21st November, 1952
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents its compliments to the Australian Embassy in Japan and has the honour to forward, as enclosed herewith, a copy of the arrangement for sale and purchase of Australian barley which was signed on 14th November by Mr H.M. Tomlinson, General Manager, Australian Barley Board and Mr S. Tohata, Director, Food Agency, Japanese Government.
The Ministry highly welcomes the finalisation of the present arrangement and, on this occasion, has the pleasure in expressing its willingness to enter into negotiation with the Australian authorities, if they so desire, with a view to concluding similar agreements over other essential commodities as well. In the Japanese view, these sorts of agreements will, to not a small extent, contribute to bring about an orderly expansion of trade between Japan and Australia, which, the Ministry believes, is the common objective for both countries.
In this connection, the Ministry has the honour to refer to the current pattern of trade between two countries, in particular, to the running deficit in payments on the Japanese side. An overall balance with the Sterling Area as a whole being the primary concern for the Japanese Government, they positively never intend to stabilize Japan’s sterling payments relation on the country-by- country basis. However, the recent trend in the Japan-Australian trade makes the Ministry feel impelled to draw attention to the Australian authorities to the matter and ask for favourable considerations on the Australian side to re-examine at this stage possibility and advisability to see that import restrictions against the Japanese goods in Australia be reasonably eased. In putting forward this proposition, the Ministry feels all the more justified since, as expressed by conclusion of the arrangement over barley, the basic policy to promote Japan’s imports from Australia has been and will be pursued to the maximum extent practicable by the Japanese authorities. The Ministry has pleasure in reiterating its readiness to discuss with the Australian authorities any problems involved in this respect whenever the latter desires.
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[AA : CP553/1/1, 194/B/10/35]