Canada. External Aid Office : On 1 November 1960, under the Public Service Re-arrangement and Transfer of Duties Act (Order in Council 1960-1476), the functions of the Economic and Technical Assistance Branch were transferred to the External Aid Office of the Department of External Affairs, under a separate Director General. Under the supervision of the Minister of External Affairs, the Director General of the Office was responsible, among other things, for the operation and administration of Canada's bilateral grant aid programmes in South and South East Asia, the Caribbean, Francophone and Commonwealth countries in Africa as well as development loan programmes in the foregoing areas and Latin America. The office was designated a Department by Order In Council 923 on 8 May 1968, and reported to the Minister of External Affairs as established by Order in Council 1968-1928. In 1968, the External Aid Office was reorganized to update its administrative machinery, practices and procedures. The emphasis of Canada's development aid programme was also broadened beyond strictly bilateral programmes to include multilateral activities through the use of existing international aid organizations and private sector participation by Canadian business, industry and the general public. In addition it was felt that Canada should modify its programme by searching for worthwhile projects rather than simply responding to requests from countries in need. To this end several task forces involving senior executives and professional employees were created in 1967-1968 to visit major geographic regions, make on-the-spot assessments of need and to establish priorities with the potential host countries. These experts conducted studies concerning technical assistance in East Africa, agricultural requirements in India, medical projects in Vietnam, as well as engineering requirements in Pakistan, India and Ceylon. In addition, the Chevrier mission visited the French-speaking countries of Africa. On 12 September 1968, the name of the department was officially changed to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) by Order in Council 1968-1760 and the position of Director General was replaced by President, to better reflect the international nature of Canada's aid programme. RG74 General Inventory