CM/RES 513 (XXVII) Page 1
RESOLUTION ON THE RESULTS OF UNCTAD IV
The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity meeting in its Twenty- Seventh Ordinary Session at Port Louis, Mauritius, from 24 June to 3rd July, 1976.
Having taken note of reports CM/754/XXVII and E/CN.14/UNCTAD.IV/4, presented respectively by the Secretariats of the OAU and ECA on the assessment of the results of UNCTAD IV;
Recalling the African Declaration on Co-operation, Development and Economic Independence;
Recalling further the Declaration and Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order and the Charter on the Economic Rights and Duties of States;
Recalling also the relevant Resolutions adopted at the Fourth Summit Conference of Non-Aligned Counties (Algiers, September 1973), and the Dakar Declaration and Programme of Action on Raw Materials;
Bearing in mind the Manila Declaration and Programme of action;
Noting with deep disappointment the failure of negotiations at UNCTAD IV, particularly in spheres vital to the African countries, and the meager results obtained;
Aware of the determination of the developing countries in general, and the African countries, in particular, to jointly pursue their economic development through a policy and strategy of co-operation and economic integration based on collective self-reliance and thus do away with the vertical structure of international economic relations imposed by colonialism;
EXPRESSES ITS DEEP CONCERN at the systematic rejection by the developed countries of the legitimate claims of developing countries to alleviate the injustice and imbalance in international Economic relations.
REAFFIRMS once again the need for AFRICAN COUNTRIES to pursue the objectives of self-development, Economic Independence and the establishment of a new international economic order;
REQUESTS the Administrative Secretary-General of the OAU and the Executive Secretary of ECA to define a common African stand on the basis of the result of UNCTAD IV and to submit the conclusions to a meeting of African countries to be held prior to the Summit Conference of Non-Aligned Countries scheduled to take place in Colombo (SRI-LANKA) in August 1976;
INVITES the OAU Member States participating in the said conference to study in depth the results of UNCTAD IV in order to determine the guiding principles and draw up the programme of action for political and economic so-operation between the Third World Countries;
APPEALS to the African countries to establish an appropriate framework for discussions, consultations and negotiations such as the annual organization of a Conference of African Ministers of Trade, Finance, or Economic Development and Planning under the auspices of the OAU and the ECA;
DECIDES in the light of paragraph 4, that an extra-ordinary session of the Council of Ministers should be organized and convened in Kinshasa before the end of 1976 to adopt concrete measures for intra-African economic, financial and political so-operation;
REQUESTS the Administrative Secretary-General of the OAU to take immediately, the necessary measures to organize, in 1977, and in collaboration with the ECA and other International Organizations concerned with the ECA and other International Organizations concerned, a meeting of plenipotentiaries, preceded by appropriate preparatory meeting with a view to setting up an African centre for development and the transfer of technology in accordance with the CASTAFRICA decisions (Dakar, January 1974) and resolution TD/L.III of UNCTAD IV on the transfer of technology;
EARNESTLY REQUESTS OAU member States to attend the ministerial meeting on economic co-operation between developing countries scheduled to be held in Mexico City (Mexico) from 6 – 14 September 1976, and to this end:
CALLS ON the Administrative Secretary-General of the OAU, in collaboration with the Executive Secretary of the ECA to prepare and co- ordinate the African stand for this conference;
REQUESTS the OAU Advisory Committee on Budgetary and Financial Matters to make available to the OAU Secretariat the necessary means for it to accomplish this task;
URGES member countries, to support all efforts made by the Group of 19 in the Paris North-South Conference to ensure that the “Manila Programme of Action”, and especially the Integrated Programme for Commodities, is accepted in the negotiations, that necessary measure are taken immediately for its implementation and that more effective participation is secured in the multi-lateral Trade negotiations which are now being held in Geneva under the auspice of GATT.