receive aid from us and copies will also go to recipients of
this minute. In essence, it has been agreed that all aid should
serve a developmental prupose but that its distribution and
application should also take account of our political and economic/
commercial interests. On geographical distribution, the guide-
lines state that recipients of aid should be countries with whom
we enjoy generally good relations or wish to establish good
relations or they should be countries with which we have important
economic and commercial relations because, for example, they
provide sound markets for our exports or because we have important
investment interests to maintain or they should be countries
where there are good prospects that our economic and commercial
interests can be expanded in the medium term. There should be
reason to suppose that a British contribution of the size we can
make would have an effect on development which is substantial
in relation to the sum provided. For maximum effect, it is
desirable that participation in an overseas country's developing
programme should normally extend over a period of years.
6. In the light of the guidelines, this Department is consider-
ing the directions in which the F.C.O. should attempt to influence
our aid policy in the future, taking account of the unavoidable
constraints arising from existing commitments.
This is an
exercise which will have to bear on subsequent years rather than
on 1970-71 and we know that O.D.M. have in mind the need to bring
forward, in the interest of good planning, the aid frameworks for
1971-72 and 1972-73. As background for this year's aid framework
discussions, it would nevertheless be useful to have any pre-
liminary comments you can provide by 13 August (in addition to
your comments on this year's aid framework itself) on changes in
the direction of aid which would further H.M.G.'s interests.
These might be in terms of an increase or decrease in the amount
of aid which countries should receive or in the choice of projects
or in the balance between capital aid and technical assistance.
CONFIDENTIAL
In/