Establishment of the United Nations Capital Development Fund

A/RES/2186(XXI)View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1966.

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 topics

Cooperation Between Organizations Development Assistance Establishment Funds Inter-Agency Cooperation Management Organizational Structure Terms of Reference

What does this mandate say?

44 operative paragraphs

Tqe provision of assistance shall be in conformity with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

Assistance from the Capital Development Fund shall not serve as a means for economic and political interference in the internal affairs of assisted countries and shall not be influenced by considerations relating to the nature of their economic and political systems.

Assistance from the Capital Development Fund shall be of a kind and in a form consistent with the wishes of the recipients and shall not involve any unacceptable conditions for them, whether political, economic, military or other.

ARTICLE III

General economic provisions

Assistance from the Capital Development Fund may be given to the Government of a State Member of the United Nations or member of a specialized agency or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or to a group of Governments of such States or, at the request of the Government of one of these States, to an entity having juridical personality within the territory of that State. Assistance provided to Non-Self- Governing Territories shall be of advantage to the economy of the recipient territory in accordance with the provisions of article I a hove.

Assistance from the Capital Development Fund shall be provided in such forms and on such terms as are compatible with the continued economic development of the assisted countries, taking due account of their balance-of-payments position and prospects.

Assistance from the Capital Development Fund shall be given in a flexible manner and shall not necessarily be limited to specific projects or groups of projects and should be given to support general development plans, where such plans exist, or to meet general development requirements.

Every effort shall be made to co-ordinate tht assistance rendered by the Capital Development Fund with assistance from other sources, so as to achieve the maximum permanent beneficial effect on the economies of the developing countries, taking into account the need to preserve the autonomy and the multilateral character of the Fund.

ARTICLE IV

Resources

The expenditure of the Capital Development Fund shall be classified in the following categories :

Expenses for administrative activities;

( b) Expenses for operational activities.

Expenses for administrative activities shall be borne by the regular budget of the United Nations, which shall include a separate budgetary provision for such expenses. The General Assembly shall fix a ceiling for such expenses in the light of the voluntary contributions received for operational activities.

Expenses for operational activities shall be met from the voluntary contributions made to the Capital Development Fund, in cash or in kind, by Governments of the States Members of the United Nations or mem-

hers of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency. An annual pledging conference, at which Member States will announce their contributions, will be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the first such conference to be convened early in the twenty-second session of the General Assembly.

In determining the size of their contributions under paragraph 3 above, Member States should take due account of the following considerations:

The resources of the Capital Development Fund should be large enough to make a significant contribution to the achievement of the accelerated and selfsustained economic growth of the developing countries ;

( b) Contributions to the Capital Development Fund should ensure the provision of assistance on a long-term and continuing basis. In this connexion, it is desirable that contributions should be pledged or indicated as far as possible for a number of years ;

( c) While the resources of the Capital Development Fund should be derived from contributions by all States Members of the United Nations or members of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the bulk of the contributions should come from the economically more developed countries in a readily and economically usable form.

The Secretary-General may invite voluntary contributions from sources other than Governments. The Capital Development Fund may accept such contributions subject to the provision contained in paragraph 6 ( d) of the present article and on terms and conditions to be approved by the Executive Board.

(a) Contributions shaII be made predominantly in cash. They may be made either in currencies that are readily and economically usable by the Capital Development Fund or in national currencies. In the latter case. the contributing States shall extend all possible facilities for the maximum use of such contributions towards meeting the needs of the recipient countries;

( b) In consultation with the Managing Director, contributions may also be made in kind, that is, in the form of equioment, machinery and other materials which will be readily usable for the purposes of the Capital Development Fund, aiming primarily at industrial development. Such contributions shall not be of such a nature as to affect adversely the economies of the primary commodity producing countries;

( c) The Managing Director shall, consistent with the criteria set forth respecting the nature and the utilization of contributions, endeavour to make the fullest possible use of available currencies and of contributions in kind;

( d) Contributions shall be made without limitation to a specific recipient country or for a specific project;

( e) To the end that the multilateral character of the Capital Development Fund shall be strictly respected, no contributing State shaII receive special treatment with respect to its contribution nor shall negotiations for the use of contributions take place between contributing and receiving countries.

Forms of assistance: operations

The Capital Development Fund shaII extend both grants and loans.

SS

Loans extended by the Capital Development Fund shaII have long periods of amortization, low rates of interest, or be free of interest and generally be extended on terms comparing favourably with those of loans extended by other international lending institutions.

Assistance shall be extended after the conclusion of an agreement between the Capital Development Fund and the recipient Government. In the case of loans, the agreement shaII specify the date of maturity, rate of interest and currency of repayment of the loan, taking into consideration the recipient State's economic position, as shown, for example, by its balance of payments.

The Capital Development Fund may, when and to the extent it deems appropriate in the light of all the circumstances, including the financial and economic situation and prospects of the recipient State, agree, subject to such conditions as it may determine, to a relaxation or other modification of the terms on which any loan shall have been provided.

Formulation, submission and consideration of requests for assistance

In requesting assistance from the Capital Development Fund, Governments shall present precise statements concerning the use they intend to make of such assistance, and appropriate data relating to the technical nature and economic appraisal of projects or plans of general economic development for which assistance is requested.

Governments requesting assistance from the Capital Development Fund shall inform the Fund of their current or intended efforts either with regard to the specific projects to be assisted by the Capital Development Fund or with regard to related projects or other economic programmes.

Each Government, in requesting assistance from the Capital Development Fund, shall designate an appropriate authority with which the Capital Development Fund may communicate with regard to questions which might arise from the request~

In considering requests for assistance, the Capital Development Fund shall :

Be guided by considerations such as the economic merits of the development plan or project envisaged and its potential contribution to the country's over-all economic development ;

( b) Give importance to the desirability of maintaining a reasonable geographical balance in allocations ;

( c) Utilize as much as possible the experience and services of the United Nations, including the regional economic commissions, the United Nations Economic and Social Office in Beirut, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Development Programme, and the specialized agencies, and also those of the regional development banks.

General responsibilities of recipient Governments

Recipient Governments should ensure the effective utilization of the assistance furnished by the Capital Development Fund.

Recipient Governments shall maintain the records required by the Capital Development Fund in connexion with the administration of its assistance and shall report

fully on the utilization of the assistance granted by the Capital Development Fund either directly to Governments or to any entity having juridical personality.

Organization and management

The immediate intergovernmental control of the policies and operations of the Capital Development Fund shall be exercised by an Executive Board. It shall have final authority for the approval of grants and loans submitted to it by the Managing Director. It shall adopt its own rules of procedure.

The Executive Board shall review all the activities of the Capital Development Fund and shall report annually to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council. The Council may transmit to the Capital Development Fund and to the General Assembly such comments on the report as it may deem necessary.

The General Assembly will review the progress and the general policies of the Capital Development Fund as a separate item of its agenda and make any appropriate recommendations.

The Executive Board shall consist of the representatives of twenty-four States Members of the United Nations or members of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The members of the Executive Board shall be elected by the General Assembly. The first election shall take place at the twenty-second session of the General Assembly.

There shall be equitable representation on the Executive Board of economically more developed countries, on the one hand, having due regard to their contributions to the Capital Development Fund, and of developing countries, on the other hand, taking into account the need for equitable geographical distribution among the latter members.

The members of the Executive Board shall be elected for a term of three years, provided, however, that, of the members elected at the first election the terms of one third of the members shall expire at the end of one year and the terms of a further one third of the members at the end of two years. Retiring members shall be eligible for re-election.

The Executive Board shall meet at least once a year and as often as may be necessary for the conduct of the Fund's work.

The Managing Director of the Capital Development Fund shall participate without vote in the deliberations of the Executive Board.

Managing Director and staff

The chief executive officer of the Capital Development _Fun1 shall ~e the Managing Director, who shall exercise his functions under the general direction of t~e E~ecu!ive Board. Subj_ect to such general and specific d1recttyes as_ may be given by the Executive Board, the Managing Director shall have the over-all responsibility for the operations of the Capital Development Fund. He shall submit to the Executive Board together with his recommendations, requests for g;ants and for loans by Governments. He shall report to the Executive Board on the operations of the Capital De- General Aseembly-Twenty-first Session

velopment Fund, including the status of contributions and other financial matters.

The Managing Director shall be appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The appointment shall be subject to confirmation by the General Assembly.

The Managing Director shall be appointed for a term of four years, the first term to begin on 1 January 1968.

The Managing Director shall be assisted by the requisite number of staff members. He may also, as required, engage expert consultants. The selection of the officials and consultants shall be made in accordance with Article 101 of the Charter of the United Nations.

The Managing Director shall, to the maximum extent possible, make effective use of the existing facilities of the United Nations, including those of the regional economic commissions, the United Nations Economic and Social Office in Beirut, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the regional development banks, the specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Co-operation and co-ordination with other organs of the United Nations and other organizations

Without prejudice to the independence of its activities, and in accordance with this statute, the Capital Development Fund shall establish and maintain close and continuing working relationships with the competent organs and agencies within the United Nations system.

In its relations with such organs and agencies the Capital Development Fund shall act in conformity with the responsibilities of the Economic and Social Council under the Charter of the United Nations, particularly those of co-ordination, and with the relationship agreements with the agencies concerned.

There shall be a close and continuous working relationship between the Capital Development Fund and the regional economic commissions, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the United ~ ations Development Programme, the specialized agencies concerned with those fields of activity in which the Capital Development Fund will operate and the International Atomic Energy Agency and also with the regional development banks.

Appropriate methods shall be devised to achieve the purpose set forth in paragraph 2 of this article. Provision shall be made for the participation in the meetings of the Executive Board of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Executive Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme or their representatives, and of rep:esentatives_ of the specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the regional developmen! banks,. a~d, when appropriate, the regional economic commissions.

Fmancial administration The financial regulations for the Capital Development Fu1;1d shall _be d~afted by th~ Secretary-General of the Umted Nations, m consultation with the Managing Di-

rector, for approval by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Executive Board. In the preparation of these regulations, account shall be taken of the special requirements of the Capital Development Fund's operations.

ARTICLE XII

Future institutwnal arrangements The General Assembly shall review, in the light of experience, the effectiveness and further evolution of these institutional arrangements with a view to deciding upon such changes and improvements as might be necessary in order to meet fully the growing needs for development finance.

13 December 1966.

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Who created this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What does this mandate say?

SS

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