Editor: Two articles in the March 15 issue caught my eye. "Soros Calls West's Aid Inefficient" and "Report Reveals Failures of U.S. Aid to Russia" point out valid concerns about efforts to provide humanitarian and technical assistance to Russia. There is no doubt that some "aid" is, as Mr. Soros point out, "self-serving." Subsidized exports and donations of surplus agricultural commodities produced by market-distorting European and American agricultural policies are in this category. Our private-sector farmer clients in southern Russia ask only rhetorically why, if the American government wants to help, it does not just buy Russian wheat from Russian farmers at world market prices. On the other hand, it is simplistic to dismiss all Western aid as "inefficient" and easy to point out "failures." There exists in Russia a highly receptive, pro-Western audience of urban entrepreneurs, private-sector farmers and rural cooperatives. All believe in the free market and will struggle to create new private enterprises. With its know-how and business start-up capital, the West can make a big difference over a short period, working directly with these people at the grassroots level. Government bureaucracies, state-supported monopolies, highly paid consultants and the Russian mafia are soaking up great quantities of Western aid, but this is not a time to despair. It is a time to act prudently, to listen to what the Russians say they need, as Mr. Soros suggests, and to target Western aid efforts to those who want it, providing exactly what they need -- hope. Brian Foster Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance Moscow and Saratov
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