CONFIDENTIAL
United Kingdom Mission 37-39 rue de Vermont 1211 Geneva 20
Telex 22956
Telegrams Prodrome Geneva Telephone 34 38 00 33 23 85
Mr. Tings to
tton
S Lamport Esq
UN Department
F CO
Your reference
Our reference
UN 19/4
Date
9 June 1975
2.
UN FUND FOR DRUG ABUSE CONTROL (UNFDAC)
1.
I told Robin Oaten just before he went on leave that I had had a report that Dr Martens had received information from an un- known quarter that the UK would not contribute to UNFDAC during 1975/76. It therefore came as no surprise that Martens asked at the end of last week to speak to us about the Fund. Kevin Burns and I consequently called on him on 3 June.
2.
It proved that Martens' specific purpose was to talk about the Fund's operations in Turkey since the decision to resume cultivation of the opium poppy for the production of poppy straw. Martens explained at some length how $1.5 million from the Fund would be allocated to control in Turkey this sum including the cost of the supply of sophisticated aerial survey equipment and the Fund's involvement in a feasibility study, and the successful negotiation of a Wold Bank loan, for the establishment of an alkaloid extraction factory in the country. He then reverted to the proposal, reported in John Macrae's letter 19/1/6 of 17 April, that the Fund should establish a contingency fund to compensate Turkish farmers for any losses that might arise from switching to poppy straw. Martens wanted to inform us that, after lengthy (and very tough) negotiations between himself and Ambassador Kirça of Turkey, that they had (a) arrived at a mean price of TL 18 per kilo of poppy straw to be paid to the farmers by the Turkish state marketing monopoly and (b) agreed that UNFDAC would establish a $4 million contingency fund - the Turks originally wanted one of $14 million to support the price for the 1975 harvest only. Drawings from this fund are to be subject to strict conditions and, while the extension of the period to the next and subsequent harvests is not necessarily excluded, UNFDAC would need to be satisfied that a real need existed before agreeing to this and the terms would be re-examined in the light of experience. Further background on the contingency fund is given in the enclosed draft press release: the precise date of a public announcement has yet to be decided, but Martens pointed out that it would be important to tell the Turkish farmers soon of the TL 18 per kilo price for poppy straw
/in order
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