26 July 1991

32nd plenary meeting

Europe-Africa permanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling its resolutions 1982/57 of 30 July 1982, 1983/62 of 29 July 1983, 1984/75 of 27 July 1984, 1985/70 of 26 July 1985, 1987/69 of 8 July 1987 and 1989/119 of 28 July 1989,

Bearing in mind General Assembly resolution 43/179 of 20 December 1988, by which the Assembly declared the period 1991-2000 the Second Transport and Communications Decade in Africa,

Also bearing in mind the resolution adopted on 1 February 1989 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe regarding measures to encourage the construction of a major traffic artery in south-western Europe and to study thoroughly the possibility of a permanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar,

Taking note of the conclusions contained in the interim report prepared in compliance with Council resolution 1989/119 by the Executive Secretaries of the Economic Commission for Africa and the Economic Commission for Europe on the development of the studies relating to the project for a Europe-Africa permanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar,

Bearing in mind the conclusions and the recommendations of the Third International Seminar on the Permanent Link through the Strait of Gibraltar, held at Marrakesh, Morocco, in May 1990 and attended by distinguished experts in the areas related to the project and by representatives of many international organizations,

Conscious of the importance of the issues linked to the project and their repercussions on the promotion of scientific and technological research at the international level,

Also conscious of the contribution of the project to the development of transport and to subregional and interregional physical integration,

1. Welcomes the cooperation between the Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic Commission for Europe, the Governments of Morocco and Spain and the Transport Study Centre for the Western Mediterranean;

2. Invites the States concerned and the competent scientific institutes and institutions to cooperate with the Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic Commission for Europe and the Governments of Morocco and Spain to encourage and facilitate the development of land transport infrastructures linked to the works across the Strait of Gibraltar and cooperation in regard to administrative and customs procedures;

3. Also invites the competent agencies of the United Nations system to participate in carrying out the studies relating to the project for the permanent link through the Strait of Gibraltar;

4. Requests the Executive Secretaries of the Economic Commission for Africa and the Economic Commission for Europe to prepare an evaluation report on the studies relating to the project in the period 1982-1993 for submission to the Economic and Social Council at its regular session of 1993;

5. Calls upon the Secretary-General to allocate as far as possible sufficient resources to the Economic Commission for Africa and the Economic Commission for Europe, within existing priorities, for the preparation of the above-mentioned evaluation report.