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CBI, which was estciblished by NCSA in 1984, is ein 

 international business corr^jany that promotes trade auid investment 

 between developing country cooperatives and U.S. cooperatives and 

 other businesses. CBI has generated over $150 million in sales and 

 6,000 jobs in developing countries. CBI has had particular success 

 in India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. 



Recently, CBI established the American Cooperative Enterprise 

 Center . . . the ACE Center ... in Prague to help the cooperatives of 

 Eastern and Central Europe develop trade and joint venture 

 activities, and make a smooth transition to a free market economy. 



In the last year, NCBA has opened an office in Tver in Russia 

 thanks to a Section 416 monetization grant of feed wheat, the sales 

 of which have provided us with working capital in Russia to promote 

 market development and food distribution systems there. That 

 office is mauined by CBI. We strongly support such monetization 

 programs because we feel they go the furthest in allowing us to 

 create markets that will promote local development while creating 

 new business opportunities for American interests. 



America's cooperatives are proud of what we have been able to 

 accomplish internationally, and they've dedicated considerable 

 resources, both financial cuid personal, to that end. But much of 

 what we have been able to accomplish would not have been possibl* 

 without the support of the federal government, euad particularly th« 

 international programs of USDA eind AID. 



The Foreign Agricultural Service, with its relatively ne« 

 authority over the Food for Progress program and Section 416, has 

 been helpful. We believe, however, that USDA can better assist our 

 international trade cuid development efforts by focusing in on 

 developing markets for value-added products. We need a strong FAS 

 to help us market those products overseas . 



Thus, NCBA supports Secretary Espy's proposal to merge the 

 Office of International Cooperation and Development with FAS in the 

 new International Trade Service Agency. We are particularly 

 pleased to see this new agency grouped with the Farm Service Agency 

 with both units reporting to the Under Secretary for Farm eind 

 International Trade Services, Gene Moos. 



Having the existing functions of the Agricultural 

 Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) , the General Sales 

 Mauiager and the ~ Commodity Credit Corporation, euid the Foreign 

 Agriculture Service all reporting to one Under Secretary makes 

 tremendous sense. This new grouping of focused activities will 

 facilitate coordination for overseas programs leased on American 

 commodities. 



The overseas agricultural development expertise of OICD ought 

 to combine well with the market -oriented approach of FAS. On the 

 program side, this should beef up the capabilities of USDA to 

 utilize the programs already on the books more effectively. It 

 also presents an opportunity to update rules and regulations, to 

 focus on the synthesizing of work in terms of how these programs 

 are packaged and delivered. 



This new merger should offer an opportunity for rethinking 

 what works cind what doesn't, eind to put the eu^hasis on programs 

 that act as a catalyst and facilitator for American cooperatives 

 and farm orgamizations to develop markets, establish business 



