Office of the Historian

71. Memorandum of Conversation1

Cancun, October 24, 1981, 9:45–10 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • President’s Meeting with UN Secretary General Waldheim

PARTICIPANTS

  • The President
  • James A. Baker III, Assistant to the President
  • Richard V. Allen, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • Alvin P. Adams, Deputy Executive Secretary, Department of State
  • Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations
  • Albert Rohan, Director, Executive Office of the Secretary General

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Secretary General Waldheim opened the conversation by noting that Cancun had been a “good conference.” Its results, he said, were pleasant. Somewhat pointedly, he expressed a hope that the President was satisfied. The President indicated that he was pleased with the results and with the absence of rancor at the conference.

In connection with Cancun, Waldheim noted that global negotiations would be on the General Assembly’s agenda for discussion in the coming week and that this timing fit in well with the conclusion of the conference. Asking how we should proceed on follow-up to Cancun, he indicated some uncertainty on the next steps, suggesting in passing that he might “try to set up a committee” on follow-up.2

The President said that setting up new institutions and organizations might be counterproductive. He pointed to his own proposal of agricultural expert teams as an example of an unbureaucratic, inexpensive and [Page 204] effective method to solve practical problems. Expanding on his suggestion of agricultural task forces, the President expressed confidence that experts—farmers and academics—would be pleased and honored to visit countries with agricultural problems to offer their technical advice. The President continued that a similar approach might be followed in the energy area where experts could contribute much to proper development of energy resources. He emphasized the importance of impressing on “Third World leaders” the need to welcome and employ outside experts.

Secretary General Waldheim stated his impression that many developing countries—especially in Africa—increasingly recognized the importance of practical assistance measures such as the President’s proposal. These leaders, he added, now recognized that “propaganda won’t help.” Cancun provided a chance to get away from acrimony, the Secretary General was hopeful that we would be able to proceed with “realistic” approaches. He expressed gratitude for the President’s indications, October 22 and during the present meeting, of his willingness to provide task forces to help with agricultural and energy development. Noting that this idea would be of great interest to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), he said he would discuss [with] the Director Bradford Morse “to see what we can do.”

Explaining the background to his views on the agricultural task force idea, the President described his own experience in California as Governor, where he called upon the expertise of volunteer private citizens and business leaders to help restore efficiency and financial soundness to the state. The President continued that, along the same lines, he has asked David Rockefeller and other business leaders to play a role in the Caribbean Basin initiative.

The Secretary General responded that these were “good examples” of how to obtain results.

[Omitted here is discussion unrelated to the Cancun Summit and development policy.]

  1. Source: Reagan Library, Executive Secretariat, NSC Subject File, Memorandums of Conversation—President Reagan (October 1981); NLR–753–49–3–4–1. Secret. Drafted by Alvin Adams (S/S) on October 26. The meeting took place in the President’s Suite of the Sheraton Cancun Hotel. The memorandum is marked “Draft” at the top.↩
  2. A paper outlining four Global Negotiations options, marked “October 23–1:00 p.m.” is in Princeton University, Mudd Manuscript Library, James A. Baker III Papers, Box 77, Folder 5, Cancun Summit, 1981. A fuller description of Option 2 of the Global Negotiations options is attached to the options paper. (Ibid.) A fuller description of Option 3 of the Global Negotiations options is ibid. A copy of a memorandum of conversation of the Fourth Plenary session, held October 23 at 5:15 p.m., which briefly discusses Global Negotiations, is in the National Archives, RG 56, Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, Subject Files, 1982–1985, UD–11W, 56–86–1, Box 13, [No folder title]. A copy of Baker’s handwritten notes of the Fourth Plenary session, October 23, is in Princeton University, Mudd Manuscript Library, James A. Baker III Papers, Box 77, Folder 5, Cancun Summit, 1981.↩