The second meeting of the Caribbean Research Council was held from May 27 to 30, 1949 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, under the chairmanship of H. J. Page, Chairman of the Council. The agenda included a review of the work of the research branch of the central secretariat of the Commission as well as proposals for future research work in the area. The Council highly commended the staff of the research branch of the secretariat and the acting deputy chairman of the Council for the imagination and resourcefulness shown in the development of the research program and for the volume of practical work accomplished since the last meeting of the Council. Forty recommendations, covering a wide range of area research, were submitted for the consideration of the Commission.

With the ratification of the North Atlantic treaty by France on August 24, 1949, the treaty came into force. France was the last of the seven nations drafting the alliance to file its ratification, the six other original countries – the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Luxembourg – having previously ratified the treaty. Ratifications had also been filed by the other five nations which later became associated with the pact: Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal and Italy.

The Consultative Council consisting of the five foreign ministers held its sixth session on June 17 and 18, 1949. Although discussion was not publicized and no decision was announced, a communiqué was issued by the Council giving the principal matters discussed by the ministers. An important item on the agenda concerned aspects of the German problem in collaboration with “political questions of mutual interest”. The Council examined the progress accomplished in plans for the common defense of the five countries, in particular the report of the last session of the defense ministers' conference, and considered a report of the finance and economic committee on the application of the decisions reached at the fifth session of the Council. The reports of the Secretary-General on a year of cooperation in social and cultural matters between the five countries were approved and directions given for further work in these fields.

On August 3, 1949 Luxembourg, Norway and Italy deposited their instruments of ratification, bringing the total number of ratifications to the seven necessary to bring the Statute of the Council of Europe into force. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland had already ratified the statute.

At a meeting on June 15, 1949, the Council of the Organization of American States adopted a resolution establishing a permanent mixed commission of six members, three each from the Council and the Inter-American Economic and Social Council, to ensure close collaboration between the two organs and to facilitate the work of the economic council. The resolution especially recommended the study of the economic problems listed in Resolution X of the Bogotá Conference.

Quadripartite Activity: During a brief meeting held on July 26, 1949 the deputy military governors agreed to a protocol for future discussion of quadripartite problems. Under the agreement, drawn up to implement the June 20 communiqué of the Council of Foreign Ministers, discussions were to be held on the level of the chiefs of occupation authorities or deputies and a subordinate level of conferences of experts. The commandants were to concern themselves with “consideration of questions of common interest relating to the administration of the four sectors of Berlin with a view to normalizing as far as possible the life of the city” and the experts were to deal with problems such as expansion of trade, economic relations between the western zones and the eastern zone, facilitation of movement of persons and goods, and the exchange of information between the zones. At the August 18 meeting of the commandants there was considerable difference of opinion between Brig. General Frank L. Howley (United States) and General Alexander G. Kotikov (Soviet Union) over a Soviet proposal that any decision made in a meeting would be formalized in a quadripartite agreement. General Howley stated that he opposed the idea because the foreign ministers Paris communiqué had instructed the commandants to come to “points of view” on Berlin problems; not to issue four-power agreements on them and such a procedure as suggested by General Kotikov would turn the meetings back into the Kommandatura procedure.

Following the close of the sixth session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Paris on June 20, 1949, negotiations for an Austrian treaty were resumed by the Deputies in London. With 22 articles of the treaty still unagreed, the Deputies received a directive on major questions which they were to spell out in detail, reporting to the Council by September 1, 1949, on the draft treaty as a whole.

In July 1949, negotiations for a European payments agreement to finance international trade, which had been delayed by a dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States over currency convertibility, were blocked by a difference between the Swiss and the United States governments regarding the terms of Switzerland's participation. The Swiss government had refused to sign the bilateral agreement with the United States which all other members of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation receiving dollar aid had done, on the ground that it needed no dollar aid for itself and that the bilateral agreement would give the United States a right to check on the Swiss economy. The payments committee of the OEEC Council had attempted to bring Switzerland into the payments plan to widen the area of more liberal trade, urged by the United States. The committee's proposal that half of Switzerland's trade surplus be financed by a grant of dollars and half by trade credits on the terms of the Economic Cooperation Administration as advanced by Switzerland to her debtors was submitted to the Swiss Federal Council. Following the statement by the Economic Cooperation Administration that dollars could not be had without signature by Switzerland of a bilateral accord with the United States, the Swiss Federal Council refused to sign the accord.

The nineteenth annual report of the Bank for International Settlements, which reviewed the period from April 1, 1948 to March 31, 1949, noted progress in the field of general economic and monetary affairs, especially in western Europe, with the fight against inflationary tendencies successfully waged in almost every European country. Noting the disappearance of the seller's market as the most outstanding development of the year, it called for more production through greater efficiency, but warned that it must be of goods demanded by a flexible price system. It was recognized that fewer restrictions on trade tended to develop a broader international outlook in individual countries, and the Report recommended further planning with an eye toward lessening restrictions as the goal for the year.

The eighth plenary meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee was held in Brussels from April 25 to 30, 1949, to review the world cotton situation and exchange information concerning the cotton policies of the member governments. Eighteen nations were represented at the meeting while twelve governments sent observers.

On June 24, 1947 the International Sugar Council met in London with the representatives of sixteen countries present. A motion was carried which recommended the extension until August 31, 1948 of the International Sugar Agreement by protocol signed by the member governments. The Council appointed a committee of experts to examine sugar statistics, estimate probable production and consumption of sugar during the years 1947–48 and 1948–49, and to forecast the future trend of the sugar market as a basis for the consideration of the need for reformulating the agreement. Members of the Council were urged to submit all available data by the end of August 1947.

The third meeting of the International Tin Study Group was held at The Hague from October 25 through 29,1948. Fifty-five delegates and advisors were present to represent the fourteen member governments. The Group discussed common problems in connection with production, consumption and trade and reviewed the world statistical position of tin.

On July 6 and 7, 1948 a meeting was held in Washington to which were invited representatives of the 36 governments which had signed the International Wheat Agreement concluded there March 6, 1948. Representatives of the following countries informed the meeting that their governments had ratified the agreement and had deposited their formal instruments of acceptance with the United States State Department by the deadline of July 1: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Belgium, Cuba, Greece, the Netherlands, and Poland indicated that their legislatures had ratified and that formal instruments of acceptance would be deposited early that month. The representatives present discussed the possibilities of further ratifications, particularly the prospects of ratification by the United States Government, and decided that prospects of ratification during the 1948–49 crop-year were remote. Thereupon, representatives of some of the ratifying states gave notice that their governments withdrew from the agreement, because the guaranteed quantities of countries which had formally accepted it were insufficient to ensure its successful operation. A preparatory committee was appointed consisting of the representatives of Australia, the Benelux customs union, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States to keep under review prospects of concluding a new international wheat agreement. The United States was invited to convene the meeting as soon as it considered the time propitious to negotiate a new international agreement.

The sixth meeting of the Rubber Study Group was held in London from March 29 to April 1, 1949, under the chairmanship of Sir Gerard Clauson. Fifteen member nations attended the sessions whose primary object was to review the world rubber situation and discuss problems relating to production, consumption and trade in rubber. Countries attending included Australia, Belgium, the British Colonies, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, the Netherlands and Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The year between 1 July 1948 and 30 June 1949 covered in this, my fourth annual report on the work of the United Nations, has been, on the whole, a year of progress towards a more peaceful world.

It is true that the world has had its full share of crises and alarms. The rival claims in an ideological conflict have been pressed as though they were the only issue of our times, while the great Powers have continued their efforts to strengthen their relative positions before the situation is brought nearer to stability by the conclusion of peace treaties. Although overshadowed by the great Power differences, movements of national independence and social upheavals in many parts of the world have unavoidably contributed to international tensions. These conditions, which have persisted since the war ended, continue to cause widespread anxiety among the peoples of the world as to the prospects for world peace and the ability of the United Nations to prevent a third world war.

In accordance with Article 83 of the Charter, and with the resolution adopted by the Security Council at its 415th meeting on 8 March 1949 and the resolution adopted by the Trusteeship Council at the forty-sixth meeting of its fourth session on 24 March 1949, the Trusteeship Council has carried out on behalf of the Security Council those functions of the United Nations under the International Trusteeship System relating to political, economic, social and educational advancement of the inhabitants of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, designated as a strategic area.

Having considered the report prepared by the Secretary-General, in consulltation with the specialized agencies, on an expanded programme of technical assistance for economic development, pursuant to resolution 180 (VIII), 2 Being impressed with the significant contribution to economic development that can be made by an expansion of the international interchange of technical knowledge through international co-operation among countries, Believing that a sound international programme of this character must combine and make use of the experience of many nations, with different social patterns and cultural traditions and at different stages of development, so as to facilitate progress in the less advanced countries and to help solve their technical and economic problems.

The Council established by Article 9 of the North Atlantic treaty held its first session in Washington on Sept. 17, 1949. Representatives of the parties to the treaty attending this first session were:

For Belgium — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Paul Van Zeeland.

For Canada — The Secretary of State for External Affairs, Mr. Lester B. Pearson.

For Denmark — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gustav Rasmussen.

For France — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Robert Schuman.

For Iceland — The Minister to the United States, Mr. Thor Thors.

For Italy — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Sforza.

For Luxembourg — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Josef Bech.

For the Netherlands — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dirk U. Stikker.

For Norway — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Halvard M. Lange.

For Portugal — The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jose Caeiro da Matta.

For the United Kingdom — The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ernest Bevin.

For the United States — The Secretary of State, Mr. Dean Acheson.