REPORT OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECLARATION ON THE GRANTING OF
INDEPENDENCE TO COLONIAL COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES
POLICIES OF APARTHEID OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE ORGANIZATION
OF AFRICAN UNITY
QUESTION OF PALESTINE THE SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION
OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
FOOD PROBLEMS
ASSESSMENT OF THE PROGRESS MADE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTIONS 2626 (XXV), 3202 (S-Vl), 328l (XXIX) AND 3362 (S-VII), ENTITLED RESPECTIVELY 'INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE SECOND UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT DECADE", "PROGRAMME OF ACTION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER", "CHARTER OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF STATES AND "DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION"
ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AMONG DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION AMONG
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
WORLD CONFERENCE TO COMBAT RACISM AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
IMPORTANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL REALIZATION OF THE RIGHT OF PEOPLES
TO SELF-DETERMINATION AND OF THE SPEEDY GRANTING OF INDEPENDENCE
TO COLONIAL COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES FOR THE EFFECTIVE GUARANTEE
AND OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
QUESTION OF NAMIBIA
QUESTION OF SOUTHERN RHODESIA
Letter dated 15 March 1977 from the Deputy Prime Minister and. Minister for Foreign Affairs of Egypt to the Secretary-General
I have the honour to transmit to you herewith the following documents of the First Afro-Arab Summit Conference Meeting held in Cairo from 7 to 9 March 1977:
Political Declaration (annex I)
Declaration on Afro-Arab Economic and Financial Co-operation (annex II)
Declaration and Programme of Action on"Afro-Arab Co-operation (annexIII)
Organization and Method for the Realization of Afro-Arab Co-operation (annex IV)
I kindly request that these documents be published and circulated as a single official document of the General Assembly under items 12, 23, 26, 28, 29, 30, 57 58, 60, 62, 66, 69, 71, 73, 74, 76, 88 and 89 of the preliminary list.
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(Signed) Ismail FAHMY Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Egypt |
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ANNEX I
Political Declaration
POLITICAL DECLARATION
1. The First Conference of Heads of State and Government of the OAU and the League of Arab States met at Cairo from 7 to 9 March 1977.
2. The African and Arab Heads of State and Government guided by the faith of their peoples in the promotion of Afro-Arab Cooperation based on the principles and objectives of the Charters of the Organisation of African Unity and the League of Arab States and on the application of their common political will as expressed in their relevant resolutions and decisions adopted by the Summit Conferences of their respective Organisations, examined and adopted the Draft Declaration and Programme of Action prepared by the meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council at Dakar from 19 to 22 April 1976 dealing with cooperation in the political, diplomatic, economic, financial, commercial, educational, cultural, scientific, social and technical fields.
3. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference reaffirms its commitment to the principles of non-alignment and peaceful coexistence and to the establishment of a just international economic order.
4. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference affirms its commitment to the principles of respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference in the internal affairs of other States, non- aggression, self-determination, and the inadmissibility of the occupation or annexation of territories by force and the peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts.
5. The African and Arab Heads of State and Government reaffirm the need to strengthen their peoples' united front in their struggle for national liberation and condemn imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, zionism, apartheid and all other forms of discrimination and racial and religious segregation, especially under the forms in which they appear in Southern Africa, Palestine and the other occupied Arab and African territories. In this connection they express their full support for the struggle of the peoples of Palestine, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa and the so-called French Somaliland (Djibouti) ,for the recovery of their legitimate national rights and the exercise of their right to self-determination and affirm their support for the political unity and territorial integrity of the Comoros.
6. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference invites the OAU and the League of Arab States to exchange information regularly on the development of the common struggle for the -liberation of their respective peoples in Africa and the Middle East to enable member States to play an effective and positive role in this respect.
7. The African and Arab Heads of State and Government condemn the constant military aggressions as well as other political and economic manoeuvres carried out by imperialism through the racist regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia and their allies, against the sovereign States of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia with the aim of politically destabilizing the governments of these countries and of sabotaging their efforts for economic development. The Summit regards such aggressions as directed against the Afro-Arab world and a threat against world peace. The Conference also condemns similar activities carried out by Israel against Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and the people of Palestine. Further, the African and Arab Heads of State and Government decided that their respective countries should provide and increase their material support and any other type of assistance required to enable these countries to consolidate and defend their independence.
The Conference condemns the Israeli authorities for their persistence in changing the demographic and geographic features of the occupied Arab territories in violation of the international law and H.N. resolutions. The Conference demands that Israel should desist from taking such measures with a view to creating better conditions to facilitate the establishment of a settlement in the region.
8. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference decides that increased efforts be made within the OAU, the Arab League and the United Nations and all other international Forums to find the most effective ways and means of accentuating at the international level the political and economic isolation of Israel, South Africa and Rhodesia as long as the regimes of these countries persist in racist, expansionist and aggressive policies. To this effect, the Summit Conference affirms the necessity to continue to impose total boycott, political, diplomatic, cultural, sporting and economic and in particular the oil embargo against these regimes.
9. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference expresses its strong conviction that the implementation of the Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Co-operation will constitute a significant turning point in history for the strengthening of all forms of ties between them, the consolidation of their political independence and sovereignty particularly their permanent control over their natural resources, in the struggle of the peoples of the Third World and the maintenance of world peace and security.
10. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference, after a thorough examination of the situation, expressed great concern about the problems of Palestine, the Middle East, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
Fully convinced that these causes are Afro-Arab causes, the Summit decides to extend its total support to the peoples struggling against the racist and Zionist regimes and to the Frontline States bordering confrontation zones for their assistance to the National Liberation Struggle.
11. The Conference strongly condemns the practice of mercenaries and undertakes to eliminate this phenomenon in Africa and the Arab world.
12. The Afro-Arab Summit Conference further decides to take all necessary measures to promote direct economic and financial relations and exchanges of every kind especially commercial, cultural, educational, scientific and technological between African and Arab States.
13. The African and Arab Heads of State and Government express their unshakeable faith in Afro-Arab Co-operation and declare their determination to undertake to mobilize all their energies and exert all their efforts to attain the objectives laid down in the Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Co-operation with a view to strengthening further the understanding among all their peoples and creating indissoluble ties of Afro-Arab fraternity based on strong and lasting foundations.
ANNEX II
Declaration on Afro-Arab Economic and Financial Co-operation
DECLARATION
ON
AFRO-ARAB ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL COOPERATION
The First Afro-Arab Summit Conference Meeting in Cairo from 7 to 9 March, 1977;
CONSIDERING that the African and Arab people are waging a joint struggle for shouldering the burdens of development, for putting an end to domination, subservience and exploitation, and for taking steps towards the establishment of a new, just international economic order;
CONSCIOUS of the fact that backwardness and the economic problems from which the African and Arab peoples suffer have been originally created by modalities of exploitation and colonialism over long centuries, and that they are inherent in the unequal nature of the current framework of international economic relations, as well as the nature of current international economic order which is basically designed to serve the interests of exploiting industrialized states;
Out of the conviction of Afro-Arab States that the cause of Afro-Arab liberation and development is indivisible;
NOTING that Afro-Arab cooperation has already taken positive strides towards contribution in the process of development and enabling Afro-Arab peoples to control their own natural resources and wealth;
NOTING also that the volume of Afro-Arab cooperation in the economic and financial spheres has increased sevenfold in the last three years, that it has been mostly founded on preferential bases and easy terras compatible with the current economic conditions, and the consolidation of the sources of the Afro-Arab monetary institutions, led by the Arab Bank for the Economic Development in Africa, and the Arab Funds for African Loans, the Arab Fund for Technical Assistance to African States, The African Development Bank, and the Funds for bilateral Afro-Arab cooperation;
DECIDES at this historic stage to adopt an integrated long-term plan for Afro-Arab cooperation in the economic and financial spheres, which include :
1- Encouraging national and multilateral financial institutions to extend technical and financial assistance to undertake feasibility studies of the development and infrastructural projects in Africa preparing their financing, including the four projects proposed by the Economic Commission for Africa;
2- Enhancing the resources of national and multilateral financial institutions working in the field of African development;
3- Enhancing the financial resources of the African Development Bank through loans from Arab financial markets at the most favourable terms possible;
4- Increasing the resources of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa to enable it to contribute more to meeting African development needs;
5- Consolidating commercial relations among the African and Arab States through reciprocal preferential treatment;
6- Coordinating the financial aid provided by Arab States and multilateral financial institutions, in order to consolidate the impact of this aid ;on development in the recipient African States;
7- Encouraging Arab investments particularly through the realization of establishing joint Afro-Arab projects, and working for the establishment of a system to guarantee Arab investments in the African countries;
8- Promoting the placement of Arab capital in African countries whether in the form of direct investments, loans for deposits;
9- Encouraging technical cooperation among African and Arab countries;
10- Increasing bilateral assistance extended to African countries through national funds;
11- The Standing Committee, shall in close collaboration with African and Arab specialized institutions, (particularly the ECA, ADB, ABEDA) , endeavour to ensure the quick implementation of the above provisions particularly paragraphs 3,4,7 and 10.
ANNEX III
Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Co-operation
DECLARATION
and
PROGRAMME OF ACTION
on
AFRO-ARAB CO-OPERATION
I. PREAMBLE
1. We, the Kings and Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity and of the League of Arab States, meeting in Cairo from 7th to 9th March 1977;
2, Considering the Charters of the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States;
3. Recalling the decisions taken and the resolutions adopted, at various levels, particularly at the 8th Extraordinary Session, the 23rd and 24th Ordinary Sessions of the OAU Council of Ministers as well as at the 6th and 7th Arab Summit Meetings and at the 62nd and 63rd Ordinary Sessions of the Council of Ministers of the League of Arab States with a view to strengthening co-operation between the States;
4. Conscious of our multiple ties and interests and by reason of geography, history and culture and our desire to promote co-operation in the political, economic and social fields, and by reason of our joint struggle against domination and exploitation in all their forms;
5. Appreciating the ties of friendship, brotherhood and good neighbourliness existing between African and Arab States;
6. Guided by a common will to strengthen understanding among our peoples and co-operation among our states so as to fulfil the aspirations of our peoples for the consolidation of Afro-Arab brotherhood;
7. Determined to strengthen the ties between our States and peoples by establishing common institutions;
8. Considering the common interests and aspirations of the African and the Arab peoples;
9. Convinced that Afro-Arab co-operation falls within the framework of common action by all developing countries in order to increase co-operation among themselves, on the one hand, and on the other, to intensify efforts to establish a new, fairer and more equitable international economic order;
10. Determined to harness our natural and human resources for the general progress of our people in all spheres of human endeavour;
11. Bearing in mind the principles and provisions of the Algiers Charter, the Lima Declaration, the African Declaration on Co-operation, Development and Economic Independence, the Declarations, Resolutions and Programme of Action for Economic Co-operation of the Fourth Summit of Non-aligned Countries, the economic and decolonization provisions of the Declaration of the Lahore Islamic Summit and of the Solemn Declaration of the Summit of the Kings and Heads of State of the Member States of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries, the Declaration and Programme of Action for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order adopted by the Sixth Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly, the Charter of the Economic Rights and Duties of States, and the Declaration and Programme of Action of the Dakar Conference on Raw Materials and Development;
12. Hereby decide to adopt this Declaration and Programme of Action defining the principles and framework of collective and individual action by African and Arab countries for Afro-Arab Co-operation.
II. PRINCIPLES
13. Political and economic co-operation between African and Arab States shall be founded in particular on the following principles :
a) Respect for the sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and political independence of all our States;
b) Equality of all States;
c) Permanent sovereignty of States and peoples over their natural resources;
d) Non-aggression and inadmissibility of occupying or annexing territories by force;
e) Noninterference in the internal affairs of other States;
f ) The safeguarding of mutual interests on the basis of reciprocity and equality;
g) Peaceful settlement of differences and disputes in a spirit of tolerance;
h) Joint struggle against domination, racism and exploitation in all their forms to safeguard world peace and security;
III. FIELDS OF CO-OPERATION AND PROGRAMME OF ACTION
A. Fields of Co-;operation :
14. African and Arab countries undertake to develop their relations at both the bilateral and multilateral levels on a comprehensive and long-term basis of cooperation in the following fields :
a) Political and diplomatic;
b) Economic and financial;
c) Commercial;
d) Educational, cultural, scientific, technical and information.
B. Political and Diplomatic Co-operation ;
15. African and Arab countries reaffirm their adherence to the policy and non-alignment, an important factor in the struggle for :
a) The freedom and independence of nations;
b) The establishment of world peace and security for all Stages;
c) The universal application of the principles of peaceful co-existence;
d,) The democratization of international relations;
e) Equal rights in co-operation;
f) Economic development and social advancement.
16. Condemn imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism, Zionism, apartheid and all other forms of racial and religious discrimination and segregation particularly in Africa, Palestine and the occupied Arab territories;
17. Reaffirm their support for African and Arab causes and undertake to coordinate their action at the international level, in particular, at the United Nations, on Questions of common interest. To this end, African and Arab Groups in international bodies shall establish close cooperation;
18. The two parties shall continue to give their political, diplomatic, material and moral support to African and Arab national liberation movements recognized by both the OAU and the League of Arab States.
19. The Member States of the two parties shall endeavour to establish and strengthen their diplomatic and economic representations in each other's countries and shall promote contacts between their similar national, political and social institutions.
C. Economic cooperation
20. Desirous of realizing the widest economic cooperation, the two parties resolve to expand, strengthen and.intensify cooperation in the following fields :
a) Trade
b) Mining and Industry
c) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
d) Energy and Water Resources
e) Transport, Communications and Telecommunications and
f) Financial cooperation.
TRADE
21. The two parties decide to take the necessary measures to:
a) Establish direct commercial relations;
b) Supply on a priority basis, as far as possible their respective markets;
c) Facilitate direct African and Arab trade including the establishment of preferential trade regimes;
d) Encourage and promote cooperation between trading organizations and business enterprises and participation in Trade Fairs;
e) Establish cooperation between African and Arab banking institutions and African and Arab insurance and reinsurance companies;
22. To this end, request the Administrative Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to prepare, in collaboration with.the African Development Bank, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the Economic Commission for Africa, studies of African and Arab markets with a view to encouraging Afro-Arab trade.
AND INDUSTRY :
23. In conformity with the policy pursued by the two parties with respect to control by States over their natural resources and the realization of optimum value for their raw r materials, the two parties
Decide to :
a) Co-operate in a systematic survey of their natural resources with a view to developing their rational utilization and exploitation;
b) Intensify industrialization through the exploitation, marketing and transportation of their mineral and raw materials and encourage investment ventures in those fields;
c) Develop financial and technical cooperation, encourage research in all industrial and mining fields and agree on the adequate conditions of this cooperation through the establishment of joint enterprises or the granting of donations and loans .
AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY:
24. The two parties decide to :
a) Develop agriculture through the introduction of modern and advanced techniques in the fields of production, distribution and storage.
b) Promote the modernization of animal husbandry and the improvement of breeds and animal production.
c) Ensure the rapid and substantial increase in food production through direct investment, joint ventures and other methods of cooperation in the fields of animal and food production as well as the exploitation of forestry and the marketing of timber products.
d) Exchange information and research results aimed at improving the living conditions of rural populations with special emphasis on rural infrastructure.
a) Take necessary steps, within an acceptable framework to assist African and Arab countries in the maximum processing of their raw materials prior to exportation,
f) Agree on modalities for financial and technical co-operation for the realization of joint action for the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries.
ENERGY AND WATER RESOURCES :
25. The two parties decide to ensure effective control by each State of its own energy resources.
26. The two parties decide that States or competent national African and Arab institutions agree to :
a) Promote prospecting operations of all of energy including oil, their exploitation, transportation and storage and to work to develop investments in these operations,
b) Exchange information, experiences and technology in the field of energy.
c) Promote the exchange of information and make use of acquired experiences and appropriate technology in order to improve climatic and desert conditions, as well as of appropriate methods concerning the exploitation of rivers, lakes, basins and ground water resources,
d) Co-operate for development purposes, within a mutually acceptable arrangement , in the exploitation of hydroelectric and other forms of energy on a regional basis wherever possible,
e) Intensify the use of other sources of energy such as solar, thermal, nuclear and other sources of energy as well as research in this area with a view to accelerating economic envelopment, halting the process of decertification and soil erosion and combating drought in Africa.
TRANSPORT, COMMUNICATIONS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
27. With a view to facilitating communications between African and Arab States, the two parties resolve to :
a) Accelerate the development of modern infrastructure of roads, railways, airlines, inland waterways and shipping which constitute an important basis for the development of Afro-Arab cooperation;
b) Establish, according to priorities,links between national road, rail and airline networks in order to facilitate the rapid and economical transport of people and goods in accordance with bilateral or multilateral agreements;
c) Undertake studies with a view to establishing consortia of shipping companies which will enable them to operate with greater efficiency, share the use of terminal and maintenance facilities, and explore the possibilities of technical innovation in transport and communications;
d) Effectively strengthen cooperation between airline companies with a view to enhancing the expansion and rationalization of air services;
e) Improve existing postal and telecommunications networks and expand them according to priorities;
f) Co-operate in the implementation of subregional and continental projects in the fields of telecommunications, roads and railways.
FINANCIAL CO-OPERATION:
The two parties decide to :
a) Take all necessary measures that will promote effective financial cooperation on terns that would provide security and guarantees through :
1) bilateral direct long-tern loans, on the most favourable terms possible for the two parties, direct investments as well as joint financial ventures;
2) multilateral long-term loans, on the most favourable terms possible, for the financing of projects, including feasibility studies;
3) Afro-Arab participation in international financial consortia for the financing of joint projects in Africa and the Arab world;
b) Facilitate mutual preferential access, both of African and Arab financial institutions to each other's capital markets, in compliance with rules and regulations prevailing in each country;
c) Invite the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States to cooperate with the African Development Bank, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa and other specialized institutions in the search for an adequate formula for closer economic, financial and technical cooperation in particular through the setting up of Afro-Arab financial institutions and the drawing up of an Afro-Arab agreement governing investments;
d) Invite the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa to coordinate their investment activities and to engage in the joint financing of multinational African projects.
D. Co-operation, in the Social, Cultural and Educational Fields
29. With a view to achieving better understanding between African and Arab peoples and states, the two parties agree to reinforce links in the social, cultural and educational fields through the conclusion of appropriate agreements on:
a) Cultural missions and festivals;
b) Scholarships, training programmes and sports;
c) Labour and trade union activities;
d) Co-operation in the information media such as the press, news agencies, communication satellites, radio and television;
e) The exchange of appropriate information and experiences and assistance in the solution of social problems such as the settlement of nomads.
In view of the human and cultural role played- by in the promotion of better understanding, the two parties also agree to encourage and facilitate tourism and to enhance cooperation in this field, in particular, through investments and joint ventures in the tourist industry,
E. Scientific and Technical Co-operation
31. The two parties decide to :
a) Promote and ,ordinate research activities through the exchange of scientific and technical information and studies;
b) Establish joint consultancy services and specialized training institutions;
c) Provide direct technical cooperation involving the provision of training grants and fellowships in the field of science and technology;
d) Expand technical cooperation to ensure the availability of experts.
IV. INSTITUTIONS
32. With a view to enhancing closer coordination of Afro-Arab cooperation activities, and to assist in the implementation of this Declaration and Programme of Action, the two parties decide :
a) to establish a joint Standing Commission, at ministerial level, to follow-up periodically and ensure the implementation of the provisions of this Declaration and to explore new horizons of cooperation;
b) to grant each other observer status at the meetings of their respective organizations when matters of common interest are to be discussed;
c) that the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States shall establish, as soon as possible, representation to the respective Secretariats of both Organizations with a view to maintaining close and continuous working relationships for the implementation of Afro-Arab cooperation;
d) to invite corresponding African and Arab institutions, in various fields, to take all necessary measures to establish close working relationships that would facilitate cooperation and the coordination of their activities.
33. This Declaration was issued in Cairo, on the 9th of March 1977. The Arabic, English and French texts of this Declaration are equally authentic.
In witness whereof, we have appended our signature.
ANNEX IV
Organization and Method for the Realization of Afro-Arab Co-operation
ORGANIZATION AND METHOD FOR THE REALIZATION OF
AFRO-ARAB CO-OPERATION
In addition to the Joint Afro-Arab Summit and the Joint Council of Ministers, the following joint bodies shall be created to ensure the realization of Afro-Arab Co-operation as defined in the Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Co-operation
1. Standing Commission.
2. Working Groups and Specialized Panels.
3. Coordinating Committee.
4. Ad Hoc Court or Commission of Conciliation and Arbitration.
I. JOINT SUMMIT CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
The Afro-Arab Summit shall be held every three years and the Joint Ordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers shall be held every eighteen months.
I. STANDING COMMISSION
Composition : The Standing Commission shall be. composed of 24 Ministers twelve of whom shall be appointed by the Organization of African Unity and twelve by the League of Arab States or their Representatives who must be at least of Ambassadorial rank, the two Secretaries-General of the Organization of African unity and the League of Arab States.
The Chairmanship : The Chairmen of the Group of Twelve of the Organization of African Unity and of the Group of Twelve of the League of Arab States shall be Co-Chairmen of the Standing Commission.
Meetings and Venue : The Standing Commission shall meet in ordinary session twice every year alternatively at the Headquarters of the two Organizations unless is case of an invitation extended by a member State. By agreement of. the two Chairmen, an extraordinary session of the Commission shall be convened when necessary.
The dates and duration of such Meetings shall be fixed after consultation between the Chairmen and the Secretaries-General of the two Organizations.
Terms of Reference : The Standing Commission is entrusted with the implementation of Afro-Arab cooperation and shall follow up its development in the various fields. It shall examine and direct cooperation cowards the political, cultural, social, technological and economic objectives as envisaged in the Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Co-operation:
To this end, the Commission shall take the appropriate
It shall, inter alia:
a) Ensure the implementation and follow-up of decisions of the Conference of Heads of State and Government and the Council of Ministers;
b) Consider issues raised by each party and work out the necessary proposals-to be submitted to the Council of Ministers for the promotion and strengthening of Afro-Arab Co-operation;
c) Set up the necessary working groups on the various aspects of Afro-Arab Co-operation and define their terms of reference and rules of procedure;
d) Approve the project proposed by the appropriate working groups;
e) Deal with matters relating to general organization and coordination in the establishment of cooperation;
f) The Standing Commission may, if necessary, propose a joint Extraordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers.
III. WORKING GROUPS AND SPECIALIZED PANELS
Working Groups and Specialized Panels shall be established in accordance with the Declaration and Programme of Action on Afro-Arab Cooperation in the following fields as the necessity arises :
a; Trade;
b) Mining and Industry;
c) Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry;
d) Energy and Water Resources;
e) Transport, Communication and Telecommunications;
f) Financial cooperation;
g) Educational, Social, Cultural and Information;
h) Scientific and Technical Co-operation.
The Standing Commission may set up other Working Groups.
Composition : Each Working Group shall be composed as far as possible of an equal number of experts and specialists from both sides. Each side shall, as far as possible, ensure the continuity of the terms of office of the members of the Group.
Each of the two sides shall appoint a Chairman for each forking Group and shall inform the Chairman of the other side of its choice. Each Working Group shall appoint a Rapporteur.
Each Working Group may consult specialists from the public or private sector when necessary.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
1. Each Working Group shall submit any appropriate proposal, within its competence, to the two Chairmen, especially with regard to the selection and implementation of projects with due consideration of the instructions issued by the Standing Commission.
2. The Working Groups shall submit their proposals and recommendations to the Standing Commission to take necessary measures in this respect.
3. Each Working Group may, after consultation with the two Chairmen, decide to set up specialized panels to undertake any specific assignment within the former's terms of reference.
4. The Working Groups shall each define, within the framework of its competence, the terms of reference of the specialized panels as well as the method of work of these panels.
5. The Working Groups may terminate the assignment of any Specialized Panel.
IV. COORDINATING COMMITTEE
The Coordinating Committee shall be responsible, under the authority of the Standing Commission, on the one hand, for coordinating the work of the various Working Groups and, on the other, for ensuring the implementation of decisions taken. Within the limits of these powers, the Coordinating Committee shall deal exclusively with matters of a practical and administrative nature requiring urgent decisions.
Composition: The Coordinating Committee shall be composed of :
– The Chairman of the Committee of Twelve and the Secretary-General of the OAU, on the one hand, and the Chairman of the Committee of Twelve and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, on the other;
– The Co-Chairmen and Rapporteur of each of the Working Groups concerned, if the Coordinating Committee deems it necessary.
AFRO-ARAB AD HOC COURT OR COMMISSION OF CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION
An Afro-Arab Court or Commission of Conciliation and J£ Arbitration shall be set up charged with the legal interpretation of texts governing Afro-Arab Cooperation and any disputes that may arise. The Status and Composition of such an Institution shall be laid down by a meeting of experts to be convened under the auspices of the OAU and the Arab League.
MEANS OF ACTION
A Special Fund shall be established for the running of the executive bodies of Afro-Arab Co-operation. This Fund shall be financed on a 50% contribution from each of the two Organizations' regular budgets. Individual and voluntary contributions could be made to this Special Fund.
The budget of the Special Fund shall be approved by the Standing Commission.
This Fund shall be administered by the Secretaries-General of the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States under the control and responsibility of the Coordinating Committee which will regularly report to the Standing Commission.
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Document Type: Declaration, Report
Document Sources: Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), General Assembly
Country: Egypt
Subject: Agenda Item, Middle East situation, Occupation, Palestine question, Security issues, Situation in the OPT including Jerusalem
Publication Date: 17/03/1977