Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 E.O. 120/3 Sec. 3-402 State By DEB NLT, Date 9-4-85 April 4, 1951 SECRET SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS FOUR POWER In the 22nd session of the Paris talks EXPLORATORY TALKS yesterday Gromyko said he considered the tripartite proposed agenda of the previous day to be unsatisfactory from the standpoint of the listing of items, since it does not list the Soviet proposals on Trieste and on the NAT and US bases in Europe and the Near East. Mr. Davies replied that the new tripartite proposal included those items which the Soviets felt were the most important and took account of all matters which the Soviets had raised since the beginning of the talks. He asked why, after four weeks, the Soviets had raised something completely new, and why, if they considered the question of the NAT and the US bases to be so impor - tant, had they not raised this question in the beginning, rather than after four weeks of negotiations when the Western powers had already gone a long way toward meeting the Soviet views. Davies stressed that there was already ample room under Item I for raising this question at the Ministers' meeting. Gromyko rejected this thesis, saying that he could not accept any formulations which "drowns" this item in general language. Yesterday's meeting was the shortest to date. Jessup believes that Gromyko still has not received new instructions from Moscow concerning the new tripartite proposal. INDIA Ambassador Henderson in New Delhi has queried a high Indian Government official concerning recent press reports of Soviet and Chinese grain offers to India and has stated that it would be desirable if the Indian Government could let us have some kind of statement about the situation which could be made public. Henderson said he assumed that since India had no funds to purchase more than four million tons of food grain, any purchases which might be made from Russia or China would be the full four million tons, and that there would still be an outstanding need for two million tons which India was not in a position to purchase or obtain by barter. Henderson SEGRET