Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, President Harry S. Truman, and Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies

340 DECLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT OF STATE SECRET B. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and S(D) or (E) Dept. of State létter, Aeg. 3-16-26 Memorandum of Conversation es NLT HE NARS Date 6-14-76 conf DATE: July 28,1950 SUBJECT: 210 Internal Development in Australia PARTICIPANTS: AND The President; Prime Minister Robert Menzies of Australia; : SERVICER Secretary Acheson COPIES TO: 1-1493 The Prime Minister brought up the subject of Australia's need for development and tied this in, as he had with his talks at the De- partment, with the program for large immigration. He stressed the importance of development in the basic industries and housing, and in irrigation projects which would broaden the base of agricul- tural production. He spoke of the urgency of this problem and the need for dollar funds. He thought that the dollar amount over a period of five years might be $250,000,000. He said that the Inter- national Bank from many points of view seemed to him the best source for these funds. However, the great difficulty with this source was that the International Bank wished to finance projects, and that would require an interminable time with engineering re- ports, etc. The Prime Minister said that Australia had a number of projects, one of which was the Snowy Mountain project, was already being undertaken and others would soon be ready. To carry these forward and to get materials for basic industry expansion could best be served by a line of credit to be drawn on as needed for commodities. He thought that the Export-Import Bank seemed better suited to accomplish this purpose within practicable limits of time. The Secretary stated that a working party had been organized from the various Departments of the Government to meet with the BECAL