The New International Economic Order and UNCTAD IV

Abstract

The Institute of Social Studies organised a seminar on the NIEO and UNCTAD IV from October 21st-23rd. This had been requested by the UNCTAD Secretariat as part of a world-wide attempt to (i) promote more active participation by intellectuals and other interested groups in the preparation of UNCTAD IV, and (ii) create enlightened public support for the development issues which will be dealt with at UNCTAD IV. The seminar was attended by more than 100 Dutch experts and people from research institutions, business enterprises, trade unions, political parties, government organisations, action groups and mass media.The plenary session was opened by the Rector ad interim of the Institute, Professor J. G. M. Hilhorst, who outlined a theoretical framework in which the NIEO could be discussed. Professor Tinbergen then elaborated his project 'Reviewing the liiternational Order' and posed a series of inter-related questions, the answers to which would constitute the building blocks for the new order.Participants were then divided into five working groups, each concerned with a crucial problem area about which papers had been written and distributed in advance.Working Group I dealt with the world food problem, the most appalling aspect of underdevelopment, on the basis of a quantitative model prepared by a research group from the Free University of Amsterdam. In view of the fact that the situation can only be improved by a substantive increase in food production in the poor countries, Working Group I was of the opinion that traditional food aid should be given only as a short-run measure; all effort should be concentrated on achieving a stable price level that is high enough to enhance production but not so high as to increase the hunger of the poorest strata in the developing countries. This will require the establishment of international buffer stocks. Rich countries should maintain the higher price level by manipulating their imports and exports, i.e. by an internal agricultural policy by which quantities produced could be controlled