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U.S. Efforts 



The U.S. Government's effort to help ensure food availability in the newly 

 independent states of the former Soviet Union during the transition from 

 comnunism to a market-oriented democracy has entailed three primary efforts: 

 export credit guarantees to help facilitate purchases of U.S. agricultural 

 commodities by the countries; long-term concessional sales for FSU countries 

 other than Russia, for additional help in meeting import needs; grants of food 

 assistance to help meet humanitarian needs in the countries; and technical 

 assistance to help develop various aspects of the food sectors in these 

 economies. 



Technical Assistance Programs 



USDA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (A.I.D.), have 

 several technical assistance programs under way in the former Soviet Union to 

 help develop the agricultural and agribusiness sectors of the FSU. USDA 

 received its first real agricultural developmental assistance authorities in 

 the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, and the FSU has 

 been a focus for implementing them. This includes the following activities: 



