672 



that ". . . most of the 5,234 U.S. Aid employees abroad [would] 

 come home and that this agency [would] be abolished." Bilateral pro- 

 grams would be administered directly through the economic sections of 

 embassies. In Washington there would be ". . . a modestly staffed 

 development bank and an institute for technical assistance, which 

 would channel most of our future foreign aid through international 

 institutions." This approach, he said, would (a) "remove foreign 

 aid from its cold war context of political expediency," and (b) "prom- 

 ise a more serious aid program which is in accord with the realities 

 of development." ^^^ 



TJ.N. STUDY OF TECHNICAL, ASSISTANCE 



In view of the insistence of presidential and presidential advisory 

 sources on multilateral over bilateral approaches to aid, it seems ap- 

 propriate to examine what the Pearson Report, prepared under United 

 Nations or World Bank auspices, recommends for the international 

 uses of technology. Its stated goals were not dissimilar to those ex- 

 pressed in the Peterson Report: "Concern with the needs of other 

 and poorer nations is the expression of a new and fundamental aspect 

 of the modern age — the awareness that we live in a village world, 

 that we belong to a world community." "^ 



And there was also the underlying uncertainty — 



... The acceleration of history, which is largely the result of the bewildering 

 impact of modern technology, has changed the whole concept of national interest. 

 Who can now ask where his country will be in a few decades without asking 

 where the world will be? (p. 9) 



Wliat needed to be done, therefore, was ". . . to put the less devel- 

 oped countries as soon as possible in a position where they can realize 

 their aspirations with regard to economic progress without relying 

 on foreign aid." (p. 11) 



The aid and development strategy proposed in the Pearson Report 

 had 10 elements : To create a framework for free and equitable inter- 

 national trade ; to promote mutually beneficial flows of foreign private 

 investment ; to establish a better partnership, a clearer purpose, and a 

 greater coherence in development aid ; to increase the volume of aid ; 

 to meet the problem of mounting debts; to make aid administration 

 more effective ; to redirect technical assistance ; to slow the growth of 

 population; to revitalize aid to education and research; and to 

 strengthen the multilateral aid system, (pp. 14-21) 



In some of these particulars, the Pearson Report and the Peterson 

 Report stress the same points, such as the need for more organiza- 

 tional coherence. However, not all the effects of the existing profusion 

 of agencies were adverse. "The emergence of consortia, consultative 

 groups, and the multilateral procedures of the Alliance for Progress 

 serve very considerably to increase the effectiveness of aid by making 

 it possible for donors, whether bilateral or multilateral, to help recip- 

 ients develop policies more likely to promote self-sustaining growth." 

 (p. 129) 



J^John Franklin Campbell. "What Is to Be Done?" Foreign Affairs, (October, 1970), 



^ Commission on International Development. "Partners in Development." Report of tha 

 Commission on International Development. (New York, Praeger Publishers, 1969), page 8. 

 (Pearson report.) 



