242. Memorandum From Secretary of State Vance to President Carter1
[Omitted here is material unrelated to Yemen.]
6. Mission to the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen—The People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) Government has agreed to receive the Department’s team late this month for exploratory discussions. This will be our first opportunity in almost a decade for extensive exchange of views with the PDRY Government.
The team will cast its approach in the context of your general policy of trying to normalize relations with all countries and our long term objective of having a constructive relationship with the PDRY. The team will also hold discussions on a number of key substantive issues on which our views differ significantly from those of the PDRY leadership. These include human rights, support for terrorism, cooperation among Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf states in the interests of [Page 761] regional security, and the role of the Soviet Union, Cuba and other communist states in the region.
[Omitted here is material unrelated to Yemen.]
- Source: Carter Library, Plains File, Subject File, Box 38, State Department Evening Reports, 6/78. Secret. Carter initialed the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the memorandum, indicating that he saw it.↩