Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XXII, Southeast Asia and the Pacific

257. Letter From President Carter to Australian Prime Minister Fraser¹

Washington, June 13, 1978

Dear Malcolm:

I was pleased to hear of the positive reaction to your discussions with Vice President Mondale. He has told me that he found his visit to Australia and his talks with you helpful and constructive.²

I share your concern about the dangers of protectionism and the need for a successful conclusion of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTN).³ I will not consider these negotiations a success unless they lead us toward significant liberalization of world trade in agricultural products. We intend to continue to work with you and our other negotiating partners to achieve that goal. Clearly, no country will achieve all of its objectives in the negotiations, but I believe the will exists to solve the urgent problems fairly. Bob Strauss and I recognize that Australia shares these objectives and we hope you can improve Australia’s offers to make success more likely.

You are right to attach special importance to improving trade relations with the developing countries. I expect these countries—especially the more advanced of them—to benefit from the Tokyo Round and to contribute to its success.

In UNCTAD discussions on individual commodities, we have supported international stabilization measures where conditions warranted, as they did with sugar. We want to reach agreement on a Common Fund. But we think the OECD proposals offer the most reasonable prospect for successful negotiations and should get more attention from the developing countries. We also think the developing countries’ proposal that the Common Fund serve as a central source of financial support for international commodity agreements is unnecessary to promote our shared objective, commodity-market stabilization. We favor the financing of other measures to address the problems of specific commodities, but we do not see the need for a financial role for the Common Fund in this area.

I see a need to advance preparations for the UNCTAD V meeting⁴ through consultations among developed and developing countries. I would also welcome regular exchanges of views and ideas between senior officials of our Governments.⁵

Best regards,

Sincerely,

Jimmy Carter

1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, President’s Correspondence with Foreign Leaders File, Box 1, Australia, Prime Minister J. Malcolm Fraser, 1–12/78. No classification marking.
2. See Document 254.
3. See Document 256.
4. UNCTAD V took place in Manila May 7–June 3, 1979.
5. Underneath his signature, Carter wrote, “P.S. Chip & Caron really enjoyed their visit to Australia. J.”