Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance

Совет Экономической Взаимопомощи
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Map of Comecon member states as of November 1986   Members   Formal members which did not participate   Associates who actually participated   Observers
Abbreviation	COMECON, CMEA, CAME
Formation	5–8 January 1949
Founder	Soviet Union Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland Romania
Founded at	Moscow, Soviet Union
Type	Economic organization
Headquarters	Moscow, Soviet Union
Region served	Worldwide (mainly Eastern Bloc and communist states)
Membership	See list Albania (withdrew in 1961) Bulgaria Czechoslovakia  Cuba  East Germany Hungary Mongolia Poland Romania  Soviet Union  Vietnam
Main organ	(see section for details).

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Russian: Совет Экономической Взаимопомощи, Sovet Ekonomicheskoy Vzaimopomoshchi, СЭВ, SEV; English abbreviation COMECON, CMEA, or CAME) was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world.

The descriptive term was often applied to all multilateral activities involving members of the organization, rather than being restricted to the direct functions of Comecon and its organs. This usage was sometimes extended as well to bilateral relations among members, because in the system of socialist international economic relations, multilateral accords – typically of a general nature – tended to be implemented through a set of more detailed, bilateral agreements.

According to some historians, Moscow was concerned about the Marshall Plan. Comecon was meant to prevent countries in the Soviets’ sphere of influence from moving towards that of the Americans and South-East Asia. Comecon was the Eastern Bloc's reply to the formation in Western Europe of the Organization for European Economic Co-Operation (OEEC), a prelude to the European Economic Community (founded in 1957) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (founded in 1961).

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In the late 1950s, a number of communist-ruled non-member countries – the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia – were invited to participate as observers in Comecon sessions. Although Mongolia and Vietnam later gained full membership, China stopped attending Comecon sessions after 1961. Yugoslavia negotiated a form of associate status in the organization, specified in its 1964 agreement with Comecon. Collectively, the members of the Comecon did not display the necessary prerequisites for economic integration: their level of industrialization was low and uneven, with a single dominant member (the Soviet Union) producing 70% of the community national product.