Economists have long been questioning the usefulness of the traditional, highly regulatory international commodity policy. In recent years, the failure of this policy has become evident. Could price and earnings stabilisation through price risk management instruments represent a viable alternative?

The Third Lomé Trade and Co-operation Convention between the European Community and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries was signed on 8th December 1984. It is valid for the period from 1.3. 1985 to 28.2. 1990 and incorporates an extension of SYSMIN, the special financing facility...

In the course of the last United Nations' World Trade Conference (UNCTAD) the Soviet Union, Ivory Coast and Bulgaria signed the agreement on the Common Fund for Commodities. The Fund, which was conceived as the cornerstone of a new international commodities policy, will thus come into effect in...

Discussions on the development problems of commodity producing countries have been dominated by proposals for stabilizing world prices of commodities, in particular via the establishment of a "Common Fund" within the framework of UNCTAD’s Integrated Program for Commodities. Professor Ahmad...

The successful completion of negotiations on the Common Fund has not yet led to the hoped-for break-through for any of the commodity agreements belonging to the Integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC). Opposition, particularly by the industrialised countries, but also by individual producer...

The fifth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Manila will undertake a detailed review of the progress in the implementation of the Integrated Programme for Commodities. I. S. Chadha attempts such a review from the point of view of UNCTAD for our readers.

After five years of tough negotiations at numerous conferences about an integrated Programme for Commodities (IPC) the participating countries agreed in March 1979 on basic and operational regulations for the key instrument of this programme, a Common Fund. In its present version it is closely...