868.10/9–550
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs (Yost)
| Participants: | The Secretary |
| Mr. Vladimir Popovic, Yugoslav Ambassador | |
| Mr. Bruner, Interpreter | |
| Mr. Charles W. Yost, Director, Office of Eastern European Affairs |
The Ambassador called at his request to speak to me about several matters before his forthcoming departure for Belgrade, where he intends to spend a few days during the visit of Mr. Black of the International Bank.
The Ambassador declared that before departing for Belgrade he wished to obtain the Secretary’s views as to the extent to which the US Government would be able to assist in meeting the economic needs of Yugoslavia.1 The Ambassador said that his Government found it impossible to make plans for the future without having a clearer idea of the aid which might be forthcoming. A request for a loan of $25,000,000 had been before the International Bank for a full year and no action had yet been taken. A program for aid in dollars of $100,000,000, of which $30,000,000 had been requested immediately from the Eximbank and $25,000,000 from the International Bank and the balance of which would be requested later, had been presented to the State Department and the Eximbank. The only results which had been obtained had been the recent $15,000,000 loan by the Eximbank.
I replied by pointing out that the International Bank is, of course, not a US institution. I had, however, discussed the question with Mr. Black and Mr. Black had informed me that the Yugoslav Government had not supplied all the information necessary for the bank to give favorable consideration to its request.2 I asked Mr. Yost to explain the status of the remaining Yugoslav requests.
Mr. Yost pointed out that the Yugoslav Government itself preferred that any aid extended to it by the US be in the form of loans, and not grants, and that the US authorities making international loans are obliged to consider an applicant’s capacity to repay. He said that it is [Page 1446] his understanding that the Eximbank has considered that, before extending further loans over and above the $55,000,000 approved during the last year, they must have evidence that the Yugoslav export industries have been developed beyond their present capacity to a point warranting the bank in the belief that further loans can be serviced. Mr. Yost added that he was sure that the Eximbank has given the most sympathetic consideration to the Yugoslav request but that it does not feel able to justify further loans at this time on the basis of the facts known to it and under the requirements of its Charter.
The Ambassador declared that his Government had furnished all of the information requested by the two banks during recent months and maintained that the presentation to the banks had fully justified the Yugoslav need for $100,000,000 in order to meet the demands of its five-year plan. He said that he would find it very difficult to explain to his Government the failure of the banks to be of greater assistance than they had been. The Ambassador added that his Government is also eager to obtain our assistance in securing further credits from other European countries, such as Germany, Italy and France.
I replied that we are supporting these Yugoslav requests. As far as the International Bank is concerned, I urged the Yugoslav Government, regardless of whether or not it may consider the information in question necessary, to supply all the information which the bank has requested. I said that I believed such action would enable the bank to proceed rapidly to the consideration of Yugoslav requests. As to the question of additional aid to Yugoslavia from the US Government, I said that I would consult with Mr. Thorp and Mr. Yost and speak with the Ambassador again when we had more time. The Ambassador left the subject with obvious reluctance.
The Ambassador then inquired what the US Government’s attitude was toward the Yugoslav proposal in regard to rights and duties of states which it had introduced in the last General Assembly and proposed to bring up again in the forthcoming Assembly. I said that I was not acquainted with this matter but would look into it also and would speak with the Ambassador at a later date.3
- Ambassador Popović had earlier reviewed various aspects of the question of economic assistance to Yugoslavia in conversations with Assistant Secretary of State Perkins on August 15 (memorandum of conversation by Tuckerman: 868.10/8–1550) and with Yost and other Department officers on August 21 (memorandum of conversation by Posniak, August 21: 868.00/8–2150).↩
- In his conversation with Yost on August 21 (see footnote 1, above), Popović said that he understood that IBRD President Black had spoken with Secretary of State Acheson and Secretary of the Treasury Snyder who were in agreement with the idea of a series of IBRD loans to Yugoslavia.↩
- For documentation on the Yugoslav proposal under reference here, see vol. ii, pp. 416 ff.↩