561.333D3/8–2644
Memorandum by the Chairman of the Inter-American Coffee Board (Cale) to the Acting Deputy Director, Office of American Republic Affairs (McGurk)
The Inter-American Coffee Board now has under consideration the question of extending the Inter-American Coffee Agreement beyond September 30, 1945 in accordance with Article XXIV34 of the Agreement. One of the difficulties in deciding whether or not to continue the Agreement is the fact that it still has more than a year to run and that conditions even at the time the present Agreement expires may be very different from those existing today. It is understood that ARA wishes the Agreement to be extended, in view of the important place which it occupies in the field of Inter-American cooperation, but that it would not oppose having it modified, especially if such modifications were suggested by the coffee producing countries. The economic divisions of the Department, however, are averse to agreeing, at the present time, to continue the Agreement without amendments.
A subcommittee appointed by the Board and consisting of the Colombian, Brazilian and Guatemalan delegates has recommended, on its own volition, a procedure which would appear to afford a way out of the aforementioned difficulties provided it is legally permissible under the terms of Article XXIV of the Agreement. Under [Page 161] the proposal the Board, prior to October 1, 1944, would make a recommendation to the participating governments that the Agreement be continued beyond October 1, 1945, subject to amendments, to be suggested later by the participating governments; the governments, within a time limit to be agreed upon by the Board and specified in the recommendation, would express their approval of this procedure and would propose any changes which they wished to suggest; the Board then, within a time limit also to be set in the recommendation, would negotiate such differences as might exist between the views of the various participating countries, and would then recommend a revised agreement to the participating countries for their approval or disapproval. Agreement by members of the Board in the first instance to the recommendation for continuation of the Agreement in principle would not bind the governments to accept the amendments which might be proposed by the other governments or to accept the final revised agreement which would later be proposed by the Board. Provided all the participating governments accept the revised agreement, the Board would draw up a declaration certifying the terms of the recommendations made to the participating governments in the revised agreement and their acceptance by all the participating governments, as provided in the fourth paragraph of Article XXIV, and the Agreement would be deemed to be amended in accordance with the declaration as from the date specified therein.
In view of the fact that this matter is scheduled to be considered at the ECA staff meeting on Monday afternoon, August 28, and by the Inter-American Coffee Board in a meeting on August 31, I should greatly appreciate being informed as soon as possible: (1) whether AKA would be agreeable to having the United States delegate agree to the proposal of the Board’s subcommittee and (2) whether, in Le’s35 opinion, the proposed procedure would be in accordance with Article XXIV of the Inter-American Coffee Agreement.
From conversations I had with Mr. Wright, ARA, before he left on his vacation, it is my opinion that AEA would approve the suggested procedure. Before proceeding further, however, I wish to be assured of this fact, as well as of the legality of the procedure.
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