At its fourteenth meeting, held in Guadeloupe from May 6 to 10, 1952, the Caribbean Commission reviewed the report of the Conference on Industrial Development which met in February in Puerto Rico, expressed its appreciation of the report, and passed it on, together with the commission's comments, to local and metropolitan governments for study of its 33 recommendations. The commission gave special consideration to the conference recommendation relating to an examination by an expert of the effect of income tax laws and practices on “pioneer industries”, instructing the Secretary-General (de Vriendt) to ascertain from the chairman of the United Nations Fiscal Commission or other appropriate international bodies whether the service of an expert on this kind of fiscal problem could be made available. Regarding the recommendation that it should arrange for studies of selected industries, the commission felt that industrialists and industrial organizations concerned, territorial governments and suitable international bodies should be asked to share the expenses of such studies and directed the Secretary-General to investigate possibilities in this respect.

Mr. Paul van Zeeland (Belgium) presided over the eleventh session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe which was held in Strasbourg, May 22 and 23. Several meetings of the ministers' deputies had been held prior to the convening of the eleventh session to consider primarily the Eden proposals, in particular a memorandum circulated by the United Kingdom deputy expanding his government's ideas. On the basis of this memorandum and on replies to a questionnaire circulated to governments by the deputies, the deputies reported to the Committee of Ministers that “it had not been possible to reach agreement on the action to be taken on the British proposals … the majority of the delegations considered that the Committee of Ministers and the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe … could be used as the ministerial and parliamentary institutions of (the restricted) Çommunities.” At its eleventh session, the Committee of Ministers, noting the report of the deputies, decided to give formal approval to the principles underlying the Eden proposals and to request the opinion of the Consultative Assembly on the best means of giving them effect.

Military and Economic Matters: One of the major questions discussed during the summer and autumn of 1952 both in organs of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and between its members was the degree to which the 1952 defense commitments undertaken by NATO states at the Lisbon meeting of the Council in February, 1952, had been met. Preparatory to another meeting of the foreign ministers of NATO countries scheduled for December 15, 1952, preliminary estimates of the program for the coming year were being prepared on the basis of replies to questionnaires on the success of the current program and the outlook for 1953.

European Payments Union: On June 30 the Council of EPU decided that the organization should continue for an additional year in accordance with Article 11 of the agreement. Special arrangements had to be made with the Belgian-Luxembourg economic union and with Portugal to settle surpluses beyond their respective quotas up to June 30, 1952. The settlement with the Belgian-Luxembourg economic union consisted of a payment by the union of $80 million in gold as part repayment of the credit and, on the part of the Belgian-Luxembourg economic union, a supplementary tranche beyond her creditor quota of 85.2 u/a settled as 42.6 million in gold and 42.6 million in credit. After the various adjustments, the cumulative accounting surplus of the Belgian-Luxembourg economic union came to 415.8 million u/a of which 33.6 million were within the quota and 85.2 million were beyond the quota. In the case of Portugal, the union waived its rights to recover $3 million in gold and the Portuguese accounting surplus was reduced to 15 million u/a settled as to 6 million in gold and 9 million in credit.

Receiving primary consideration by the Fisheries Conference of specialists representing the six member governments of the South Pacific Commission, which met at Commission headquarters from May 14 to 22, 1952, was the development of fishing within the south Pacific area to meet the nutritional needs of the people. The conference stressed that in some territories populations were growing so rapidly that even present levels of fish consumption could be maintained only by increasing production. After discussing potential sources of fish foods, the conference considered that present methods used in processing, marketing and distribution of fish in the south Pacific were generally inadequate. It recommended the establishment where necessary of territorial fishing services to encourage development of the industry; requested the commission to explore the possibility of providing a special lecture course on fisheries administration for officers recruited within the region; and recommended that governments promote the development of community fishing enterprises, encourage the use of modern fishing techniques, and aid fishermen to acquire the necessary powered craft and modern equipment.