834.24/495

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Paraguay ( Frost )

No. 1060

The Secretary of State refers to the Embassy’s despatch no. 1333 of September 18, 1943 with regard to the insistence of the Paraguayan Foreign Minister and Finance Minister that they were promised during their visit to Washington and New York last June that this Government would send experts to Paraguay to assist in preparing plans and specifications not only for a cement industry but also for a number of other economic projects. It appears from the despatch that the recollection of the Paraguayan Cabinet officers is that the commitment was made in a conversation in the Department between the Under Secretary and the two Paraguayan Cabinet officers. In this connection there is enclosed a copy of a memorandum of conversation of June 11, 194352 covering the meeting in question which was prepared immediately after the meeting. It will be noted that there is no mention in the memorandum of any commitment to send technical experts to Paraguay.

As the Embassy has been previously informed, the Department has made arrangements for the temporary detail to Asunción by the Office of Economic Warfare of a citrus concentrates expert in an endeavor to meet the wishes of the Paraguayan Government, although no commitment in this regard was made. The Department feels that adequate technical advice concerning possible jute, cold storage, and dried milk enterprises can be obtained by the Paraguayan Government from the members of the Food Mission of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs now in Paraguay and from other available local sources.

  1. Not printed.