[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.