Statement on Receiving a Report by the Presidential Task Force on International Development.

I HAVE just received the report of my Task Force on International Development, chaired by Rudolph Peterson.

The task force has recommended sweeping changes in the foreign assistance programs of the United States: clarification of their fundamental objectives, changes in the overall role of the United States in the international development process, changes in the organization of the U.S. Government to carry out its responsibilities in contributing to that process.

A new U.S. approach to foreign assistance, based on the proposals of the task force, will be one of our major foreign policy initiatives in the coming years. I will propose this new approach in responding to the requirement of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1967 that I reappraise our present assistance effort and recommend changes for the future. Taking into account the discussion which will follow my proposals, including close consultation with the Congress, I will submit legislation in January 1971 to carry out the new U.S. approach.

To contribute to the discussion of this important subject, I am making the Peterson report public immediately. I believe its ideas are fresh and exciting. They can provide new life and a new foundation for the U.S. role in this vitally important area of our relations with the developing countries.

The task force intensively examined our assistance programs of the past and present. Looking to the future, it concluded that: "The United States has a profound national interest in cooperating with developing countries in their efforts to improve conditions of life in their societies." I agree. It is to enable the United States to best pursue that profound national interest that I will propose a new U.S. approach to foreign assistance for the 1970's.