298. Memorandum of Conversation1
PARTICIPANTS
- Mehdi Samii, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran
- W.W. Rostow
- Harold H. Saunders
Mr. Samii came in just to wind up a general discussion of economic development in Iran which he and Mr. Rostow had begun at the dinner for the Shah.
Mr. Rostow began by placing Iran at that point on the development ladder where the “take off” is just about finished and the nation is beginning to diffuse its resources and technology into a broad range of new industries. He likened Iran somewhat to Mexico, noting that Iran was still just a little bit behind. Looking to the future, he felt that Iran’s greatest increase in revenue would come not from pressing for marginal increases in oil earnings, but would come from the widespread expansion of processing industries. The important principle will be for Iran to reap the profits of value added to its raw materials rather than to let these profits go to processors outside Iran.
Mr. Samii asked what he thought Iran should do in mining its metal ores. Mr. Rostow said he could not be sure without studying the resources and markets in detail, but in general he felt that Iran might look at the example of Sweden. He felt it would make sense for Iran to move gradually from selling raw ore into various stages of processing. He urged that Iran, in developing new processing industries in all fields, not be afraid of foreign capital to start with but to be sure in its initial agreements with foreign investors to provide for the gradual transfer of management and control to Iranian hands. He felt this would undercut much domestic opposition to the suspected “new-imperialism” of foreign capital and would avoid embarrassing political problems for both sides later.
Mr. Rostow, as he had promised Tuesday night, gave Mr. Samii a collection of memoranda and articles on the need for high protein additives to improve nutritional levels (copies provided to NEA). Entirely apart from the human obligation to do our best by each child that is born, he said it makes sense purely from the hard-headed planner’s point of view to insure that a developing country will have the best minds it can develop, and we have now learned that adequate diet is an essential part [Page 531] of producing those minds. Mr. Samii expressed his gratitude and asked whether we would be able to send someone out to help develop a project in this field, once his government had decided what it needed. Mr. Rostow said that Ambassador Meyer would certainly be prepared to discuss this when Mr. Samii was ready.
Mr. Rostow also stressed the possible importance of educational television. He said that a country like Iran must learn to develop talent within the country and not to rely entirely on education abroad. Where there is a shortage of teachers, educational television can bring the best teachers to even the remotest areas. He recommended that Mr. Samii talk with Mr. McGeorge Bundy or David Bell at the Ford Foundation.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Iran, Memos & Miscellaneous, Vol. II, 1/66–1/69. Confidential.↩