838.51/4239
Bases of Discussion Agreed Upon by the President-elect of Haiti (Lescot) and the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
Draft No. 4
1) The Executive Agreement of August 7, 1933 to be supplanted by a new agreement.
2) The Office of Fiscal Representative and Deputy Fiscal Representative to be abolished.
3) The National Bank of the Republic of Haiti to be the Sole Depository of Haitian government funds.
4) The National Bank of the Republic of Haiti to be under the control of a Board of Directors organized as follows:
| Haitian | American |
| The Minister of Finance; | An official to represent the holders of the bonds of 1922; |
| An agriculturalist; | An economist; |
| A businessman; | A commercial banker. |
| A lawyer. |
The Minister of Finance and the Representative of the Bondholders to be Co-Presidents of the Board of Directors. Decision of the Board of Directors to require 5 assenting votes in which the two Co-Presidents may vote.
In the absence of the Representative of the Bondholders, the American commercial banker to be the Acting Representative.
[Page 342]Appointments of the Haitian members of the Board of Directors to be made by the President of Haiti; of the American members by mutual agreement between the two Governments.
Vacancies in the Board of Directors to be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.
5) The Haitian budget of income and expenditure to be formulated for presentation to the Legislature of the Republic cooperatively between the Government and the Bank as follows:
- (a)
- The Government of the Republic to estimate in detail the expenditures envisaged for each of the various ministries, including the Garde d’Haiti, within the limits suggested by the Board of Directors of the National Bank.
- (b)
- The Board of Directors of the National Bank to estimate the revenues, estimate the global expenditures which can be envisaged with the ways and means available, suggest limits within which the various ministries, including the Garde d’Haiti, should operate, and fix the expenditures necessary for the operation of the Bank and its services.
6) The Board of Directors of the National Bank to control and be responsible for:
- (a)
- The carrying out of the Haitian budget formulated as in (5) above in accordance with existing budgetary laws to remain in effect except as they must be modified to conform to this agreement.
- (b)
- The operation of the Government’s accounting and disbursing systems including the preaudit.
- (c)
- The collection of customs and internal revenues.
- (d)
- A new system to be devised for the handling of communal
revenues, including the following:
- (1)
- Collection by internal revenue service;
- (2)
- Disbursements by the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.
- (3)
- Communal budgets to be drawn up and approved by the Government of the Republic of Haiti in mutual agreement with the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.
- (4)
- Municipal services of the communes in so far as possible to be paid from communal revenues.
- (5)
- A separate non-fiscalized account to be kept for each commune in the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti.
7) During the first ten days of each month, the Minister of Finance to transmit to the Representative of the holders of the bonds of 1922 the amount necessary to service the outstanding bonds. The Bank to receive irrevocable orders that no payment for the account of the Haitian Government may be made until the amount necessary to service the debt has been transmitted to the Representative of the Bondholders, and until the salary of the Board of Directors has been paid. After the setting aside of reserves considered necessary by the Board [Page 343] of Directors of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti, surplus funds to be held at the disposal of the Government of Haiti for any necessary public expense.
8) Additional amortization to be paid in accordance with Article VII of the bond contract of 1922.
9) The salaries to be paid to the members of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti to be mutually agreed upon between the two Governments.
10) The property of the Fiscal Representative’s Office to become the property of the National Bank of the Republic of Haiti when the agreement enters into effect.
11) Necessary legislation to be passed by the Haitian Government.
12) Controversies arising out of the agreement to be settled through diplomatic channels if possible; if not so settled, the procedure stipulated in the Inter-American Arbitration Convention signed at Washington on January 5, 192932 to be invoked, notwithstanding the provisions of Article IIa thereof.
12) [13)] The agreement to become effective on the first day of any month mutually agreed upon by the two Governments.
- E[lie] L[escot]
- S[umner] W[elles]