[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.