[Senate Treaty Document 106-14]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



106th Congress 
 1st Session                     SENATE                     Treaty Doc.
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     
                                                                 106-14



 
                       FOOD AID CONVENTION 1999

                               __________

                                MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

 FOOD AID CONVENTION 1999, WHICH WAS OPEN FOR SIGNATURE AT THE UNITED 
   NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK, FROM MAY 1 THROUGH JUNE 30, 1999. 
      CONVENTION WAS SIGNED BY THE UNITED STATES ON JUNE 16, 1999




  October 13, 1999.--Convention was read the first time, and together 
  with the accompanying papers, referred to the Committee on Foreign 
     Relations and ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate.

                                 ______

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
79-118                      WASHINGTON : 1999



                         LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                                 The White House, October 13, 1999.
To the Senate of the United States:
    With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the 
Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Food Aid 
Convention 1999, which was open for signature at the United 
Nations Headquarters, New York, from May 1 through June 30, 
1999. The Convention was signed by the United States June 16, 
1999. I transmit also, for the information of the Senate, the 
report of the Department of State with respect to the 
Convention.
    The Food Aid Convention 1999 replaces the Food Aid 
Convention 1995. Donor members continue to make minimum annual 
commitments that can be expressed either in the quantity or, 
under the new Convention, the value of the food aid they will 
provide to developing countries.
    As the United States has done in the past, it is 
participating provisionally in the Food Aid Committee. The 
Committee granted the United States (and other countries) a 1-
year extension of time, until June 30, 2000, in which to 
deposit its instrument of ratification.
    It is my hope that the Senate will give prompt and 
favorable consideration to this Convention, and give its advice 
and consent to ratification by the United States at the 
earliest possible date.

                                                William J. Clinton.
                          LETTER OF SUBMITTAL

                              ----------                              

                                       Department of State,
                                     Washington, September 2, 1999.
The President,
The White House.
    The President: I have the honor to submit to you, with a 
view to transmission to the Senate for advice and consent to 
ratification, the Food Aid Convention 1999, which was open for 
signature at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 
May 1 through June 30, 1999. The Convention was signed by the 
United States on June 16, 1999.
    The Food Aid Convention 1999 replaces the Food Aid 
Convention 1995, which expired June 30, 1999. The Food Aid 
Convention is one of two constituent instruments that 
constitute the International Grains Agreement, to which the 
United States is a party. (The second part--the Grains Trade 
Convention 1995--was recently extended for two years without 
amendment.) The Convention entered into force internationally 
on July 1 and will remain in force until June 30, 2002, unless 
extended further.
    At the December 1996 World Trade Organization meeting in 
Singapore, Ministers charged the Food Aid Committee, the 
organization that administers the Food Aid Convention, with 
negotiating a new Convention to establish a level of food aid 
commitments that would cover as wide a range of donors and 
donative foodstuffs as possible, in order to meet the 
legitimate needs of developing countries. From February 1998 to 
April 1999, the United States and other governments party to 
the Food Aid Convention 1995 engaged in negotiations to draft 
this new Convention in a manner that reflected these objectives 
as well as the changing nature of food assistance.
    The Food Aid Convention provides an international, donors-
only forum to discuss food assistance. Under the Food Aid 
Convention 1999, donor members make minimum annual commitments 
which can be designated either by quantity or, pursuant to a 
new provision, the value of the food aid they will provide to 
developing countries. As did its predecessor, the Food Aid 
Convention 1999 commits the United States to donate or sell on 
concessional terms at least 2.5 million tons of food aid 
annually. All parties to the 1995 Convention--the United 
States, the European Community (and its member states), Japan, 
Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland and Argentina--are 
already parties or intend to participate in the new Convention. 
Certain donors previously have purchased U.S. grains to meet 
their food aid pledges.
    While the basic principles and objectives of the Food Aid 
Convention 1995 have not changed, there are several important 
innovations in the new Convention, including:
  --broadening the list of eligible commodities beyond grains 
        and legumes to include such critical food products as 
        edible oils and milk powder;
  --encouraging members to fortify their contributed food and 
        to provide dietary supplements such as vitamins by 
        counting these products toward a member's annual 
        contribution;
  --encouraging donors to provide food aid to difficult-to-
        reach destinations by permitting transport and other 
        operational costs to be counted toward a member's 
        contributions;
  --promoting local agricultural development and markets in 
        recipient countries; and
  --improving information-sharing and coordination among 
        members.
    Among other benefits, these changes have made the Food Aid 
Convention 1999 a more flexible instrument, one that it is 
hoped will encourage new members and the provision of 
additional food aid.
    On July 2, 1999, the Food Aid Committee granted the United 
States (and certain other countries) an extension until June 
30, 2000, to deposit its instrument of ratification to this 
Convention. As it has previously, the United States will 
provisionally apply the Food Aid Convention to ensure that 
there is an adequate supply of food aid, particularly as needed 
for emergencies.
    The Secretary of Agriculture joins me in recommending that 
this Convention be transmitted to the Senate for its early and 
favorable consideration.
    Respectfully submitted,
                                                     Strobe Talbot.


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