Office of the Historian

217. Memorandum of Conversation1

Washington, April 9, 1987, 7:45–8:15 a.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • Netherlands:

    • Finance Minister Ruding
    • C. Mass, Treasurer General
    • G. A. Posthumus, IMF Executive Director
    • Mr. Keller, Assistant to the Minister

  • Treasury:

    • Secretary Baker
    • Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary Dallara
    • Deputy Assistant Secretary Berger
    • Mark Sobel, Notetaker

SUBJECT

  • Interim Committee

DISTRIBUTION

  • Secretary Baker, Exec Sec, Assistant Secretary Mulford, Messrs. Dallara, Berger, Conrow, Fauver, Newman, Lister, DeFalco, Hennesey, Vukmanic, Ms. Chaves

Following introductory greetings, FINANCE MINISTER RUDING asked the Secretary whether he expected any new initiatives at the upcoming Interim Committee meetings.2

The SECRETARY observed that the G–24, and some members of Congress, often call for “global” or “overnight” solutions to the debt situation. SECRETARY BAKER felt it was imperative that the Interim Committee communique reaffirm its support for the debt strategy and avoid the impression that “overnight” solutions were feasible.3 Important progress had been made under the strengthened debt strategy, though problems existed in some areas. The debt crisis, however, could not be legislated away. All of the proposals to address debt problems through new financing arrangements would cost substantial amounts of taxpayer [Page 554] money. MINISTER RUDING and SECRETARY BAKER agreed that recent G–24 calls for the establishment of two new committees to review debt and monetary questions were not helpful in that the proposed new committees would only duplicate work in existing fora.

[Omitted here is discussion of Brazilian debt and other economic issues.]

  1. Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 56, Executive Secretariat, Congressional Files, 1987, 56–90–29, Box 45, [no folder title]. Confidential. Prepared by Mark Sobel; approved by Thomas Berger. The meeting took place in Ruding’s suite at the IMF.↩
  2. In an April 16 memorandum to Shultz, McMinn reported on the World Bank/IMF spring Development Committee meeting, which took place on April 10. The Committee endorsed the Baker Plan approach. (Department of State, Executive Secretariat, S/S Files, 1987 Official Office Files for (E) Economic Affairs Allen Wallis, Lot 89D155: Through Memoranda, April 1987)↩
  3. For the text of the Press Communiqué of the Interim Committee’s 28th meeting, April 9–10, see International Monetary Fund: Annual Report 1987, pp. 113–116.↩