Message to the Congress Transmitting Annual Report on the Foreign Assistance Program.

To the Congress of the United States:

Since my March 1970 Report on Foreign Assistance, I have proposed to the Congress a major transformation in the policy directions and organizational structure of this important program.

The proposals are made necessary by the dramatic changes which have taken place over recent years in the conditions that surround and influence development assistance:

--The lower income countries themselves have made impressive progress and gained experience which makes it possible for them to stand at the center of the development process;

--The other industrialized nations can now afford to provide major assistance to the poorer nations, and most of them now have substantial and expanding programs in this field;

--A number of international development institutions now possess a capability to help match the efforts of the recipient countries themselves with the most effective possible blend of assistance from donor nations;

--The private sector has become increasingly active and effective in channeling investments in a fashion to stimulate growth in the lower income countries.

The Annual Report on the Foreign Assistance Program for Fiscal Year 1970, which I transmit herewith, covers a period in which we undertook to formulate and present to Congress a more effective foreign assistance program tailored to the needs of the 70's. But it was also a period in which our present foreign assistance program helped lower income nations to achieve a number of gratifying successes:

--India harvested the largest food grain crop in its history and was able to reduce food grain imports 50 percent below the previous year's level;

--Thailand approved voluntary family planning as a national policy, and Ghana adopted a major population program;

--West Pakistan produced enough wheat not only to meet its own needs but to allow shipments of wheat to East Pakistan;

--Domestic savings in Turkey, encouraged by an effective fiscal policy, rose to 18 percent of that country's gross national product and financed 91 percent of its fixed investment;

--Ten million school-age children in Brazil each day received nutritious lunches which included U.S. foodstuffs.

In the important field of technical assistance, the Agency for International Development focused its efforts increasingly on a limited number of key problems. Among these were the "second-generation" problems resulting from the "Green Revolution." Dramatically increased agricultural yields and new technology have in some instances contributed to shortages of facilities for storage, shipment and marketing and to rural unemployment. AID sought to assist in solving these problems in order to insure the ongoing success of this significant "Revolution." It also sponsored new research in important areas such as food production and family planning. A total of $75 million was provided for the conduct of population programs, a rise of 64 percent over the previous year.

I am proud that our present foreign assistance program has achieved important successes in a field in which quick and dramatic successes are few. Development assistance, however slow its results, is an important means of cooperating with the lower income nations to help them solve their most critical problems--those of improving the quality of life of their citizens. By creating a community of nations working together to solve the problems of humanity rather than adding to them, through war and civil strife, it clearly serves a major national interest. Our new program will be designed to meet the new needs of a new decade and thereby permit us to pursue that interest more effectively, in a way which insures our being increasingly responsive to the needs of the peoples of the developing world. It will, I believe, be recognized by our people as a proud American investment in the future of all mankind, and therefore in a better world for future generations of Americans.

RICHARD NIXON

The White House

February 1971