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  4. Document 923

837.51 Cooperation Program/9

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury ( Morgenthau )79

Washington , October 4, 1940.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have just been informed that a delegation of distinguished Cuban economic and financial experts will arrive in Washington on Saturday, October 5, in order to initiate discussions with officials of this Government regarding the agenda of a broad program of cooperation in the economic field between Cuba and the United States. The delegation will be presided over by Dr. Pedro Martínez Fraga, Cuban Ambassador to Washington, and will consist of the following additional members according to present advices: [Page 781]

  • Mr. Eduardo I. Montoulieu,
    Secretary of the Treasury.
  • Mr. Amadeo López Castro,
    Former Secretary of Agriculture and of the Treasury.
  • Dr. Oscar García Montes,
    Former Secretary of the Treasury.
  • Major Antonio Bolet, of the Army Engineer Corps.

Among the subjects which it is believed will be discussed are the following:

(a)
A survey of Cuban agricultural possibilities, with particular reference to non-competitive products.
(b)
Examination of the Cuban monetary, banking, and exchange organization and situation, and fiscal system, with the object of drawing up specific proposals for legislation and cooperation.
(c)
The financing through the Export-Import Bank of a moderate and largely self-liquidating program of public works in Cuba.
(d)
The negotiation of a treaty of residence and navigation between Cuba and the United States in order, particularly, to protect the status of the citizens of the two countries residing in and doing business in the other country.
(e)
The reaching of an agreement for the prompt settlement of a number of claims owed by the Cuban Government to American citizens.
(f)
The examination of the situation faced by the Cuban sugar industry on account of the current paralysis of Cuba’s European markets.

Your assistance will of course be essential to the success of these discussions, and I shall consult with you shortly regarding details.

Sincerely yours,

Cordell Hull
  1. Similar letters were sent to the Coordinator of Commercial and Cultural Relations between the American Republics (Rockefeller), the Secretary of Agriculture (Wickard), the President of the Export-Import Bank (Pierson), and the Secretary of Commerce (Jones).↩