As you will be aware, Australia was elected to the Economic and
Social Council by the United Nations General Assembly in October
last. The Sixth Session of the Council, the first at which
Australia will be represented, will commence in New York on 2nd
February next.

At the San Francisco Conference, at which the Charter of the
United Nations was adopted, the Australian delegation fought
strongly for the establishment of an effective international
organisation in the economic and social field. It was largely as a
result of these Australian efforts that the Economic and Social
Council emerged as a major United Nations body designed to promote
to the fullest possible extent international economic and social
collaboration. Since that time, every effort has been made by
Australia to ensure that the Council and its subsidiary organs
perform the functions for which they were designed and that they
assist in the creation of an economic and social climate in which
the maintenance of peace will be facilitated. Australia's election
to the Economic and Social Council provides a unique opportunity
to pursue this policy further. It is therefore suggested that a
firm and positive Australian policy should be developed as soon as
possible for the guidance of our delegates at the Sixth Session of
the Council.

The Interdepartmental Committee on ITO [1], which is
representative of all Departments interested in international
economic relationships and which has developed an effective
organisation in its consideration of ITO problems, appears to be
an appropriate Committee for considering Sixth Session policy.

This Committee could be readily and rapidly called together and
would enable us to deal speedily with the immediate problem of
deciding what items, if any, should be added to the agenda for the
Sixth Session.

The type of problem which arises is that of separation of the
activities of the Economic and Social Council from the more
obviously political matters with which the United Nations is
required to concern itself. The broad objective of the Council
should be to develop a comprehensive body of technical, as
distinct from political, recommendations to member governments. It
should aim at achieving a reputation for technical competence,
without leaving itself open to a charge that it has a political
complexion which can be described as either right or left. To take
an example, it should recommend action to maintain full employment
by means of fiscal policy, budgetary stimulus or retardation,
credit policy, social services, labour direction, etc., and in
doing so it should be possible for it to make recommendations
which are technical and factual. Given the objective, certain
measures within any political structure can be indicated as
essential, without the Council embracing any particular political
ideology. This would involve, formally, no new departure but would
be merely a reaffirmation of the Council's functions. The Council
can be most effective if it performs adequately the function of
expert analysis and indicates the price of rigid adherence to
certain political ideals as nearly as possible in terms of pounds,
shillings and pence of economic and social distress. At the Sixth
Session, therefore, the Council might be asked to consider the
extent to which it should aim primarily at the achievement of
technical competence.

If the Council is to achieve a high standard of technical
competence, members of the Council and its subsidiary organs must
be highly qualified in the fields in which they are appointed to
work and must be able to devote all or a major part of their time
to Council problems. It may be desirable for the Australian
delegates to raise this at the Sixth Session and to insist that
member governments make appointments to the Council and its
subsidiary organs with these factors in mind.

The programme of meetings of the Council and its subsidiary organs
is also involved. Rule 1 of the Rules and Procedure of the Council
provides that it 'shall hold at least three Sessions a year'. The
Commissions and Sub-Commissions, however, on which the Council
will depend for detailed consideration of specific problems, will
meet, except in one or two cases, only once a year. This means in
effect that the 'working bodies' are spending less time in session
than the body charged with the supervision of their work, and it
is impossible for the Council to get the detailed guidance from
the Commissions and Sub-Commissions which is expected. The
tendency is for all the work to fall on the Secretariat, which in
practice performs the functions of the Commissions and Sub-
Commissions. Additional meetings will mean additional expense. The
choice is, however, between substantial expenditure for no return
and expenditure adequate to achieve the return expected when the
Commissions and Sub-Commissions were set up. The Sixth Session
should accordingly give consideration to the future programme of
meetings of the Commissions and Sub-Commissions with a view to
enabling them to carry out the purposes for which they were
established.

The Fifth Session of the Council passed a resolution providing
that member governments should report on steps taken by them to
implement recommendations of the Council. This resolution helps to
take the Council out of the debating sphere into the practical
field of direct influence on governmental policies. Australian
policy should, it is suggested, aim at having this resolution
fully carried out. The first problem is, however, to draw
resolutions from the Council which are worthy of governmental
implementation.

Improved technical competence, more frequent meetings of
subsidiary bodies and reports by member governments all place an
additional burden on the Secretariat. Furthermore, it is required
to produce factual surveys on world economic conditions and trends
and it is hoped that preparations by the Secretariat for future
meetings of the Council and subsidiary bodies will be generally
more adequate than in the past. There is involved, therefore, the
question of additional recruitment to the Secretariat and
provision of funds for this recruitment. The Sixth Session should
give detailed consideration to this question.

Article 63 of the United Nations Charter places on the Council the
responsibility for co-ordination of the activities of the
specialised economic agencies. This responsibility should be not
merely the negative one of correcting any duplication of
activities which may occur but should be regarded in a positive
sense of giving direction to the activities of the various
agencies. Policy direction should be distinguished from co-
ordination of administrative affairs which has been placed in the
care of a Coordinating Committee composed of officers of the
Secretariat and the specialised agencies. While the latter should
continue, policy direction should receive the greater emphasis.

The Regional Economic Commissions should be able to assist.

The above does not pretend to be an exhaustive analysis of the
problems facing the Council, but rather a general guide to these
problems. With your concurrence, I would suggest that the
Department of External Affairs should call a meeting of the
Interdepartmental Committee on ITO early in the New Year to
discuss these problems. The Secretary of the Department of
External Affairs should, I think, act as Chairman for this
purpose.

I should be pleased to have your views on this matter. [2]

[H. V. EVATT]

Acting Prime Minister