168. Editorial Note

On January 31, 1962, negotiations for a new U.S.-Soviet exchanges agreement began in Washington. The U.S. delegation was headed by the Secretary of Stateʼs Special Assistant, Charles E. Bohlen, and the Soviet delegation by S.K. Romanovsky, Deputy Chairman of the Soviet Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. Following prepared statements by the heads of delegation at the first plenary meeting on January 31 and comments by each delegation on the draft agreement submitted by the other on February 1, the delegations then split into four committees devoted to general sections, scientific exchanges, performing arts, and educational exchanges. As the talks progressed smaller meetings between Bohlen and Romanovsky occurred when discussion of particular topics threatened to bring a halt to the negotiations. In general the U.S. delegation tried to expand the number of exchanges in the educational and informational fields, while the Soviet side attempted to increase the numbers of exchanges in the scientific and industrial areas.

By February 23 the discussions had progressed sufficiently far to warrant the establishment of a drafting committee charged with preparing a paper that showed what had been agreed and what remained to be resolved. Following this meeting the delegations were able to reach agreement on all aspects of the text and at their eleventh session on March 8, the drafting committee compared the English and Russian texts and signed the agreement. For text of the agreement including the annexes, see 13 UST 1496; for text of the agreement without the annexes, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1962, pages 726-740. Records of the plenary and committee meetings of the negotiations are in Department of State, Central File 511.613.