Afro-Asians Plan To Oust S.A. At Geneva

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30399, 25 March 1964, Page 17

Afro-Asians Plan To Oust S.A. At Geneva

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copurioht >

GENEVA, March 24.

A five-nation resolution aimed at expelling South Africa is expected to come before today’s session of the United Nations Trade and Development Conference in Geneva. The resolution, sponsored by Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, the former French Congo and Algeria, will be tabled “at the earliest opportunity,” according to Afro-Asian sources.

It was learned that 1 the South African ] delegate was not al- . lowed to take the floor i at a private meeting , of the Afro-Asian ] group last night, but ; declared that he would i protest today against ’ the treatment of his i delegation. ; i Today’s session will first hear the speech of Dr. Raul | Prebisch, of Argentina, the secretary-general of the conference. The United Nations Secre-tary-General (U Thant) formally opened the 120-nation conference yesterday. He said the United Nations must make a determined effort to solve international economic problems or risk seeing its work for peace frustrated. Adverse trends in the terms of trade had nullified “to a marked extent” multilateral and bilateral assistance programmes to the developing countries, creating the need for control of market forces that had “until now been permitted to counter Government policies,” he said. Not Developing U Thant said a large part of the world usually described as developing was in fact not developing, or not developing fast enough. Such countries were not only lagging more and more behind the industrial societies, but in certain cases in absolute terms their living standards were deteriorating, especially taking into account their population growth. “The contrast between the developed and the underdeveloped parts of the world and the awareness of this contrast on the part of the peoples of Asia, Africa and paralleled by growing political awakening together with continued economic bondage and poverty—these are the premises which in my view constitute the real background of this conference,” U Thant said. In a message cabled to the conference Mr Khrushchev asserted that “imperialist exploitation” was the root cause of the developing countries’ balance of payments problems. He also spoke again of Soviet demands for the estab-

lishment of an international trade organisation aimed at promoting East-West trade, superseding the general agreement of Tariffs and Trade.

An expected bid by the Soviet bloc to add China, East Germany, North Vietnam and North Korea to the conference participants—limited by the United Nations General Assembly to members of the United Nations or its specialised agencies—failed to materialise yesterday. At a private meeting of heads of delegations before

the conference, the Ukraine, backed by the Soviet representative, tried to have East Germany invited since West Germany is attending as a member of specialised agencies. Opposition from a number of countries, including the United States, Britain, France and Japan, frustrated this move.

Dr. Abdel Moneim al Kaissouni. Minister of Treasury and Planning of the United Arab Republic, was unanimously elected president of the conference.