740.00119 Control (Germany)/11–1546
The Assistant Secretary of State (Hilldring) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: The conferees on the economic unification of the British and American Zones reconvened at 2:30 p.m. November 14, 1946.
Present at the meeting were:
| General Hilldring | |
| Mr. Petersen | |
| General Clay | |
| Mr. Murphy | |
| Mr. Riddleberger | for the United States, and |
| and | |
| Mr. Hall-Patch | |
| Mr. Makins | |
| Sir David Waley | |
| Sir William Strang | |
| General Robertson | for Great Britain. |
The meeting opened with a report from Generals Clay and Robertson regarding the budgets which they had been requested to prepare in the preceding meeting of the Committee. Their report entitled “Import Export Plan” is attached as an exhibit.97 Essentially, it provides for a three-year financial and economic program that will make the two zones self-supporting by the end of the calendar year 1949. It envisages a 50 per cent increase in coal production in the calendar year 1947, and an 1800 calorie ration as soon as the world food situation warrants an increase of food consumption to that level.
It was pointed out to the British that an even division of the cost of the disease and unrest imports under this program would, in a three-year period, transfer $248,000,000 from the British budget to the United States budget. General Hilldring pointed out that under the even division of financial costs resulting from fusion, the United States would be unable to accept a responsibility greater than an equal division of the cost and that, in view of the benefits accruing to Great Britain from such an arrangement, it was the feeling of the United States Government that its proposal dealt fairly, even generously with the United Kingdom.
General Clay explained a bi-zonal machinery for external trade had been agreed upon in Berlin between him and General Robertson, and the conferees agreed to accept that agreement in principle. Generals [Page 640] Robertson and Clay were instructed to reduce the agreement to exact language and when the exact wording of the agreement was submitted to the conferees, they would take final action on this question.
It was agreed by the conferees that the bi-zonal arrangements should be put into effect at the earliest possible moment, but that the exact date should be left to the Military Governors in Germany. General Robertson believed that if the conferees could reach a decision on all the questions in the near future, the bi-zonal arrangement could be effectuated on the first of January.
The conferees agreed to meet again at 10:00 a.m. November 15.98