811.20 Defense (M) Brazil/5240
Memorandum by the Economic Counselor of Embassy in Brazil (Donnelly)18
Subject: Program for the Procurement of Agricultural Food Products.
Meetings on September 9 and 10.
Present on September 9: The Minister of Finance; Sr. Valentim Bouças19 and Garibaldi Dantes of the Commission for the Control of Washington Agreements; and the Economic Counselor of the Embassy.
Present on September 10: (At a meeting of the Commission for the Control of Washington Agreements) Sr. Valentim Bouças; Garibaldi Dantes; Dr. Kafuri of the Office of the Coordinator of Economic Mobilization; the Economic Counselor of the Embassy; the Agricultural Attaché of the Embassy; Mr. Hubert C. Winans, Acting Special Representative of the OEW; and Mr. Stephen A. Crump of the Commodity Credit Corporation.
At the meeting on September 9, the Economic Counselor informed the Minister of Finance of the program for the procurement of agricultural food products as envisaged in the Department’s A–2164, 7:20 p.m., August 30. The Minister expressed great interest in the program and remarked that it tied in with his plans for the economic stability [Page 714] of the country. He expressed the hope that the commodity agreements would cover at least two crops at fixed prices. He stressed the importance of reaching agreements as quickly as possible so as to stimulate the production of agricultural commodities.
He instructed Sr. Bouças and Dr. Dantes to meet on September 10 with representatives of the American Agencies and to expedite negotiations. He told them that he was in agreement with the objectives of the United States Government and expressed the hope that the agreements would include commodities in addition to peanuts, beans and rice which are covered in the airgram under reference.
September 10, at the meeting of the Commission for the Control of the Washington Agreements, the Economic Counselor informed them of the plan and read appropriate excerpts from the airgram under reference. It was agreed that the Embassy would send a memorandum to the Commission confirming the conversations and that a second meeting would take place early next week. Mr. Bouças stated he would invite the Minister of Agriculture to designate a person from his Ministry to collaborate with the Commission in the negotiations with the American Embassy.