Coordination is naturally fostered by knowledge, and hampered by ignorance, of what others in the international field–Governments, organs and staff–are doing and thinking. The obligation to take account of what others are doing which rests on Governments and intergovernmental organs, as well as on individual staff members, is fundamental. In a very real sense, coordination is also exercised, willy-nilly, by every expert group or person or organ whose views carry authority. There is certainly a need for international institutions and procedures especially concerned with coordination and we shall now discuss briefly the roles of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in this connexion, while bearing in mind that the importance and the usefulness of institutionalized coordination have tended to be exaggerated–with resultant loss of time and effort. Whatever the effect on the General Assembly's authority and effectiveness of the confrontations on economic policy that have occurred in recent years, it is well to bear in mind that in this period both the General Assembly and the Council have been making a serious attempt to address themselves to the task of increasing not only efficiency but also coherence and coordination in the United Nations System.

The General Assembly

Under the Charter, the General Assembly is the highest authority in matters of coordination within the system.