Assistance to Guinea-Bissau.

35. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE SECOND COMMITTEE
95. Assistance to Guinea-Bissau

The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 34/121 of 14 December 1979, in which it reiterated its appeal to the international community to provide effective and continuous financial, material and technical assistance to Guinea-Bissau to help it overcome its financial and economic difficulties and to permit the implementation of the projects and programmes recommended by the Secretary-General in his report submitted in response to General Assembly resolution 33/124 of 19 December 1978,[1] Recalling also its resolution 3339 (XXIX) of 17 December 1974, in which it invited Member States to provide economic assistance to the then newly independent State of Guinea-Bissau, and its resolutions 32/100 of 13 December 1977 and 33/124 of 19 December 1978, in which it, inter alia, expressed deep concern at the serious economic situation in Guinea-Bissau and appealed to the international community to provide financial and economic assistance to help that country, Having examined the report of the Secretary-General of 21 August 1980,[2] to which was annexed the report of the mission which he sent to Guinea-Bissau in response to General Assembly resolution 34/121, Noting with concern that Guinea-Bissau continues to be beset by a wide range of economic and financial difficulties, Noting that the Government of Guinea-Bissau, by the application of a policy of stringent economy, was able to reduce the budget deficit in 1979 to a level substantially lower than in the two preceding years, although the country will continue to be dependent upon external sources for public capital expenditure, Further noting with concern the recurring deficit in the over-all balance of payments, the substantial increase in loans and the unmanageably low level of foreign exchange reserves, Noting that Guinea-Bissau again faced a crop failure in 1979, owing to the irregular and inadequate rainfall, and that there is an urgent need for food aid for the country, Noting with concern that the response of the international community to date has not been commensurate with the needs of the situation and that many of the projects endorsed for the special economic assistance programme by the General Assembly at its thirty-third session have not yet been financed,

1. Expresses its appreciation to the Secretary-General for the steps he has taken to mobilize assistance for Guinea-Bissau;

2. Endorses fully the assessment and recommendations contained in the annex to the report of the Secretary-General and draws the attention of the international community to the requirements for assistance for the projects and programmes identified therein;

3. Expresses its appreciation to those States and organizations which have provided assistance to Guinea-Bissau in response to appeals by the General Assembly and the Secretary-General;

4. Calls upon Member States and appropriate international organizations to respond generously to the need of Guinea-Bissau for food aid;

5. Urgently renews its appeal to Member States, regional and interregional organizations and other intergovernmental bodies to provide effective and continuous financial, material and technical assistance to Guinea-Bissau to help it overcome its financial and economic difficulties and to permit the implementation of the projects and programmes identified in the annex to the report of the Secretary-General;

6. Appeals to the international community to contribute to the special account which was established at United Nations Headquarters by the Secretary-General, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 32/100, for the purpose of facilitating the channelling of contributions to Guinea-Bissau;

7. Invites the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development to bring to the attention of their governing bodies, for their consideration, the special needs of Guinea-Bissau and to report the decisions of those bodies to the Secretary-General by 15 August 1981;

8. Requests the appropriate specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations system to report periodically to the Secretary-General on the steps they have taken and the resources they have made available to assist Guinea-Bissau;

9. Calls upon Member States, in the light of the recommendation of the Committee for Development Planning at its fourteenth session,[3] and in accordance with its previous resolutions, to accord Guinea-Bissau, as a matter of priority, financial, material and technical assistance and to give special consideration to the early inclusion of that country in their programmes of development assistance;

10. Requests the Secretary-General:

(a) To continue his efforts to mobilize the necessary resources for an effective programme of financial, technical and material assistance to Guinea-Bissau;

(b) To keep the situation in Guinea-Bissau under constant review, to maintain close contact with Member States, regional and other intergovernmental organizations, the specialized agencies and international financial institutions concerned, and to apprise the Economic and Social Council, at its second regular session of 1981, of the current status of the special economic assistance programme for Guinea-Bissau;

(c) To arrange for a review of the economic situation of Guinea-Bissau and the progress made in organizing and implementing the special economic assistance programme for that country in time for the matter to be considered by the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session.

84th plenary meeting
5 December 1980

---

[1] A/34/370 [2] A/35/343. [3] See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1978 Supplement No. 6 (E/1978/46), para. 99.