Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated February 3, 1956: ECAFE meet at Bangalore

"The vast and immense problems confronting the peoples of Asia cannot be solved just merely by copying the examples of the developed countries of the world. We will have to solve our own problems ourselves learning from others," declared Prime Minister Nehru, while inaugurating the 12th session of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East at the Town Hall in Bangalore on February 2. In an address lasting nearly an hour, Mr. Nehru touched on some of the important problems affecting the countries of the ECAFE region, like the pace of industrialisation, unemployment and under-employment. Referring to aid to the underdeveloped and backward countries, he pleaded for help without any strings or conditions attached to it. He commended the UN proposal to establish a Special Fund for Economic Development to give aid to the backward nations. Addressing the session, the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Dag Hammarskjoeld, declared that the work of the ECAFE in promoting and assisting in the planning of economic growth in the countries of the region was of great importance and of profound interest to the whole world. "For this work, we in the Secretariat will regard it as an obligation to provide all available resources which member-countries may require individually and collectively." He said that owing to the patience and determination of the Commission and its member-governments, the initial difficulties such as shortage of data and lack of experience in economic policy-making and planning and in modes of international cooperation were now substantially behind them. "The main problem now is no longer how to advance but how to advance more rapidly," he added.

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