No. 1455
Editorial Note
Despatch 3 from Jidda, July 4, enclosed the record of the discussions on the draft bilateral Grant Aid Agreement held in Riyadh from June 28 to July 2 between the Ambassador, the Saudi Arabian Deputy Foreign Minister, and the King’s Councilor. The despatch reported that the Saudis were pleased at being presented with a draft agreement before any other Arab countries; but they were dismayed by the complexity of the draft and hesitated to commit themselves in writing.
Saudi complaints about the complexity of the agreement led the Department of State to revise the draft agreement and the instruction to the Ambassador in Saudi Arabia. A memorandum by Fritzlan, dated August 19, transmitted a copy of the revised agreement to the Foreign Operations Administration for comment. A memorandum from the Foreign Operations Administration, dated August 31, informed the Department of State that a few changes should be made, but on the whole the revised instruction and draft agreement were satisfactory. Airgram A–20, September 16, transmitted a copy of the revised draft agreement to the Embassy in Jidda. It informed the Embassy that the modified draft represented a special type of agreement, as short and simple as possible, which had been drawn up in deference to the Saudis. Documentation on this topic is in Department of State file 786.5 MSP.