611.48A31/86
The South African Minister (Close) to the Secretary of State
The Minister of the Union of South Africa presents his compliments to the Honourable the Secretary of State and has the honour, with reference to the confidential discussions held between members of the Legation and the State Department in connection with a proposed Trade Agreement between the Union of South Africa and the United States of America, to state that the Government of the Union of South Africa has decided to send a delegation to the United States to conduct preliminary discussions in connection with the matter with representatives of the United States Government.
The delegation will be constituted as follows:—
| Delegate: | Dr. P. R. Viljoen, Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry, and member of the External Trade Relations Committee of the Union of South Africa. |
| Advisers: | Mr. J. von Eden, Chief Clerk and Statistician in the Department of Customs and Excise; |
| Dr. A. J. Beyleveld, Economist in the Department of Agriculture and Forestry; | |
| and | |
| Mr. D. G. Malan, Economic Adviser in the Department of Commerce and Industries. | |
| Mr. A. T. Brennan, Commercial Counsellor-designate to the South African Legation, Washington, should his services be required by the delegation. |
The delegation will be under the general supervision and control of the Minister, and will not engage in any activity other than that indicated in the preceding paragraphs.
The delegation sailed for the United States from Cape Town on September 10th, 1941, by the S. S. President Grant and should therefore [Page 128] arrive at New York towards the end of the current month, or early in October, 1941.
It is hoped that the particulars given above will, under the special circumstances, be held to be a sufficient compliance with the requirements outlined in the Note of August 19th, 1941, from the State Department.48
The Minister would be grateful for such courtesies and free entry privileges as can be extended to the delegation upon their arrival in New York.
[These trade agreement exploratory discussions were carried on for some time but did not lead to the opening of actual negotiations, apparently because of critical war conditions and the handling of wartime trade through lend-lease operations.]
- Not found in Department files.↩