UN General Assembly
1959

98. One of the most serious economic problems, causing most distress to a large number of countries is the instability and low level of prices on the world markets for such basic commodities as coffee, a product that is crucial for the economic systems of many Latin-American States and various African territories linked with European countries. The disequilibrium between the production and the consumption of coffee, and the consequent fall in prices, forced the Latin-American- producer-countries, three years ago, to start negotiations with a view to stabilization. The agreements reached covered only Latin American States until the happy conclusion in Washington, on 24 September 1959, of the International Coffee Agreement, signed not only by the Latin American producer-countries but also by the French Community on behalf of a number of territories and by Portugal on behalf of Angola. The United Kingdom and Belgium. On behalf of certain other territories, signed annexes giving grounds for hope that they, too, would co-operate in the development and execution of the agreement — the object is to adapt the supply of coffee to the demand, to ensure the proper placing of the product on international markets and to promote its consumption throughout the world, thus contributing to the expansion of trade between producer and consumer countries.