ABSTRACT
The quest for an international cocoa agreement, that would embrace all major producing and consuming countries, is a minor epic in the diplomatic history of the last fifteen years. Under the aegis of the FAO and UNCTAD, respectively, there have been no fewer than four full-dress conferences in Geneva and New York to negotiate an agreement (1963, 1966, 1967 and 1972), and almost countless preparatory consultations since 1956. Not until the 1972 Geneva conference was the first International Cocoa Agreement actually achieved; and even this Agreement seemed unlikely to come into force, until West Germany, an initial holdout with the United States, changed its position and signed the Agreement. The Cocoa Agreement came into force provisionally during the summer of 1973, and the London-based Cocoa Organization was founded.
