163. Summary Notes of a Meeting of the Delegation’s Steering Committee, Buenos Aires, September 2, 19571
General Economic Agreement
Mr. Rubottom reported that last Saturday2 about seven hours were spent in two meetings with other Delegations on the Economic Resolution. Saturday night there was set up a draft committee composed of eight countries (US, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia and Uruguay). The drafting committee met for over four hours last night. There was unanimous agreement on the procedures to be followed, except for Uruguay’s opposition and Costa Rica’s misgivings.
The procedure is to prepare two documents: (1) the Declaration and (2) a Resolution referring the matter of a treaty to the COAS. Last night Ecuador made a very helpful contribution in suggesting [Page 555] that the Resolution be a self-contained document, explaining why the treaty question is being referred to the COAS.
Mr. Rubottom pointed out that paragraph 2 of the Declaration is still open to question. Mr. Leddy said that Cuba is concerned about the possible effect of this paragraph on its sugar quota. Another problem is Bolivia’s concern about freedom of transit. Also, Mexico is making an effort to have paragraph 5 split into two parts, separating public from private capital. Ambassador Dreier suggested, however, that Mexico will not actively press this matter.
At the meeting last night of the draft committee it was agreed to proceed this morning with the scheduled Conference Plenary session at 10:30 and to have a meeting this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. of the working group. It is expected that the group will complete its two documents this afternoon.
Mr. Metzger reported that Committee I had completed its work of reviewing each article of the Secretariat’s draft treaty. Mexico opposed four articles. Uruguay opposed one and entered an understanding regarding a second. There was, however, no vote on the document as a whole.
The United States has submitted a written statement on each reservation that we had. It will be necessary to see the Committee report to verify that these statements actually appear in Committee I’s final report.
Foreign Trade
There was a brief discussion of Committee III and Committee IV’s work and the two statements which the US Delegate will make in this morning’s Plenary on Committee III resolutions.
Coordinating Committee
At the Coordinating Committee meeting this morning Bolivia’s resolution 74 on Central Bank assets will be discussed. It was suggested that our representative recommend to the Committee that Committee III’s decision on this resolution be accepted as final, namely, that the Bolivian proposal is juridical rather than economic. Also, our position is that this is a bilateral matter between the US and Bolivia and not a proper conference subject.
Press Conference
It was agreed that there would be a Delegation press conference tomorrow. Mr. Phillips was asked to make sure that there are available the necessary suggested questions and answers.
[Page 556]Style Committee
Mr. Corliss reported that the Style Committee has completed its review of documents from Committees II, III, V and VI. He said that several changes have been made in the Spanish texts.
Ambassador Beaulac
Ambassador Beaulac suggested that we start preparations for the next Conference. He suggested that we make clear the things that we seek in Latin America and that the US position papers for the Conference serve as a basis of our public information output. He described the continual barrage of extreme ideas to which the Latin public is subjected.
[Here follows discussion of the work of the Conference’s Coordinating Committee and Style Committee and a press conference scheduled by the delegation for September 3.]