EASTERN EUROPEAN INTELLIGENCER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79B00864A000800010048-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 1, 2008
• Sequence Number: 48
• Publication Date: April 30, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2008/10/01: CIA-RDP79B00864A000800010048-1
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96 EASTERN EUROPEAN INTE1,L1GENCER
30 April 1968
Yugoslavs Will Not Attend Moscow Conference
The Yugoslav Communist party announced 24 hours after
the setting of the date that it will not attend the November
world communist meeting in Moscow, according to afront page
editorial in the 29 April Belgrade Borba. The announcement
was published on the same day that Tito began his talks with
Brezhnev in Moscow. The editorial justified the Yugoslav
decision by citing the exclusion of noncommunist "progressive
ilure of the
f
a
parties from the November meeting and the
Budapest preparatory meetings to renounce the criticism of
Yugoslav revisionism contained inn the final documents of the
East German Officials Attend West German Fair
Two high level East German functionaries currently are
attending the Hannover Fair in West; Germany despite an.
East German ban forbidding travel by West German officials
to West Berlin.
Horst Soell.e, GDR minister for foreign economic relations,
and his deputy and Interzonal Trade (IZT) negotiator Heinz
Behrendt arrived in Hannover yesterday for a two day visit.
The Bonn Foreign Office, evincing considerable embarrassment,
said the two men had been invited by the fair management which
had acted independently.
The presence of the East German officials is certain
to raise a storm of controversy in the press and complicate
any effective F onse to the GDR ban on travel by Bonn
functionaries.
Drought Threatens Bulgarian Harvest
An unusually dry spring is threatening the normal
development of autumn crops in Bulgaria.
A 20 April conference sponsored by the Council of
Ministers called for increased irrigation and criticized
local leaders who are not taking efficient measures to
improve the irrigation work. On 11 April,however, the
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,tow
director of Bulgaria's "irrigation systems" reported in the
press that this spring's drought together with insufficient
rain and snow last autumn and winter have left the country's
dams in short supply and unable to fulfill the irrigation
plan. Bulgaria's great drought period usually occurs in
June and July and inadequate water for irrigation will have
serious effects on the harvest.
Bulgaria has enjoyed two bumper crops in 1966-67 which
have reduced the pressure to implement new economic reforms
and systems of management. A poor harvest would probabl
stimulate a rethink among Sofia's top leadership.
Yugoslav Cotton Delegation Upset with US Reception
A Yugoslav delegation has registered its disappointment
over its recent trip to the US to buy American cotton under
CCC (Commodity Credit CorporatioO credit arrangements.
High prices, the lack of seller quotations, and the
unbusinesslike attitude of US suppliers left the delegation
with an unpleasant and unfavorable impression,
The delegation did buy 5.4 million
in cotton to satisfy Yugoslavia's ususal marketing require-
ments under the last PL-480 agreement, but because of
difficulties encountered purchasing US cotton, the delegation
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went immediately to Moscow to discuss further purchases of
Soviet cotton.
This report is a sudden departure from the usual
laudatory comments made by Yugoslav trade delegations
concerning their reception in the US. While the full
details concerning the cotton-buying delegation's trip
are not known, their reaction may in part represent the
growing sophistication and shrewdness of Yugoslav importers
who are increasingly seeking out the best conditions and
prices available.
The French have opened a commerical office in Zagreb
and a reading room in Ljubljana, as part of an effort to
increase political, economic and cultural exchanges with
Croatia and Slovenia.
Belgrade probably hopes that these moves presage
efforts to reduce Yugoslavia's large trade imbalance with
France. Paris apparently feels further avenues for cultural
and economic improvement between the two countries lie open
in Yugoslavia's two industrialized Western republics.
NOTE: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ABOVE REPRESENT
ONLY THE ANALYSIS OF THE EE DIVISION
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CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS FOR MAY 1968
Party Plenum
Czechoslovakia
East Germany
East Germany
Bulgaria
Rumania
Rumania
Yugoslavia
Rumania
Rumania
25 Yugoslavia
National Assembly Convenes to
consider government program.
150th anniversary of the birth
of Karl Marx.
FDBG Congress East Berlin.
Bulgarian Trade Mission Visits
US.
RCP celebrates 47th anniversary.
Parliament convenes.
French Military Delegation to
Yugoslavia.
Deputy Premier Birladeanu slated
to start US visit.
official visit to Rumania.
US to participate in Budapest
Trade Fair
Tito's 76th birthday
Approved For Release 2008/10/01: CIA-RDP79B00864A000800010048-1