Message to the Congress Transmitting First Annual Report on Development Coordination.

To the Congress of the United States:

I hereby transmit to the Congress the First Annual Report on Development Coordination, in accordance with Section 640B(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended.

This is an appropriate time for the first report on the policies and actions of the United States affecting the development of the low-income countries. Over the past decade, the economies of the developing countries have grown at an encouraging rate. This was partially because of American assistance. Consequently, many nations no longer need assistance on the concessional terms we once extended.

Unfortunately, there remain a number of very poor nations suffering from malnutrition and disease, poor educational opportunities, and very low incomes. Our policies must continue to reflect our belief that American well-being is intimately related to a secure and prosperous international environment and humanitarian and economic concerns that have for so long motivated our assistance programs. The increase in petroleum prices and the food crop shortfalls of the past several years--as well as world recession and inflation--have hit the poorest countries with particular severity.

In 1974, the United States worked with other industrialized nations and with various international agencies to adjust our assistance and trade policies toward the less-developed countries to meet the new situation and to ensure a coordinated and constructive response from the international community.

We have:

--adapted our bilateral development aid program to give more assistance to the poor majority in the developing countries.

--supported multilateral institutions as a means for worldwide cooperation to promote economic and social development.

--responded to the world food problem by increasing food aid to the needy countries by increasing our assistance to help them grow more of their own food and by working with other nations to get a fully multinational response to food issues in accordance with the recent World Food Conference.

--signed into law a new Trade Act which will help enable poor countries to increase their trade with us, both by preferential treatment for their exports and by general lessening of barriers to world trade.

Much remains to be done. We must:

--work with other high income countries to help meet the continuing needs of the poorest countries in the present world economic situation.

--continue our efforts to meet the long-run problems of food scarcities through a coordinated program of increased food production in the poor countries, improved nutrition, increased food stocks and food aid, and research and development to boost food output everywhere.

--continue to provide opportunities for the developing countries to expand their trade with the United States and other industrialized nations.

--build on the results of the World Population Conference, fostering the maximum international cooperation in dealing with world population problems.

--find new techniques for working with those rapidly advancing countries that no longer require our concessional assistance, but are anxious to benefit from American skills and resources in their development programs.

The Development Coordination Committee was created to assist in ensuring that our policies and actions with respect to the developing countries are coordinated to reflect our interest in their welfare and improved quality of life, and to advise me on how our actions are affecting these poor countries and our own economy.

In recent years, there has been disillusionment with our ability to help others in this world. Our efforts have slackened. We have looked too much at our failures and not enough at our successes. While our economic problems at home are serious, we remain one of the most productive countries in the world. We have much to contribute and we have much to gain from economic cooperation with developing countries and from their economic progress. Our own prosperity will be enhanced if we remain true to our long tradition of assisting those in need.

If we help them to help themselves, we can work towards a stronger and more just international economy for the future, lessen human suffering, and increase our own security in a rapidly changing world.

GERALD R. FORD

The White House,

May 22, 1975.