72. Airgram From the Department of State to All Posts in the American Republics1
SUBJECT
- IA-ECOSOC Meetings in Sao Paulo
The Second Annual Meetings of the Inter-American Economic and Social Council were held in Sao Paulo, Brazil between October 29 and November 16, 1963. The meeting at the Expert Level was from October 29 through November 9; the meeting at the Ministerial Level was from November 11 through November 16.
At the Expert Level meeting 34 resolutions were approved in final form in addition to 14 draft resolutions for submission to the Ministerial Meeting, as well as a draft agenda for the Ministerial meeting. The IA-ECOSOC meeting at the Ministerial Level adopted 28 resolutions including those transmitted by the Experts.
A summary of the substantive analysis and conclusions of the IA-ECOSOC at the Expert Level is contained in a 225 page report on the Alliance for Progress. The Ministers issued a very brief report entitled “The Alliance for Progress and its Outlook”.
The final reports of the IA-ECOSOC meetings at the Expert and Ministerial Levels, as well as the two substantive reports—The Alliance for Progress: its Second Year (225 p.), and The Alliance for Progress and its Outlook (10 p., included in final report of the Ministerial meeting), will be sent to all Missions ASAP.2 Secretariat expects them to be reproduced in about two weeks.
The Sao Paulo meetings can be considered to have been most successful, not just because of the specific actions taken, but more importantly, because after two years of existence the Alliance for Progress has enlisted the support and the open commitment of responsible Latin American governments.
The U.S. press (though, significantly, not the Brazilian press) foresaw dire consequences from the implied downgrading of the Alliance by Goulart, in his speech, and from the inadequate performance of the Brazilian delegation. The major point was missed: the rest of Latin American delegations stood solidly behind the Alliance, thus forcing Brazil to go along or face isolation.
[Page 169]On the specifics:
- 1.
- We went to Sao Paulo expecting a strong Latin American initiative for the creation of a Committee to provide a more multilateral character to the Alliance for Progress. The expectations were fully verified. The Inter-American Committee on the Alliance for Progress (CIAP) is to be constituted at a special meeting of IA-ECOSOC which is scheduled to convene in Washington January 15, 1964, to designate the chairman and the seven members of CIAP. Separate Airgram on CIAP has been sent to all posts.3
- 2.
- The ministers approved in principle the establishment of an OAS fund to support special Alliance programs undertaken by the Pan American Union. Thus by January 1, 1965, the U.S. unilateral grant to the OAS will be multilateralized through voluntary contributions from the member governments.
- 3.
- Much emphasis was given to the participation of private groups in the preparation of development plans and their implementation. A special committee of IA-ECOSOC was created to deal with labor matters. Also, a resolution was adopted calling for the establishment of National Trade Union Advisory Committees for the Alliance for Progress.
- 4.
- The Latin Americans showed their usual concern with trade problems, and expressed great interest in the UNCTAD. We demonstrated our sympathy for their problems, and sponsored a resolution creating a special committee of IA-ECOSOC which will recommend new or improved methods or institutions to promote exports, especially of manufactured and semi-manufactured products. Also in reference to trade, a temporary special committee of IA-ECOSOC will hold a meeting in Buenos Aires, February 24-March 14, 1964, to coordinate, so far as feasible, the positions of the Latin American countries at the UNCTAD; the U.S. will be an observer. Brazil had apparently wanted instead a gathering of Latin Americans outside of IA-ECOSOC.
The consensus of the U.S. delegation is that the cause of the Alliance has been much further advanced because of the meetings in Sao Paulo.
IA-ECOSOC decided to accept the offer of Peru, so that the Third Annual Meetings of IA-ECOSOC will be held in Lima in late 1964.