Office of the Historian

8. Memorandum of Conversation0

Ankara, January 30, 1958, 4 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Middle East Development Plan

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Secretary
  • William Rountree
  • Frederick Reinhardt
  • The British Foreign Secretary
  • Sir William Hayter
  • Mr. Dennis Lasky

Mr. Lloyd said he thought Hammarskjold’s Middle East Development Plan1 played into Egypt’s hands. Hammarskjold had told him there were five important development projects in the area: (1) Tigris River, (2) Jordan, (3) Nile Valley, (4) Suez Canal, and (5) Syrian Plains. The first project was out because the Iraqi had means of their own and the second was politically impossible for the present. Accordingly, said Mr. Lloyd, that left the last three projects and it would not make sense for us to get into this thing if they were to be the objectives. Hammarskjold had however produced a good argument that the plan might be able to do something with the refugee problem. Mr. Lloyd went on to say that he had told Hammarskjold that he would not mind the establishment in the Middle East of a regional branch of the International Bank. On his arrival in Ankara he had spoken to Nuri Said who had expressed strong opposition to the plan. Finally, said Mr. Lloyd, he was interested in Mr. McCloy’s connection with the plan.

The Secretary replied that he had the impression that Mr. McCloy had many doubts about the plan because of the inherent dangers for the oil companies in which his bank was interested.1

Mr. Rountree observed that before getting into this it would be well to re-read Nasser’s “Theory of Revolution.”

Mr. Lloyd suggested it was important for the U.S. and the U.K. not to seem to be against the plan.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 880.0000/1–3058. Secret. Drafted by Reinhardt.↩
  2. See Document 1.↩
  3. See Document 1.↩