Office of the Historian

72. Information Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs (Rashish) to Secretary of State Haig1

Washington, October 26, 1981

SUBJECT

  • Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs—October 26, 1981—8:45 am2

Secretary Regan gave a brief review of the Cancun meeting. He indicated that the President did very well and his sympathetic attitude was very well received by the other delegations; the President had a very tough schedule of meetings, including bilaterals. He then indicated that the outcome in terms of Global Negotiations was acceptable to the U.S. and that we would now have to address ourselves to the follow-up in the UN. Ambassador Kirkpatrick was in attendance. She noted that she received a call from Waldheim yesterday evening to inform her that the debate scheduled to begin today in the UNGA on Global Negotiations had been deferred, probably a week. She suggested the establishment of a State-Treasury-USUN Working Group to define a practical strategy for how to deal with this subject in New York over the next weeks.

In a private discussion with Ambassador Kirkpatrick after the meeting she said she felt keenly the need for a strategy paper that would guide the U.S. position at the UNGA session with respect to Global Negotiations and suggested the possibility of a Thursday meeting in Washington to review this subject.

  1. Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Alexander Haig Papers, Department of State, Day File, Box 57, October 26, 1981. Confidential. Bremer’s initials are stamped on the memorandum. “Cancun” is written and circled at the top of the memorandum. Attached but not printed are an agenda and a list of participants.↩
  2. A copy of the minutes of the October 26 CCEA meeting is in the Reagan Library, Ralph Bledsoe Files, Office of Policy Development, Cabinet Councils, Other Cabinet Councils, Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs III. According to the minutes, the Council agreed “on the need to periodically review economic relations with the developing world and developments with respect to ‘global negotiations.’”↩