38 



fact, the Australian arrangement I think is perhaps a little bit 

 more closer to what is thought of in terms of a direct barter. But 

 there we have only been able to confirm that one-half of 1 million 

 tons of that business is solid, and the other 1 million tons that has 

 been talked about is still potential, shall we say. I don't know what 

 it is in the Australian business that differentiated that from our 

 abilities. 



Mr. Allard. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I see my time is up. 



Mr. Penny. Ms. McKinney, do you have any questions of this 

 witness? 



Ms. McKlNNEY. No, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Penny. I appreciate your testimony this morning, Chris- 

 topher. I did want to ask one last question about the Foreign Agri- 

 cultural Service. Given the nature of the newly independent states, 

 are we adequately represented through the FAS in the former So- 

 viet Union? It seems to me that we now have 12 Republics, and yet 

 I think we still only have one or two FAS offices in the entire re- 

 gion, and I'm just curious, given the variables that exist between 

 governments there, whether we really are properly staffed through 

 the FAS. 



Mr. GOLDTHWAIT. We are doing the best we can to expand our 

 staffing in the former Soviet Union. We have added an additional 

 American position in the last year to our Moscow office, which re- 

 tains responsibility for most of the Republics. We have transferred 

 responsibility to one or two of the more remote Republics — for ex- 

 ample, Moldavia — to regional attaches that are operating from out- 

 side the former Soviet Union. We are, I suspect, going to make 

 some other modest changes in our staffing there. 



Again, this kind of thing is what we're constantly trying to work 

 with in terms of taking what we have available in terms of re- 

 sources and using them where they're most necessary. 



Mr. Penny. Thank you. I appreciate your testimony this morn- 

 ing. 



We want to move now to our final presenter, Mr. Keith Severin, 

 senior associate for Soviet and East European Affairs, with E.A. 

 Jaenke & Associates here in Washington, DC. 



By way of background, I want the audience to be aware that Mr. 

 Severin has retired from the Foreign Agricultural Service. His ex- 

 perience with Russia dates back to 1963. He served 2 years as an 

 agricultural attache in our Embassy there. Beginning in 1974 he 

 led annual study teams to Russia, the former Soviet Union, to focus 

 on various aspects of our bilateral arrangements with that nation. 

 In 1992 he was requested by Richard Crowder, the Under Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture for International Affairs, to be a special as- 

 sistant to advise the Department on programs pertinent to the 

 former Soviet Union. 



So his background in this area is extensive, and we're delighted 

 that he was able to be with us here this morning. 



Mr. Severin. 



STATEMENT OF KEITH SEVERIN, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, SOVIET 

 AND EAST EUROPEAN AFFAIRS, EA. JAENKE & ASSOCIATES 



Mr. Severin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's indeed a pleasure, 

 almost more than I can express. I will let my testimony that I en- 



