890F.61A/7–1845
The Minister in Saudi Arabia (Eddy) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 3.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose the text of a Note received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia65 requesting the extension of the American Agricultural Mission at Al Kharj, which is a project of the FEA.
[Page 932]As indicated in this Note and as reported in the Legation’s secret Despatch No. 150 of July 8, 1945, King Abdul Aziz, on the occasion of my recent visit with Colonel Hoskins to Riyadh, again expressed his satisfaction at the accomplishments of the Agricultural Mission and requested that its work continue beyond the 18 months originally envisaged.66 The agricultural development of Saudi Arabia is very high on the King’s priority list of desires for his country. A full account of the Al Kharj project will be found in the Legation’s Despatch No. 108 of April 18, 1945.67
Respectfully yours,
- Dated July 10, not printed.↩
- The body of despatch 150, p. 923, makes no mention of the Agricultural Mission. However, a “Memorandum of Statement Made by His Majesty, Abdul Aziz al Saud at Riyadh, 2 July 1945”, which was transmitted as enclosure III to this despatch, is pertinent. After giving the reasons for the rejection of the United States’ offer of a military mission, the memorandum summarizes the King’s views as follows: “I am forced, therefore, to await the day and the circumstances that will permit cooperation through civilian agencies. We have a model in the American agricultural mission at Al Kharj, which I hope your government will find the means to prolong, enlarge and equip. I admire greatly those splendid Americans who work daily in the fields with Arabians to bring more nourishment from the soil. They are the symbols of our common humanity and toil, and they are the models of the civilian and fraternal cooperation which I hope will increase and multiply between our peoples.” (890F.20 Missions/7–845)↩
- Not printed.↩