501.BB Summaries/12–645: Telegram
Senator Austin to the Secretary of State
us urgent
[via Courier]
938. GA Secret Summary.
[Here follow the first two items of the summary.]
Subcommittee on Contributions of Committee V (3rd Meeting)
Developments at the Subcommittee meeting on December 6 indicated to the USdel representative that the U.S. could probably obtain approval of a 39.89 per cent contribution for 1946 but would have difficulty ensuring that this figure would apply for only one year.
Chairman Martinez (Mexico) stated that there were three issues before the Subcommittee requiring an answer from USdel. He listed them as, a 39 per cent contribution for the U.S. for 1947; assumption of the contributions of the three new members which would bring the 1946 contribution to 41.59 per cent; and acceptance of the 1947 scale for 1948.
The Contributions Committee’s recommendations for the new members were presented as, Sweden 2.20 per cent; Afghanistan—.03 per cent; Iceland—.02 per cent. It was agreed that separate scales were required for 1946 and 1947. It was also agreed that the GA’s basic resolution requiring adjustment of the Working Capital Fund to fit the 1946 contribution scale would have to altered to provide for the adjustments to be made to the 1947 scale.
Ganem (France) supported in principle a limitation on contributions and inquired whether the U.S. might be willing to accept for 1946 the 2.69 per cent contributed by new members in 1947. Orlov (USSR) supported the French proposal and stated that the adopted scale should apply for 1946, 1947, and 1948 since no substantial change in world economic conditions could be expected in the next few years. He urged the Subcommittee to consider whether a 39 per cent U.S. contribution represented too great a deviation from the principle of capacity to pay.
Pitblado (U.K.) supported the French request that the U.S. absorb the differential between the 1946 and 1947 scales. He recommended that the 1947 scale should also apply to the Working Capital Fund. He recognized the validity of the U.S. arguments for a ceiling, but thought the difficulty came in fixing the limitation on the normal amount, referring to the mystic 40 per cent.
[Page 497]Geraschenko (U.S.S.R.) urged the U.S. to absorb the 2.59 per cent contributions of new members as a gesture of good will. He argued for a three-year scale and agreed to a 39 per cent contribution for the U.S. for 1947.
Chairman Martinez’s suggested scales for 1946 and 1947 were supported in general by France and the U.K. These scales called for a 39.89 per cent contribution from the U.S. for 1946 and a 39 per cent 1947 contribution for the budget and Working Capital Fund. The U.K. was set at 11.98 for 1946 and 11.65 per cent for 1947. The U.S.S.R. would pay 6.62 for 1946 and 6.43 per cent for 1947.