611.2331/9–2545

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Peru (Pawley)

No. 80

The Acting Secretary of State refers to the Department’s instruction no. 21 of August 7, 194599 regarding the possibilities of initiating preliminary and informal discussions looking toward the negotiation of a new trade agreement between the United States and Peru.

On September 12 a memorandum99 was handed to the Peruvian Ambassador which stated that the United States Government would be glad to undertake such discussions at a mutually agreeable time, that studies are being undertaken by this Government preparatory to such discussions, and that the Department would be happy to receive any proposals which the Peruvian Embassy might be prepared to make for use in these discussions.

A Country Committee on Peru has been constituted, including members from the Departments of State, Commerce, Agriculture, and Treasury, and the Tariff Commission, and the Committee will hold its first meeting on September 27 to consider pertinent information of a preliminary nature and to plan the groundwork for the discussions.

The Peruvian Ambassador left for Lima on September 21 and expects to return to Washington around October 6 with proposals from the Peruvian Government. Conversations may begin a week or two thereafter.

The Embassy will be kept informed of developments and will no doubt be called upon to furnish information of various kinds as the work and discussions progress.

In the meantime, the Embassy is invited to make any comments and to furnish any information it considers would be helpful to the Department and the Country Committee.

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The Embassy is also urged to reply as soon as possible to the Department’s instruction no. 22 of August 71 regarding the subject of port taxes and port charges, as well as to report what progress is being made in its discussions with the Peruvian authorities regarding the subject of the Peruvian internal taxes referred to in the Department’s instruction no. 4140 of July 2.

It would be appreciated, in addition, if the Embassy would keep the Department currently informed of developments in the matter of the proposed revision of Peru’s exchange, export and import control and would make fairly frequent reports on the operation of these controls.

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