Economic and Social Council

Extract

Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East: The fifth session of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East opened at Singapore on October 20,1949. Among the items considered at the session were the reports of ECAFE's various subordinate and technical bodies; the question of admission of Viet-Nam and Korea to associate membership; reports on continued cooperation with the specialized agencies and on the United Nations program of technical assistance for economic development; and the plan for an economic survey of Asia and the Far East for 1949. Under the chairmanship of Malik Sir Firoz Khan Noon (Pakistan) the commission turned first to the question of the admission of associate members. Applications were before the commission from both the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the French-supported State of Viet-Nam, as well as from both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. The commission heard discussion by the representatives of France (Maux) and the Soviet Union (Nemtchina) on the legality of the respective Vietnamese applications and, by a vote of 8 to 1, admitted the State of Viet-Nam to associate membership. After comment by the representatives of the United States (Cowen) and the Soviet Union (Nemtchina) in support of the two Korean applications, the commission by a vote of 11 to 1 approved admission of the Republic of Korea and rejected the application of the Korean People's Republic by a vote of 9 to 2.