711.2127/9–646
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Colombia (Wiley)
No. 915
Sir: Reference is made to recent communications exchanged between the Department and the Embassy on the subject of a proposed new bilateral air transport agreement between the United States and Colombia (which would supersede the 1929 agreement), and to the Department’s instruction no. 769 of May 31, 194660 which transmitted copies of the so-called Latin American decision of the Civil Aeronautics Board and stated that this Government was desirous of initiating discussions in the near future with a view to implementing the Board’s decision with respect to these air services.
There are forwarded herewith three copies of a draft bilateral air transport agreement with Colombia.60 Subject to your discretion as to appropriate timing in the light of the Embassy’s telegram no. 586 of August 19, 1946,60 you are requested to transmit one or two of the attached copies to the Colombian Government with a view to initiating discussions and concluding a revised agreement. The attached draft is based on the standard form of agreement for air routes formulated at the Chicago Aviation Conference in 1944,61 except that Article 6 provides that “substantial ownership and effective control” of an airline of a contracting party is to be vested in nationals of that party, rather than the nationals of either party to the agreement. The description of routes in the annex was drafted [Page 671] by the Civil Aeronautics Board and is intended to reflect that agency’s Latin American decision referred to above, although it is possible that the Colombian authorities may desire a more definitive description of such routes.
The United States Government has concluded bilateral air transport agreements along the lines of the attached draft with a number of countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Turkey. While the aforementioned bilateral agreements, together with the draft agreement attached, follow closely the Chicago standard clauses, the United States has also concluded bilateral agreements with other countries which incorporate provisions and principles in addition to the matters covered by the Chicago form. The first agreement of this latter type, was that concluded with the United Kingdom at Bermuda on February 11, 1946,62 which was followed by agreements with France and Belgium.63 These latter two agreements embody the additional Bermuda provisions, but are in a more compact form in that the important principles of the Bermuda Final Act are made a part of the agreements and their annexes. This Government also has concluded agreements with Egypt, Greece and Lebanon following the standard Chicago form, but with some of the Bermuda provisions added in the Annex.
The Embassy is authorized to bring the above information to the attention of the Colombian authorities, adding that while most of the additional provisions in the United States agreements with the United Kingdom, France and Belgium were designed to take care of special situations, the United States Government nevertheless would be pleased to consider the inclusion of pertinent parts of these provisions if desired by Colombia.…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Very truly yours,