manent Secretary of the Latin American Economic Sys-tem. the holding of a meeting in 1990 between theirrespective secretariats, with the aim of identifying thoseareas in which it will be possible to broaden co-operationbetween the United Nations system and the LatinAmerican Economic System;

7. Requests both the Secretary-General of the UnitedNations and the Permanent Secretary of the LatinAmerican Economic System to initiate consultations forthe purpose of drafting an agreement of co-operationbetween the United Nations and the Latin AmericanEconomic System;


8. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to theGeneral Assembly at its forty-fifth session a report onthe implementation of the present resolution.


1 7 O c t o b e r 1 9 8 9 M e e t i n g 3 2 A d o p t e d w i t h o u t v o t e

26-nation draft (A/44/L.8); agenda item 24.

Special plan of economic co-operationfor Central America

In pursuance of May and December 1988 As-sembly resolutions,(12) the Secretary-General re-ported(13) in October on the Special Plan of Eco-nomic Co-opera t ion for Cent ra l Amer ica , whichthe Assembly had decided to review and evaluatein 1989 . The Secre ta ry -Genera l r eca l l ed tha t theSpecial Plan had been launched in September 1988when the Vice-Pres idents of Cos ta Rica , El Sa l -vador , Gua temala , Honduras and Nica ragua hada p p r o v e d a m e c h a n i s m f o r i m p l e m e n t a t i o n . B yAugust, 21 projects totalling some $11,224,000 hadbeen approved or were in final stages of approval.

The f i r s t meet ing of Cent ra l Amer ican govern-ments wi th co-opera t ing Governments and ins t i -t u t i o n s w a s h e l d f r o m 4 t o 6 J u l y i n G e n e v a ,providing the opportunity for a collective dialogueon priorities. It was attended by 27 Governments,2 9 UN organ iza t ions and 15 subreg iona l Cen t ra lA m e r i c a n i n t e g r a t i o n o r g a n i z a t i o n s , a s w e l l a srepresenta t ives of the European Economic Com-muni ty , the Organiza t ion of Amer ican S ta tes andt h e I n t e r - A m e r i c a n D e v e l o p m e n t B a n k .

The Secretary-General stated that forecasts sug-ges ted tha t economic recovery for the subregioncould not regain the levels of economic welfare ofthe 1970's before the end of the century. However,b r o a d - b a s e d s u s t a i n a b l e e c o n o m i c d e v e l o p m e n twould be poss ib le provided, among o ther th ings ,t h a t t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y s t r o n g l y s u p -por ted the recons t ruc t ion e f for t s and tha t l as t ingpeace and democra t iza t ion was achieved .

He said that the Special Plan provided a frame-work and es tab l i shed pr io r i t i es fo r in te rna t iona ldevelopment co-opera t ion for the subregion as awhole. A Programme in Favour of Displaced Per-sons, Refugees and Returnees became operative witha $115 million contribution from Italy. Some 136,500people in the five Central American countries andBelize would benefit directly and nearly half a millionindirectly. UN D P was primarily responsible for theProgramme’s implementa t ion . The In te rna t iona lConference on Central American Refugees(14) washe ld in Gua temala Ci ty (29-31 May) , which , theSecretary-General stated, successfully made the in-ternational community realize that displaced per-sons requi red jus t as much ass i s tance , inc ludingin te rna t iona l suppor t , as re fugees .

T h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n G o v e r n m e n t s a n d t h eWorld Food Programme ( W F P ) assessed immedi-

ate food needs at some $104 millioin,(17) In energy,in te rna t iona l co-opera t ion was urgent ly requi redin main ta in ing hydroe lec t r ic p lan ts and an e lec-trical interconnection. By 1989 the subregion’s ex-ternal debt had risen to $19 billion, with debt ser-v i c i n g e q u i v a l e n t t o n e a r l y h a l f o f a l l e x p o r tearn ings . UN D P had f inanced a pro jec t to es tab-l i sh a computer ized informat ion sys tem for debtmonitoring and follow-up in each Central Ameri-can count ry . A dra f t p roposa l to res t ruc ture theC e n t r a l A m e r i c a n M o n e t a r y S t a b i l i z a t i o n F u n dunder a UNDP project was finalized in June. OtherU N D P pro jec t s under way inc luded an indus t r i a lreconversion assessment; creation of a portfolio oforganiza t iona l deve lopment pro jec ts ava i lab le fori n v e s t m e n t ; f o r m u l a t i o n o f t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nprojects with the International TelecommunicationUnion; and s t rengthening the Cent ra l Amer icanBank for Economic In tegra t ion . UN C T A D was ex-ecu t ing a p ro jec t to au tomate cus toms c learanceprocedures . UN I C E F was cons ider ing a p i lo t pro-jec t to t rea t ch i ldren af fec ted by v io lence in thereg ion . UN I D O was execut ing a p ro jec t to marke thandic ra f t s . Work a l so cont inued in the a reas ofnutrition, drinking water and sanitation. In Janu-ary, a technical assistance project for the agricul-t u r a l d e v e l o p m e n t o f C e n t r a l A m e r i c a w a s i n -itiated with a $4.4 million budget, executed by theWor ld Bank and f inanced by U N D P , the In te rna-tional Fund for Agricultural Development and theG o v e r n m e n t o f J a p a n .

B y r e s o l u t i o n 4 4 / 1 8 2 o f 1 9 D e c e m b e r , t h eGenera l Assembly emphas ized the urgent need top r o v i d e t h e C e n t r a l A m e r i c a n c o u n t r i e s w i t hf inancia l resources .

(For further details regarding Central America,see PART TWO, Chapter II, and on refugees, PART

T H R E E , C h a p t e r X V . )

REFERENCES(1)LC/G.1556(PLEN.20/5). (2)E/1990/43. (3)E/1990/54. (4)Economic

Survey of Latin American and the Caribbean, 1989, Sales No. E.90.II.G.2.(5)LC/L.494(PLEN.20/4). (6)LC/L.492(CEG.15/3). (7)LC/G.1569(CEG.16/2). (8)LC/IP/R.78. (9)LC/G.1610. (10)YUN 1988,p. 305, GA res. 43/5, 17 Oct. 1988. (11)A/44/550. (12)YUN 1988,pp. 307 & 308, GA res. 42/231 & 43/210, 12 May & 20 Dec. 1988.(13)A/44/519. (14)A/44/527 & Corr.1,2.

Western Asia

T h e E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a l C o m m i s s i o n f o rW e s t e r n A s i a h e l d i t s f i f t e e n t h s e s s i o n a t t h emin i s t e r i a l l eve l a t Baghdad , I r aq , on 17 and 18May,(1) It was preceded by meetings of the Tech-nical Committee’s sixth session (13-15 May).(2)

T h e E S C W A E x e c u t i v e S e c r e t a r y r e p o r t e d ( 3 )economic growth, after years of recession, assistedby oil revenue improvements and recovery in other


economic sectors, particularly industry, construc-t ion and serv ices . Despi te the cease- f i re be tweenIran and Iraq, which had had a positive effect onESCWA activities and programmes, there remaineda number of potential flashpoints in Western Asiaconstituting possible impediments to development.Two events occurred in the region which were con-sidered promising: establishment of the Arab Co-opera t ion Counc i l compr i s ing Egypt , I raq , Jor -dan and Yemen, wi th 27 agreements regu la t ingall aspects of co-operation and co-ordination; andthe final stages of unification of the Yemen ArabR e p u b l i c a n d D e m o c r a t i c Y e m e n , g i v i n g n e wimpetus to economic and soc ia l development tothose two L D Cs.

ESCWA adopted 14 resolutions, including thoseo n : e n v i r o n m e n t a n d r e g i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t ; ( 4 )f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t a n c e t o e x i s t i n g i n d u s t r i e s ; ( 5 )reg iona l co-opera t ion in peacefu l nuc lear energyuses;(6) projects for regional and sub-regional co-o p e r a t i o n o n n e w a n d r e n e w a b l e e n e r g ysources ; (7) the reg iona l household survey pro j -e c t ; @ t h e T r a n s p o r t a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n s D e c -ade in Western Asia (1985-1994);(9) economic ands o c i a l c o n d i t i o n s o f t h e P a l e s t i n i a n A r a b p e o -ple;(10) strengthening the Commission’s role andperformance;(11) international assistance to flood-stricken areas of Democratic Yemen;(12) and inter-n a t i o n a l d e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g y f o r t h e f o u r t hUni ted Nat ions deve lopment decade . (13)

T o s t r e n g t h e n E S C W A ' s r o l e a n d p e r f o r m -a n c e , ( 1 1 ) t h e C o m m i s s i o n c r e a t e d a n a d v i s o r ybody, composed of the heads of Commission mem-bers’ diplomatic missions in Iraq and a represen-tative of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, toass i s t the Execut ive Secre ta ry in s tudying prob-lems connected with the Commission’s work. Thef i r s t meet ing took p lace on 2 October , and thebody was to meet normal ly every four months .

Economic and social t rendsO v e r a l l e c o n o m i c p e r f o r m a n c e i m p r o v e d i n

1989 accord ing to the summary of the survey ofeconomic and socia l developments in the E S C W A

r e g i o n i n 1 9 8 9 . ( 1 4 ) T h e r e g i o n a l G D P g r e w b y3.4 per cent, following several years of economicslow-down; however, per capita, there was virtu-a l ly no increase , g iven the reg ion’s 3 per cen tpopula t ion growth ra te .

Economic growth reflected strong internationalo i l demand accompanied by a product ion dec l ineof count r ies not members of the Organiza t ion ofPe t ro leum Expor t ing Count r ies (OPEC) , pa r t i cu-l a r l y t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s a n d S o v i e t U n i o n . T h eE S C W A reg ion increased i t s ou tpu t 7 .2 per cen twhile at the same time benefiting from an approx-imate 17 .7 per cen t r i se in the average pr ice ofi t s c r u d e o i l . H i g h e r r e v e n u e s o f r e g i o n a l o i l -

e x p o r t i n g c o u n t r i e s t h e n h a d a s p i l l o v e r e f f e c tfavour ing non-oi l count r ies .

In the countries of the Gulf Co-operation Coun-c i l ( C C C ) s u b r e g i o n ( B a h r a i n , K u w a i t , O m a n ,Q a t a r , S a u d i A r a b i a a n d t h e U n i t e d A r a bEmirates), after several years of stagnation or de-cline, higher oil revenues and adjustment policiescontributed to a 3.52 per cent GDP growth rate in1989 . In o ther count r ies , economic growth wasconstrained by persistent balance-of-trade deficitsand heavy debt -serv ic ing burdens .

Most economic sectors performed better in 1989t h a n t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r , e x c e p t f o r a g r i c u l t u r e ,which a f te r excep t iona l g rowth in 1988 (4 .8 percent), declined by 2.3 per cent in 1989. Manufac-tur ing per formed wel l in most count r ies due tod ivers i f ica t ion . Par t icu la r successes inc luded thep e t r o c h e m i c a l i n d u s t r y i n S a u d i A r a b i a ; t h ea l u m i n i u m i n d u s t r y i n B a h r a i n a n d t h e U n i t e dArab Emira tes ; and the tex t i l e and lea ther p rod-ucts and aluminium industries in Egypt. Light in-dustry performed well in Jordan, Lebanon and theSyrian Arab Republic, in part because of nationalcurrency depreciation; import restrictions in Jor-dan and the Syr ian Arab Republ ic a l so had the i reffect. Improvement continued in the service sec-tor, particularly banking and tourism, and in in-ternational trade, which increased by 2.1 per centin nominal terms in 1989, after a 1988 decline of17 per cen t . In f la t ionary pressures in tens i f ied inthe more d ivers i f ied economies in 1989, conser -vative estimates indicating rates exceeding 20 percen t in Egypt , I raq , Jo rdan and the Syr ian ArabR e p u b l i c . I n G C C c o u n t r i e s , i n f l a t i o n r e m a i n e dmore modes t , wi th the h ighes t ra tes es t imated a t6 p e r c e n t i n t h e U n i t e d A r a b E m i r a t e s a n d3.5 per cent in Kuwait. Rates in other GCC coun-tries ranged between 0.9 per cent and 3 per cent.

U n e m p l o y m e n t p r o b l e m s w e r e s u c h t h a t t h elabour-sending count r ies of Democra t ic Yemen,Egypt , Jordan , Lebanon , the Syr ian Arab Repub-lic and Yemen faced declining remittances due torepatriation of their nationals, as well as difficul-ties regarding housing, infrastructure, education,hea l th fac i l i t i es and ba lance of payments .

Externa l debt cont inued to hamper economicgrowth and development, with the major indebtedc o u n t r i e s - E g y p t , I r a q , J o r d a n a n d t h e S y r i a nArab Republ ic -es t imated to have co l lec t ive ex-te rna l deb ts exceeding $150 mi l l ion .

Though hea l th condi t ions in the E S C W A regionh a d i m p r o v e d b e c a u s e o f s y s t e m a t i c n a t i o n a lh e a l t h p r o g r a m m e s , i t w a s n o t e d t h a t p a t i e n t -d o c t o r r a t i o s a n d i n f a n t m o r t a l i t y r a t e s v a r i e dwidely. Access to medical services was often verylimited for some populations, particularly in rurala r e a s . T h e r e g i o n a l l i t e r a c y r a t e h a d r e a c h e d50 per cen t and the gross enro lment ra te in pr i -mary education was nearly 85 per cent, with close


to 100 per cent in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman,Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Arab Republicand West Bank and Gaza. The figure in otherESCWA countries was significantly lower, mainlybecause of the low enrolment of girls. There wasurgent need to promote adult education, as illiter-acy was high among the elderly, particularlyelderly women.

Overall, economic progress was seen as beingclosely linked to resolving the debt problem; reach-ing a permanent settlement in the Iran-Iraq con-flict; breaking the deadlock with respect to the Pal-estinian issue; and ending the conflict in Lebanon.If those objectives were achieved, defence expend-itures, among the highest in the world per capita,should fall, and badly needed resources could bechannelled to economic development and growth.

A c t i v i t i e s i n 1 9 8 9

Transpor t and communica t ions

The transport and communications programmefor the 1988-1989 biennium focused on project ap-praisal methods in the transport sector and devel-opment of multimodal transport, as well as devel-opment strategy formulation and policies in themaritime transport sector and studies on road con-struction techniques and on container traffic inWestern Asia. Many of those activities pertainedas well to the Transport and Communications Dec-ade for Asia and the Pacific (1985-1994).(15)

A report on transport policy and planning, pre-pared after an ad hoc expert group meeting on thesubject held in May, was reviewed by the Com-mission.(16) Another report, as well as a technicalpublication, were completed on multimodal trans-port, as was a study on regional road construc-tion techniques(17) and on regional strategies andp o l i c i e s f o r t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f m a r i t i m etransport.(18)

Energy

Under the energy programme, several reportsand surveys were published in 1989. A survey andassessment of energy-related activities in the re-gion covered the electricity sector,(19) including acomprehensive review of progress in national gridexpansion and improvement and regional co-operation for electricity grids interconnection.

A meeting on the impact of changing oil mar-ket conditions on regional energy policies was heldin Amman, Jordan, from 20 to 23 November. Theentire region still depended heavily on oil, whetheras the major energy source or the greatest mate-rial wealth source, and a technical publication onthe subject(20) was completed.

A report was prepared on progress in the pro-motion of regional and international co-operation

in peaceful nuclear energy use and on such activi-ties at the national and regional levels. A majorcomponent of the energy programme was comple-tion of a report on latest technologies in new andrenewable energy.(21)

Food and agriculture

Two issues of the recurrent publication Agricul-ture and Development in Western Asia (nos. 11 & 12)presented an assessment of recent regional agricul-tural development , analysing some emergingtrends and tackling some critical agricultural prob-lems at national and regional levels. Two trainingworkshops, one regional and one national, wereheld on economics of resource conservation, com-bating desertification and land use planning. A re-port was made on training in agricultural plan-ning and project analysis(22)

Population

The ESCWA population programme producedand disseminated reliable data on a large num-ber of demographic and related socio-economicvariables necessary for development planning andpolicy-making that resulted in the publication ofDemographic and Related Socio-Economic Data Sheets of theEconomic and Social Commission for Western Asia, issueno. 6, and two studies: one on infant mortalitypatterns and trends in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,Kuwait, the Syrian Arab Republic and the UnitedArab Emirates; the other on socio-economicdifferentials of child mortality in Jordan. The Popu-lation Bulletin of ESCWA and the Trilingual DemographicDictionary were published. An advanced trainingworkshop for member States on organizing andadministrating population and housing censuseswas organized, and a fully computerized labourdata base was established.

A seminar in Amman from 4 to 9 Decemberwas joint ly organized with the Internat ionalLabour Organisation, the Arab Labour Organi-zat ion and the Universi ty of Jordan, ent i t led“Demographic and socio-economic implicationsof international migration in the Arab world withspecial reference to return migration.” Four tech-nical studies were launched, one on workingwomen in Western Asia and the others on inter-national migration.

Indus t ry

The establishment of GCC in the early 1980s,and what it accomplished to integrate the econo-mies of its members and co-ordinate their policies,and the setting up of the Arab Co-operation Coun-cil (ACC) and the Union of the Arab Maghreb to-wards the end of the 1980s, in both of which theeconomic dimension was fundamental, were stepswhich fur thered Arab economic integrat ion,


strengthened Arab development efforts and put theregion in a better position to deal with global eco-nomic blocs, the Executive Secretary stated in hisreport to the Commission.(3)

One of the technical publications issued in the“Industrial Development Series”, on the role ofregional co-operation, recommended adjustmentmeasures to strengthen industrial co-ordination atthe level of the GCC countries and proposed co-operation through ACC. Another technical publi-cation(23) dealt with a resource-based programmeof industrial development for the least developedcountries of the ESCWA region-Yemen andD e m o c r a t i c Y e m e n - i d e n t i f y i n g i n d u s t r i a lprojects viable for joint implementation.

A report was made on assistance to existing in-dustries in ESCWA countries.(24) Other publica-tions concerned: selected agro-food industries inthe ESCWA region;(25) identification of develop-ment issues related to genetic engineering and bio-technology;(26) and requirements for an expand-able computerized Arabic dictionary.


Technical publications included those on theend-of-decade review(27) of the implementation ofthe 1979 Vienna Programme of Action on Scienceand Technology for Development;(28) promotionof regional co-operation in science and technol-ogy; and the role and impact of public enterprisesin acquisition, adaptation and utilization of tech-nology in selected ESCWA countries.(29)

In a meeting on specialized financial institutionsand development of endogenous scientific and tech-nological capabilities, held in 1989, a distinctionwas made for the first time between the require-ments of industrial development and the require-ments of industrial technological development. Anumber of areas were identified for scientific co-operation together with concrete proposals and plansof action. A thorough micro-analysis of technicalchanges and their causes in the public sector wasconducted.

Development i ssues

A technical publication was prepared on theregion’s medium-term development prospects,analyzing economic performance since 1970, es-pecially developments in the oil sector and devel-opment strategies and adjustment policies adoptedby member countries.

A comprehensive review and analysis of na-tional, regional and subregional performance wasissued in the Survey of Economic and Social Developmentsin the ESCWA Region, the 1989 issue of which cov-ered the entire decade. Special assessment wasmade of the prospects of Democratic Yemen andYemen and obstacles impeding their efforts to pro-mote development and economic transformation.

Two studies(30) were completed on review and as-sessment of the implementation of the 1981 Sub-stantial New Programme of Action for the 1980sfor the Least Developed Countries.(31)

Socia l development

A major contribution of ESCWA’s social welfareand development subprogramme was organizationof the Conference on the Capabilities and Needsof Disabled Persons in the ESCWA Region, held inNovember in Amman, with the co-operation of theMinistry of Social Development, Jordan, the UNCentre for Social Development and HumanitarianAffairs, the regional bureau of the Middle EastCommittee of the Welfare of the Blind, OPEC andthe Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations De-velopment Organizations.

Regional social statistics and indicators were de-veloped, as were two studies on social aspects ofrural development and on co-operative move-ments.(32) A technical publication was issued onthe employment of women in the informal sec-tor.(33) The 1989 issue of a directory of Arabprofessional women act ive in technical co-operation among developing countries was post-poned to the 1990-1991 biennium. Proceedings ofan expert group meeting on socio-cultural changesamong women were issued, a long with tworeports(34) on support to technical projects for thedevelopment of women, through skills, identifica-tion of women’s needs, and participation of womenin industry.


The ESCWA human settlements programme wasintegrated into the social development and popu-lation programmes. A technical publication wasissued on alternative approaches to city manage-ment, with special reference to human settle-ments,(35) as well as a report on assessment of al-ternative building materials and architecturaldesign and a technical publication on proceedingsof an expert group meeting on appropriate build-ing materials.

International trade

Technical publications were issued on: externaltrade and payments situation of countries of West-ern Asia; new export products from WesternAsia;(36) analysis of problems and policies affect-ing export performance; and terms of trade indexnumbers.

S ta t i s t i cs

The third meeting of Heads of Central Statisti-cal Organizations in the ESCWA region was con-vened in 1989. The statistics programme under-took a number of joint activities with regional


Arab organizations, including the League of ArabStates, the Arab Fund for Economic and SocialDevelopment and the Arab Institute for Trainingand Research in Statistics. Training activities werecarried out in a workshop on management and ad-ministration of population and housing censusesheld in Amman in June. Publications included twoissues of the Statistical Abstract of the Region ofthe Economic and Social Commission for West-ern Asia , the External Trade Bullet in of theESCWA region and the second issue of the UnitedArab Statistical Abstract (April 1989).

Programme, organizat ional andadminis trat ive quest ions

By a note(37) of 26 April, the Secretary-Generaltransmitted a report of the Joint Inspection Unit(JIU) on ESCWA to the General Assembly and theEconomic and Social Council, with comments ina separate addendum on 24 May.(38)

By a note of 3 April, the Secretary-Generaltransmitted a report(39) of the JIU to the Eco-nomic and Social Council and the governing bod-i e s o f U N D P a n d t h e U N E n v i r o n m e n t P r o -gramme on the contribution of the UN system tothe preservation and management of cultural andnatural heritage in Western Asia. On 14 Novem-ber,(40) in a separate addendum, he transmittedthe comments of the Administrative Committeeon Co-ordination on the report.

By dec i s ion 1989 /182 , on 28 July, the Eco-nomic and Social Council noted a summary(41) ofthe survey of economic and social developmentsin the E S C W A region during the Third UnitedNations Development Decade.(42)

By decis ion 44/423 of 8 December , and byresolution 44/201 A, section I, of 21 December,the General Assembly took note of the JIU reporton ESCWA and the Secretary-General’s comments.

ESCWA work programmeThe Commission adopted three resolutions con-

cerning its work programme. On the basis ofrecommendations of its Technical Committee, theCommission modified its work and priorities forthe biennium 1988-1989.(43) It approved, in prin-ciple, the draft medium-term plan for the period1992-1997, having considered the need to pay moreattention to the two least developed countries in theregion,(44) and it adopted a programme of work andpriorities for the biennium 1990-1991.(45)

REFERENCES

(res. 168(XV)). (8)Ibid. (res. 169(XV)).

(1)E/1989/36. (2)E/ESCWA/15/5. (3)E/ESCWA/1990/1.(4)E/1989/36 (res. 165(XV)). (5)Ibid. (res. 166(XV)). (6)Ibid.(res. 167(XV)).. (7) Ibid.

(9)Ibid. (res. 170(XV)). (10)Ibid. (res. 172(XV)). (11)Ibid.(res. 175(XV). (12)Ibid. (res. 176(XV)). (13)Ibid. (res. 177(XV)).(14) Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the ESCWA Region,1989, Sales No. E.92.II.L2 (summary E/1990/56). (15)YUN 1984,p. 623. (16)E/ESCWA/TCD/89/7. (17)E/ESCWA/TCD/89/9.(18)E/ESCWA/TCD/89/8. (19)E/ESCWA/NR/89/12/Rev.1..(20)E/ESCWA/NR/89/21. (21)E/ESCWA/NR/89/24. (22)E/ESC-WA/AGR/89/4. (23)E/ESCWA/ID/89/12. (24)E/ESCWA/NR/89/14. (25)E/ESCWA/ID/89/2, E/ESCWA/ID/89/13. (26)E/ESC-WA/ID/89/15. (27)E/ESCWA/NR/88/WG.2/3/Rev.1. (28)YUN1979, p. 636. (29)E/ESCWA/NR?89/20. (30)E/ESCWA/DPD/88/4, E/ESCWA/DPD/89/6. (31)YUN 1981, p. 406. (32)E/ESC-WA/SDP/89/8, E/ESCWA/SDP/89/7. (33)E/ESCWA/SDP/89/2.(34)E/ESCWA/SD/89/11. (35)E/ESC/WA/HS/89/1. (36)E/ESCWA/DPD/89/9. (37)A/44/206-E/1989/69 & Corr.1. (38)A/44/206-E/1989/69/Add.1. (39)E/1989/54. (40)E/1989/54/Add.1. (41)E/1989/67. (42)YUN 1980, p. 503, GA res. 35/56, 5 Dec. 1980.(43)E/1989/36 (res. 174(XV)). (44)Ibid. (res. 173(XV)). (45)Ibid(res. 174(XV)).