The Expanded Technical Assistance Program is a collective endeavor collective because all the United Nations and the member countries of the specialized agencies are participating or can participate in it.
In a collective undertaking it is well to know how each participant envisages the possibilities and the problems. It was therefore thought useful to provide a representative cross-section of the views of those who have to deal with the new program from the governmental point of view as well as from the technical point of view. The picture presented could not be a complete one. That would have gone far beyond the limits of UNASYLVA. The diversity of approach of the authors who have contributed to this issue does, however, illustrate the great number of problems to be solved. There will be no universal panacea that can be indiscriminately applied: each country's problems will have to be attacked according to the individual circumstances, and the skill of the technical assistance experts will consist in devising solutions best suited to local conditions, economic possibilities, and technical capabilities.
In order to understand clearly the possibilities of the Expanded Technical Assistance Program, it should be borne in mind that the funds are meant to provide countries with technical knowledge; financing undertakings beyond this stage is a separate and very complicated problem. Like all development, it will entail sacrifices to be made by the countries that are to be developed - the same sacrifices that were borne through years, or even centuries, by the countries that can now put their experience at the disposal of others. It may be possible, through the Expanded Technical Assistance Program, to shorten the time element, but not the sum of the effort needed. It is a great endeavor, and it will provide opportunity for the initiative not only of governments and of those organizations and associations created to encourage the development of the various branches of national economies, but also particularly of private industry and enterprise that will have to play an increasingly important part if the Expanded Technical Assistance programs are to achieve their full scope.
