855A.24/49e: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant )
3829. Department is informed that Belgium Minister for the Colonies is under the impression that memoranda, regarding the requirements of the Belgian Congo and regarding the commodities which the Congo is in a position to supply to the British Empire and the United States, should go primarily to the British Foreign Office. Will you please advise the Belgium Government, and request the British Foreign Office to do likewise, of the fact that the Combined Raw Materials Board in Washington and the Combined Production and Resources Board are expected to be the authorities which will allocate both supplies for the Congo and commodities from the Congo, and that consequently it is desirable, in order to expedite matters, that data concerning reciprocal supplies should be sent as soon as possible by the Belgian Congo Government simultaneously to the Foreign Office, and to the Department of State for transmission to these Boards.
This telegram is sent to clarify the situation for the Belgian authorities and also because the local representatives in the United States of the Belgian Congo are being asked to supply data and are hesitant to confuse the issue by asking authorities in Congo for information which is expected shortly in the form of official lists.