United States Development Assistance Programs Announcement of Administrative Reorganization of the Programs.

The White House announced today an administrative reorganization of the Government's development assistance programs. As a first step in implementing the plan, the President met Thursday, May 18, 1978, with senior representatives of the departments and agencies who will assist Gov. John Gilligan, Administrator of the Agency for International Development, in coordinating all foreign aid programs.

The President has designated Governor Gilligan to serve as his and the Secretary of State's principal adviser on development programs and policy, and to be the executive branch's principal spokesman to the Congress on development assistance. The Administrator will have a voice in all economic decisions having a major impact on developing countries.

The President directed Governor Gilligan to prepare annually an aid policy statement. The statement will show how different types of U.S. aid to be sought from the Congress will be related to each other. It will be used, in conjunction with non-aid policies affecting the less developed countries, to advance U.S. purposes and policies. This statement will be reviewed at the Cabinet level by the Policy Review Committee of the NSC and submitted to the President for approval. Once approved by the President, this statement will constitute general guidance for all departments and agencies concerned in preparing their budget requests and managing their programs. It will also provide the basis for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to the Congress concerning all requests for funding of resource transfers to developing countries.

An expanded Development Coordinating Committee has been formed to assist the Administrator in carrying out these functions and in coordinating U.S. development assistance programs and policies. This deputy or assistant secretary level Committee will have staff and subcommittees, as necessary, to discharge its functions. It will deal with issues of bilateral aid, multilateral aid, PL-480, aid for certain international organizations, and legislative strategy and tactics.

The President spoke at the first meeting of this Committee on May 18 about the need for close interagency coordination. He stressed his confidence in Governor Gilligan and his hope that by greatly strengthening the interagency coordination mechanism, the effectiveness of development policy and assistance can be greatly improved. These arrangements reflect some of the suggestions for enhancing aid coordination and effectiveness made in the bill introduced for this purpose by the late Senator Humphrey.