UN conference in Havana, Cuba in 1948, the ITO's charter included a set
of rules and procedures for the conclusion and operation of international
commodity agreements (UN, 1948b). Pending the ratification of the ITO's charter,
ECOSOC requested the UN secretary-general to appoint an Interim Co-ordinating
Committee for International Commodity Arrangements to facilitate intergovern-
mental consultation or action in this field. In the committee's work, less import-
ance was attributed to the use of commodity agreements in connection with
persistent `burdensome surpluses' and more attention was paid to the avoidance
of excessive fluctuations, however caused, in commodity prices. Instability, it was
pointed out, could be caused by shortage as well as surpluses, a view shared by
the FAO Conference and other FAO bodies. In 1954, ECOSOC decided to establish
a Commission for International Commodity Trade and to transfer to it some of
the general commodity review functions of the interim co-ordinating committee.
But the ITO was never ratified. It became a victim of hostility in the US Congress
during the communist witch-hunt conducted by Senator Joseph McCarthy. In
place of the ITO came the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which
was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The key function
of commodity price stabilization was not included among the functions of either
the GATT or the WTO, to the disadvantage particularly of developing countries.
restriction of production. Thus, it vigorously endorsed the idea of making surpluses
available to needy countries at special prices for approved nutrition-improvement
programmes. It also proposed that the FAO Conference should undertake a more
elaborate annual review of the world food and agricultural situation, acting as a
kind of world food parliament through which governments would co-operate in
shaping policies, plans and programmes. In addition, the commission advocated
larger investments, both national and international, in agricultural development
and urged much more active work by other UN bodies, particularly ECOSOC,
in stimulating industrial development. It also undertook a number of studies of
individual commodities and made recommendations. In the case of wheat, for
example, it outlined guiding principles for an international wheat agreement,
which were useful later when the first post-war international wheat agreement
was being negotiated. In the case of rice, the commission recommended an
international conference in Southeast Asia, the first move toward setting up the
International Rice Commission.
body. But he was bitterly disappointed over the failure of his original proposals to
win endorsement. He therefore made up his mind to resign as director-general of
FAO. He agreed to continue in office until his successor was appointed in 1948.
He believed strongly in the technical assistance work of FAO and felt that world
food and agricultural production could be significantly increased if farmers could
only apply on a wide scale what was already known. But he was impatient: `when