Announcement of Meeting of India Consortium on April 6, 1967

• 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: April 6, 1967 Subject: Meeting of India Consortium The following press COllli'lUnique was issued in the afternoon of April 6 at the World Bank's European Office in Paris: "Thi Consortium of governments and institu- tions interested in development assistance to India met in Paris on April 4-6, 1967, under the Chairmanship of the World Bank. The meeting was attended by represen'ta• tives of the Governments of Austria, Belgium, C~nada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the .Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 1nternational Mone- tary Fund sent observers. "A delegation representing the Government of India 21 led by Mr. S. Jagannathan, • Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and also including Mr. A. L. Dias and Mr.~. Sivara- man, Secretari~}; in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, was present during part of the meeting in ~r:9er to describe India's plans and aid requirements for the fiscal ~TM.r which started :,April 1, 1997. Consortium members welcomed the Indian repre- 8~ntatives' repori.: thaf: the Government planned to pursue vigorously the new pro- gramme to increase food and other agricultural production by providing ample sup- plies of new high-yielding seed varieties, fertilizers, plant protection materials and equipment for the installation of wells and other irrigation facilities., They also welcomed indications that the family planning programme would continue to be given high priority? that there would be continued emphasis on export promotion, o~ measures to encourage private foreign inves.tment in priority sectors in India, and on efficiency in Indian industry in general. Subject to the availab.~lity of ade- // 7. quate resources, it was understood that the liberal import 11o!fti1es for the raw <--::::-__::::;;: -" • material and component requirements of priority industries will be continued •  - 2 - "During its discussions the Consortium concentra~ed mainly on short-term problems of food and the pressing need for quick-disbursing aid." )"---, "The Co·nsortium agreed on the urgency of enabling India to contn.ct for food imports without reducing the flow of resources for other priority purposes. New aid.for food, fertilizer and related agricultural production materials as well as aid in a form which releases cash for the purchase of food was indicated by Con- sortium members during the meeting. In addition to 4.3 million tons of foodgrains ai~eady shipped, the three million tons of additional foodgrains offered by the Un!lted States and 700,000 tons offered by Canada, the new aid is believed to be adequate to enable I~dia to import about 10 million tons of foodgiains during 1967. '\ It was also reported that ~(?ltle countries and institutions outside· the Consortium were considering contributions of foodstuffs to help meet the Indian requirement. • Together with adequate total non-project assbtance, India's innnediat;'.~/import re- quirement of ··food should therefore be met without jeopardizing other essential imports. "In reviewing India's overall aid requirements for the fiscal year April 1, 1967 to March 31, 1968, the Consortium was of the opinion that for planning pur- poses a target of approximately $1,300 million (including foodstuffs) for new aid to be provided in non-project form was appropriate. Wlifle most members will not be able to make aid pledges until budg'et and related dec·isions have been made in capitals, some members did indicate contributions toward this target. Consortium mem~!!}~s also agreed that they would so concert their efforts ~~·_,r·~" ·,>, with the Government ~ ~ of Indi,,) that a substant1;;al portion of the new aid will be in a form that can be . (( utiliz~d quickly. 1 "The Consortium agreed to meet agair{ 1n order to keep in close touch with economic developments in India and to review progress toward the total aid target." •