Priority Begins at Home

"Something extraordinary has happened," said Brazil's Foreign Minister Negrao de Lima. "We must acknowledge that we are entering a new era in which Pan Americanism will have new vigor and new dynamism, allowing us to use all our common efforts for the common good." For two days in Washington, the foreign ministers of all 21 republics met in informal conference to use common efforts for common goals. Out of the meeting came the nucleus of a solid program for development in Latin America. Out of it also came the warmest inter-American feelings in years.

The conference was the result of a new U.S. approach to inter-American relations. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles spared no energy to make it a notable one. He led the talk over the entire broad range of problems that nag relations among the Americas. The work sessions produced a firm proposal for a hemisphere-development bank, an old Latin American dream agreed to by the U.S. for the first time in August--and hints of a U.S. contribution of $100 million. The foreign ministers made progress toward a Latin American common market and ordered continuing effort toward stable commodity prices, particularly in coffee and metals.

Keynoting the conference, President Eisenhower gave the foreign ministers a message to remember. Despite the crises in the Near and Far East, said Ike, the U.S. "will give top priority to problems in this hemisphere. Peace, security and prosperity are indivisible for us all."

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