Participation of Comecon Countries in the Preparations for the 1964 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

This article analyzes the activities of the Preparatory Committee for the 1964 UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 22 January 1963 to 15 February 1964. Spesial emphasis is placed on the participation of the USSR delegation in the committee's work and the role of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in coordinating the positions of socialist countries on key points of the upcoming conference agenda, including the establishment of an international trade organization (ITO). These issues are considered in close connection with the global changes that occurred in international relations in the second half of the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s and were caused by a combination of factors, including the gathering momentum of decolonization and the formation of the world socialist system. The shift of the severity of the Cold War to the sphere of economic confrontation predetermined the regional economic blocs development into stable integration associations and also contributed to the increasing role of economic diplomacy in the struggle to expand the influence of socialism in the countries of the Global South

Cold war · Decolonization · Delegation · Diplomacy · Economic Diplomacy · Socialism · World War II · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics