A conference was held in the Department of External Affairs on 24th November to brief the delegation attending the session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment at Havana. The following were present:

The general line to be taken by the delegation was first considered. It was agreed that the general approach should be that Ireland is an industrially under-developed country and that, as we are already importing to the full extent of, and even in excess of, our present ability to export, our only contribution towards increasing world trade would be to increase our own productivity. The delegation would, of course, oppose anything in the draft Charter contrary to the policy of the Irish Government. In criticising any provisions of the proposed Charter, care should be taken that the criticism should not include as its object any of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund. As regards the attitude to be adopted towards British Commonwealth delegations, while relations should not be too close, care should be taken not to vote against them in matters in which we and they have a common interest. If a Commonwealth side meeting is summoned and this country is invited the invitation may be accepted. It would be desirable to concentrate chiefly on the sub-committees dealing with Chapter 3 (Economic Development), Chapter 4 (General Commercial Policy), and Chapter 7 (Organisation).

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