3. Memorandum of Conversation0
SUBJECT
- Bulgarian Minister’s Courtesy Call on the Secretary
PARTICIPANTS
- The Secretary
- Dr. Peter G. Voutov, Bulgarian Minister
- EE—Mr. Moncrieff J. Spear
After exchanging greetings, Dr. Voutov said that he wished to review US-Bulgarian relations briefly. He then cited a number of Bulgarian initiatives as evidence of their good will in improving relations; these included the negotiations for the resumption of relations,1 the financial claims discussions and proposals for a cultural agreement. In addition, Dr. Voutov reported that the Bulgarians had established a trade mission here and were seeking to expand commercial relations. He also suggested that we should review our consular convention (sic) and up-date it. Although the Bulgarians had undertaken all these steps, unfortunately relations had not all gone smoothly.
Claims Negotiations. Dr. Voutov then related his efforts to resolve the impasse in the financial claims negotiations in discussions with Mr. Kohler and reviewed the amounts involved in the claims discussions. He said that he had advised his Government of the $3.1 million value of the vested Bulgarian assets as well as testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee2 indicating that the value of these assets should cover US claims against Bulgaria. Because of this, Dr. Voutov commented, he had been surprised when the negotiations were suspended and his Government had complained that it had been given a false impression.
US-Bulgarian Trade. Dr. Voutov next observed that until Bulgaria was granted most-favored-nation (MFN) status there could be no real expansion of US-Bulgarian trade. A “platonic” declaration on trade expansion was of no use. He handed the Secretary an aide-memoire (a copy of which he had left with the Secretary of Commerce)3 spelling out the difference which MFN status would make to Bulgarian trade and added that while US-Bulgarian trade had historically been on the order of $1 million annually in each direction, if Bulgaria were granted MFN treatment it could buy goods worth $10 million annually, while US imports from Bulgaria would total $6–7 million. Dr. Voutov also mentioned that the Bulgarians would be requesting permission to open a trade office in New York.
Cultural Relations. The Minister then listed the various US performing artists who had appeared in Bulgaria during the last year and said [Page 6] that the Bulgarians were ready to start discussions for the conclusion of an agreement on cultural exchanges.
Irritants in US-Bulgarian Relations. Noting that he was rather discouraged by certain recent developments, Dr. Voutov referred to an article on the training of guerrilla forces (US News and World Report, March 13, 1961 with a photo of a class at Ft. Bragg studying Bulgarian military phrases). He commented that such schools did not help US-Bulgarian relations. The Bulgarians had no plans to overthrow the US Government and the US “shouldn’t do so either.” He also referred to press articles about a report on similar activities by General Trudeau. Dr. Voutov said that he had been instructed by his Government to raise this matter and added that Sofia had asked whether there was any connection between the appearance of these articles and the suspension of the financial claims negotiations.
The Minister also made reference to statements in the Greek press denying that the development of US-Bulgarian relations prejudiced US-Greek relations.
Status of Missions. Finally, Dr. Voutov noted that the elevation of the US and Bulgarian missions to the status of embassies had been foreseen in the agreement on the resumption of relations. Although he had subsequently raised this question on a number of occasions, he had had no answer and, frankly, he felt that legations were an anachronism.
The Secretary’s Reply. The Secretary welcomed a chance to meet Dr. Voutov and hoped that they would have an opportunity for another talk when they were not so rushed. He continued that in our relations it was necessary to leave aside points of difference and try to discover common interests. This didn’t mean we should hide the fact that there were far-reaching differences in our positions, as for example in our views of the press, its role and how it should be handled. We shouldn’t minimize these differences. We took a very serious view of the December 1960 Moscow communique of the Communist Parties.4 However, assuming these points of difference, we must nevertheless try to find points for improvement of our relations. The trend of history was too uncertain, despite the Communists’ philosophy, for us not to seek such improvement by trying to remove unnecessary irritants in our relations.
Turning to the specific points which Dr. Voutov had raised, the Secretary noted that expansion of US-Bulgarian trade involved a number of legislative problems for us, as well as the broader differences between state and private trading. Because of his background as head of the [Page 7] Rockefeller Foundation, the Secretary had a keen interest in international exchanges, and we were anxious to explore the possibilities in this field. We were prepared to start discussions on cultural exchanges and also hoped for a resumption of the financial negotiations. With regard to the status of our missions, the Secretary said that we were seriously considering this matter and that he was inclined to agree that legations were an anachronism. On the other hand, this was not just a bilateral problem for us. The Secretary concluded by saying that he would review with his colleagues the points which Dr. Voutov had raised and hoped that they would have an opportunity for another talk.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.69/4–1761. Confidential. Drafted by Spear and approved in S on May 3.↩
- The United States and Bulgaria agreed to a resumption of diplomatic relations on March 24, 1959. The United States had severed relations in February 1950. For text of the Department of State statement on the resumption of relations, see Department of State Bulletin, December 14, 1959, p. 866.↩
- Apparently the reference is to 1959 hearings to amend the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949. For text of these hearings, see U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, International Claims Settlement Act. Hearings. May 29, 1959, Washington, 1959.↩
- Not found with the source text.↩
- For text, see Current Digest of the Soviet Press, December 28, 1960, pp. 3–9, and January 4, 1961, pp. 3–8.↩