International Wheat Council

On July 6 and 7, 1948 a meeting was held in Washington to which were invited representatives of the 36 governments which had signed the International Wheat Agreement concluded there March 6, 1948. Representatives of the following countries informed the meeting that their governments had ratified the agreement and had deposited their formal instruments of acceptance with the United States State Department by the deadline of July 1: Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Belgium, Cuba, Greece, the Netherlands, and Poland indicated that their legislatures had ratified and that formal instruments of acceptance would be deposited early that month. The representatives present discussed the possibilities of further ratifications, particularly the prospects of ratification by the United States Government, and decided that prospects of ratification during the 1948–49 crop-year were remote. Thereupon, representatives of some of the ratifying states gave notice that their governments withdrew from the agreement, because the guaranteed quantities of countries which had formally accepted it were insufficient to ensure its successful operation. A preparatory committee was appointed consisting of the representatives of Australia, the Benelux customs union, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States to keep under review prospects of concluding a new international wheat agreement. The United States was invited to convene the meeting as soon as it considered the time propitious to negotiate a new international agreement.