840.50/2694: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Chile (Heath)
Washington, October 13,
1943—7 p.m.
1099. In response to the inquiry of the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs with respect to plans for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, you may stress the following points:
- 1.
- In its first note on this subject, presented in June, the United States expressed the hope that the Chilean Government would be in a position shortly to join with the United States and the other nations in definitive action on the matter. In its note of June 9 to the Chilean Ambassador at Washington,26 this Government suggested the possibility of holding a conference of the nations involved after general agreement had been reached on a program of action, such a conference to be assembled for the purpose of taking such action. In conversations with representatives of all interested Governments, officers of the Department made it clear from the first that this Government had no intention of calling a conference for the purpose of discussing details of the agreement, and that a conference if called would be only for the purpose of formal final action by Governments upon the text of an agreement which had already received general approval. After more than 3 months of general discussion of the first draft of the agreement by a great many Governments, this Government attempted to redraft the agreement in line with the consensus of opinion as expressed to it and it confidently expected that all of the Governments which had been discussing the matter would find the new text acceptable, especially since it attempts only to establish the framework for an organization, leaving decisions with respect to details to the UNRRA Council. This Government would still welcome a further exchange of views with the Chilean Government but it is hoped that that Government will wish to join with the other Governments in accepting the draft agreement as a reasonable basis of action in this field, especially in view of the urgent need for such action.
- 2.
- The four committees mentioned in the Department’s circular telegram of October 7 would only be temporary committees for the purpose of expediting the work of the Council at its first session. The Council will of course have a permanent committee on supplies and no doubt it will wish to establish the standing committees referred to in Article III paragraph 6. It is believed that these various standing committees will have great influence in the work of the organization and that they may very well be more active than the Central Committee.
- 3.
- As a member government the Chilean Government would have an opportunity to offer its proposal with respect to voting by the Council at the first or any subsequent session of the Council. Article III paragraph 1 provides that the Council shall determine its own rules of procedure.
Hull
- Not printed.↩