81. Letter From the Deputy Secretary of State (Clark) to Acting Secretary of Agriculture Lyng1
On September 29 in New York, Romanian Foreign Minister Andrei told Secretary Haig that Romania urgently needs CCC credits to cover its feed grain needs during the next two years.3 Andrei stressed that Romania is in serious need of feed grains to maintain its livestock herds, principally because of the poor harvest this year. On October 5, the Romanian Embassy made an oral presentation to this Department, paralleling other approaches to your Department and to our Embassy in Bucharest, urgently asking for $200 million in CCC guarantees to cover feed grain imports during the coming fiscal year.4
From a foreign policy standpoint, Romania’s unique position in the Warsaw Pact and its independent line on important international issues such as Poland, the Middle East, Afghanistan and CSCE serve our national interests well. Increasingly Romania is looking to the West and to us in particular to provide the political and economic support necessary to maintain its independent foreign policy line within the Warsaw Pact. Our bilateral relations with Romania have improved steadily over the past decade, allowing us to pursue more effectively our interests in areas of human rights, trade and exchanges. We hope to continue that positive trend, and therefore support Romania’s request for CCC guarantees which, if met, will support Romania’s relatively independent foreign policy stance, and will permit us to develop further our influence with its government.
As we know from several sources, Romania is encountering financial difficulties, and there have been rumors of possible rescheduling. The Foreign Minister has assured us, and we have heard from other senior Romanian officials as well, that Romania is actively pursuing efforts in the energy and import areas to come to terms with its short term financial problems. While we should take Romania’s foreign debt situation into account when considering specific terms for CCC guarantees, we should not allow it to color unduly our view of the overall [Page 249] situation. Indeed our approval of the guarantee request would contribute significantly to Romania’s ability to confront its current economic difficulties.
Last year Romania requested $400 million in CCC guarantees, but was granted only $50 million. At that time it was feared that our grain might be transshipped to the USSR by the Romanians. This year, however, our planned grain sales to the Soviets should obviate concerns over possible transshipments.
I hope you can agree, for the reasons I have cited, to give the Romanian request highest priority consideration. Assistant Secretary Eagleburger will be meeting in Bucharest with Foreign Minister Andrei on Sunday, October 18. It would be highly desirable if he could at that time convey our agreement in principle to provide CCC guarantees to Romania. Taking into account the considerations outlined above, we recommend a program for Romania in FY 82 of $65 million with a three-year payback period. We would also wish to tell the Romanians that we will be prepared to consider sympathetically a program of similar size for FY 83 and FY 84.5
Sincerely,
- Source: Reagan Library, Paula J. Dobriansky Files, Romania—EE Memoranda (1). Secret.↩
- Clark struck through “Lyng” and handwrote “Dick” above the salutation.↩
- Andrei was in New York for the opening session United Nations General Assembly. Telegram 266477 to Bucharest, October 5, summarized the meeting between Andrei and Haig. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, no film number)↩
- Minutes of the October 5 meeting were not found.↩
- An unknown hand drew a line in the left-hand margin, highlighting the last two sentences of this paragraph.↩
- Clark signed “Bill” above his typed signature. Below his signature, he wrote, “Dick, if you concur, Jerry Bremer will obtain telephonic W.H. concurrence. Bill.”↩