Establishing of UNCTAD in 1964 and the Logic of the Cold War: Economic Diplomacy of the GDR in the Struggle for International Recognition

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the problem of preparation and participation of the socialist countries in the first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), held in Geneva from March 23 to June 16, 1964. On the basis of the documents of the Russian State Economy Archive (RGAE) being introduced into science the author shows the importance the Soviet leadership attached to economic diplomacy, actively using for its realization the CMEA mechanisms. The practical embodiment of this was the solidarity position at the conference of socialist countries, prepared through the decisions of the II meeting of the Executive Committee of the CMEA in 1962 and aimed to establish a new international trade organization (ITO), one of the founding principles of which was to be universal membership. Unlike the FRG, which at that time was a member of the specialized organizations of the UN and thus had the right to participate fully in the 1964 conference, the GDR could only rely on collective forms of representation, above all as a member of the CMEA delegation. Thus, the solidarity-based struggle of socialist countries for international legal recognition of the GDR at the UN level, including through international economic organizations such as UNCTAD, strengthened the international status of CMEA, which sought to turn world trade into a tool for expanding its economic influence, including in the Third World.