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Germans purchasing items at one of the sales
stands of a badly-damaged market in Berlin.
representatives of Holland,, Switzerland,
Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Austria, Belgium,
and Luxembourg. In many of these countries
bank accounts for use in export-import trans-
actions have already been opened or are
being opened. Arrangements have been made
for visits by foreign businessmen to Germany
and for German representatives to neigh-
boring countries, all in the interest of foreign
trade.
The entire program for export of US Zone
products has been under direct control of
OMGUS, but in the future German business-
men will be permitted to enter into non-
transactional correspondence with foreign
firms, thus making preliminary negotiations
a direct matter between buyer and seller.
As a means of stimulating interest in par-
ticular goods available for export, successful
sample expositions were held at Munich,
Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, and New York City,
which served to demonstrate the wide range
of skills available, from simple handicraft
to the production of high precision instru-
ments, and to set the direction of future pro-
ductive effort.
From the beginning of consideration of the
export-import question, quadripartite policy
placed the emphasis on rebuilding the so-
called light industries, such as textiles, paper,
pharmaceuticals, optical instruments, and
toys. It was felt that if these industries suc-
ceeded in recovering their traditional pro-
gressiveness in technical matters, they would
be able to furnish the means to pay for im-
ports of food and raw materials.
BIZONAL ECONOMIC ACCORD
It has been a basic tenet of US policy since
the beginning of the occupation that foreign
trade should be developed as one element in
the economic life of Germany as a whole.
The pertinent clause in the Potsdam Agree-
ment states: "During the period of occupa-
tion Germany shall be treated as a single
economic unit. To this end common policies
shall be established in regard to import and
export programs of Germany as a whole."
Until the latter part of 1946 little was done
toward making the economic unity of Ger-
many a fact. On 3 December the joint Anglo-
American agreement providing for the "full
economic integration" of the US and British
Zones of Germany was signed in Washington,
(Continued on page 31)
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