The World - News from Aug. 5, 1988

The United States has paid $25 million of what it owes to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to show that it is encouraged by the agency’s progress in budgetary reforms, a diplomat said at the FAO’s Rome headquarters. Washington had withheld payment of its assessments, which amount to a quarter of the agency’s budget, in a move to force the organization to make reforms. The $25 million will be applied to the $67.4 million due for 1986 and 1987, the diplomat said. Washington also has not paid its 1988 assessments. The FAO coordinates agricultural projects in developing countries.