711.8227/1a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Liberia (Walton)
9. In connection with the Department’s telegram no. 8 of March 25, 1 p.m.49 this Government would be willing to initiate negotiations with the Liberian Government for the conclusion of an agreement on civil aviation. You will recall that the aviation provisions of our recently negotiated Treaty of Commerce and Navigation50 were omitted at the last moment owing to the desire of the Liberian Government to obtain reciprocal most-favored-nation treatment which the United States was unable to grant. If you think the Liberian Government would now look with favor on the negotiation of an agreement embodying such provisions on the subject of civil aviation as the two Governments may be willing to agree upon, you are authorized to broach the matter to the appropriate authorities. Should there be a favorable response, a draft agreement will be sent you.
For such discreet confidential use as you may deem advisable, it may be observed that the negotiation of an aviation agreement between Liberia and the United States at this time, following closely upon the visit of the Boise,51 might serve as an indication of the continued close interest of this Government in the future of Liberia and correspondingly make an impression on any nation with colonial ambitions in West Africa.
- Ante, p. 561.↩
- Signed at Monrovia, August 8, 1938, Department of State Treaty Series No. 956, or 54 Stat. 1739. For correspondence relating to the negotiations, see Foreign Relations, 1938, vol. ii, pp. 842 ff.↩
- For correspondence concerning courtesy visit of the U. S. S. Boise to Liberia, October 29 to November 3, 1938, see ibid., pp. 817 ff.↩