Statement by the President on the Buenos Aires Economic Conference.

I SHARE with Deputy Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon the gratification he has expressed over the progress made at the Buenos Aires Economic Conference. The delegates from the twenty-one American countries came to the meeting with certain honest differences of opinion. But they succeeded, after diligent labors and in their traditional cooperative spirit, in reaching a large measure of agreement on the important economic problems confronting the American States.

The Organization of American States has a great tradition of political accomplishment, and the Buenos Aires Conference demonstrates that further inter-American cooperation on the economic front should also be possible and practical. The resolutions adopted, taken together, constitute a constructive approach to the manifold problems of improving the living conditions of all of our peoples.

I believe that the Economic Declaration of Buenos Aires is an outstanding statement of the principles and objectives of inter-American economic cooperation. It calls especially for a freer flow of trade, for cooperation on the problems of basic commodities, for expansion of the flow of private and public capital, and for the effective support of scientific and technical cooperation programs, all within the framework of our respective laws. It is, in fact, another development of which the Organization of American States can justly be proud.