800.51 W 89Greece/17

Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Dulles)

The Greek Minister called to see the Secretary this morning and, finding that he was at the Treasury, came to the Near Eastern Division [Page 161] with the request that the Secretary be advised that the Legation had been instructed by the Greek Government to communicate to the Department that Mr. G. Cofinas, former Minister of Finance, and M. Drosopoulos, Director of the Public Debt, of Greece, were shortly coming to the United States to take up the funding of Greek indebtedness to this country.

In this connection the Minister referred to the recent conference he had had with the Secretary, when the latter had inquired at what time the Greek Government intended to take up the question of the funding of its debt, in view of the fact that our Legation at Athens had been informed, some weeks ago, of the appointment of a Greek Debt Funding Commission, composed of the Minister himself and Mr. Evlambios. Mr. Simopoulos said that he hoped that the delay in taking up the negotiations which would result from the sending of new negotiators from Greece would not inconvenience this Government. He realized that the Debt Funding Commission was occupied at the present time and had the Rumanian negotiations to take up when the Italian negotiations were finished. In view of this, he trusted the slight delay in dealing with Greece would be welcome rather than otherwise.

I told the Minister that I would pass on to the Secretary the information he had communicated. The Minister then asked me (1) whether I would be able to let him know personally whether the procedure contemplated by the Greek Government would be agreeable to this Government and (2) whether formal notification of the designation of Mr. Cofinas should be made.

I told the Minister that in my personal opinion any long delay on the part of the Greek Government would be unfortunate and that I hoped that the newly appointed representatives would proceed to this country at an early date. He said that he could assure me that they would.

In reply to the Minister’s second inquiry, I stated that as we had been officially advised of his own designation and that of Mr. Evlambios as negotiators with the Debt Funding Commission I felt that it would be desirable to have a formal communication from the Greek Legation indicating the change which the Greek Government was suggesting in the personnel of its Mission and, also, as soon as possible, a definite statement as to the time when the Mission would proceed to the United States. In this connection I pointed out to the Minister that Congress would be assembling shortly, that several of the members of the Debt Funding Commission were also members of Congress and that, in addition, the Christmas and New Year holidays were not far distant. If the Mission did not come to this country promptly there might be considerable [Page 162] delay in taking up the matter, which would only react unfavorably to Greece, since, as the Minister appreciated, the Department would not be disposed to view with favor Greek loan flotations until the debt matter was settled. In this connection I referred to the fact that the Greek indebtedness to the United States was relatively small and that the question ought to be a very simple one to deal with. To this the Minister replied that, quite the contrary, the Greek matter was by far the most difficult of all and, while he did not explain—and I asked for no explanation—in his allusion to the difficulty he undoubtedly had in mind the claims which Greece might set up under the 1918 Credit Agreement with Greece.

I told the Minister that I would communicate with him in case the Debt Funding Commission had any comment to make upon the informal communication which he had made to the Department regarding the new negotiators.

A[llen] W. D[ulles]