SINO-SOVIET BLOC ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92B01090R000700010008-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 8, 2005
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 28, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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SECRET
BIWEEKLY REPORT
S1NO - SOVIET BLOC
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
IN UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
EIC-WGR-1 /8
28 May 1956
PREPARED BY THE WORKING GROUP
ON SINO-SOVIET BLOC ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
IN UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS
ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE
SECRET
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THIS MATERIAL CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECT-
ING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES
WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ESPIONAGE. LAWS,
TITLE 18, USC, SECTIONS 793 AND 794, THE TRANSMIS-
SION OR REVELATION OF WHICH IN ANY MANIA' ER TO
AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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S-E-C-R-E-T
CONTENTS
Page
I. Summary of Events, 8-21 May 1956 . . . . . . . . . 1
II. South and Southeast Asia . .
A. India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Polish Shipping Agreement . . . . . . 3
2. Agreement for Steel Technicians to Go
to the USSR for Training . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Agreement to Purchase Oil-Drilling
Rigs from the USSR . . . . . . a . ? ? ? 4
B. Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
C. Burma . . . o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Trade Agreement with Hungary . . . . . 6
2. Trade Agreement with Bulgaria . . . . . . 6
III. Near East and Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 ?
A. Egypt: Arms and the Dam .
Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1. Arms Agreement with Czechoslovakia . . . 8
2. Trade Agreement with Hungary . . ? . . ? 10
C. Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
D. East German Trade Mission to 111 e Near East 11
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IV. Latin America (Argentina) . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
V. Western Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A. France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. Soviet Position on French Plan
for Channeling Aid Through the UN . . . . 13
2. Franco-Soviet Trade . . . . . . . . . 14
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SINO-SOVIET BLOC ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
IN UNDERDEVELOPED AREAS*
I. Summary of Events, 8-21 May 1956.
The arms agreement between Egypt and Communist China, which
is reported to have accompanied the Egyptian diplomatic recognition
of the Chinese Communists, is one of the most significant Sino-Soviet
Bloc efforts toward the expansion of economic relations with the Free
World during the period 8-21 May 1956. Other significant Bloc activi-
ties during this: period were the negotiation of further arms purchases
by Syria from Czechoslovakia and the Soviet offer to France, which,
if accepted, would result in a tripling of trade between France and
the USSR by 1959.
In South and Southeast Asia, agreements were signed by India
with Poland and the USSR, by Burma with Hungary and Communist
China, and by Cambodia with Communist China. The Indian-Polish
agreement established a regular cargo shipping service between the
two countries, and the Soviet agreements with India involved the train-
ing of about 700 metallurgical technicians in the USSR as well as the
purchase by India of two oil=drilling rigs from the USSR. Burma's
new trade agreements with Hungary and Bulgaria concerned ship-
ments of rice to both Bloc countries totaling 70, 000 to 90, 000 long
tons in exchange for machinery and other capital goods. The
Cambodian agreement with Communist China stipulates that China
will provide up to US $22. 4 million** in material and technical aid
over a period of 2 years.
* Although the main emphasis of the Biweekly is on economic ac-
tivities of the Sino-Soviet Bloc in underdeveloped areas of the Free
World, significant Bloc activities of this nature in areas not con-
sidered underdeveloped also will be discussed.
** Unless otherwise specified, all dollar values in this report are
in terms of US dollars. %
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A summary of trade activities between Indonesia and the Sino-
Soviet Bloc countries indicates that Indonesian trade with the Bloc
increased from $24 million in 1954 to $74 million in 1955. Czecho-
slovakia advanced an unknown amount of credit to Indonesia on 16
May, and additional trade advances are currently being made by the
USSR, East Germany, and Communist China.
The principal Sino=Soviet Bloc activity in Latin America con-
cerned the drafting of a,&-year agreement between the Argentine
fishing industry and East Germany, not as yet approved by the
Argentine government, wherein East Germany proposes to export
about 90 fishing craft and other equipment to Argentina in return
for about $15 million worth of Argentine fish.
Sino-Soviet Bloc overtures to Western Europe are headlined
during this period by a Soviet offer to increase trade with France
that would result in a trade' turnover of about $300 million by 1959
and by the signing of a Soviet.Danish agreement whereby Denmark
will provide industrial products and fast ocean-going vessels in
return for Soviet raw materials and agricultural machinery. A
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joint Franco-Soviet communique issued in Moscow on 19 May noted
that the USSR was sympathetic toward French proposals to channel
aid through the UN, but the wording of the statement suggests that
the USSR still remains unfriendly towards such a program.
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