    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 13, 1999]
    [Pages 1767-1768]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Food Aid Convention 1999
    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

    [[Page 1768]]

    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

    The White House,

    October 13, 1999.