Twenty-seven governments having substantial interests in cotton, as exporters or importers, were represented at the fifth meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) in Washington, from May 7 to 14, 1946. ICAC was established by the International Cotton Meeting of 1939 for the purpose of recommending steps to achieve international agreement on the regulation of world cotton supplies in relation to demand, so as to eliminate problems and difficulties presented by a world surplus of cotton. Governments represented at the May meeting were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Greece, Great Britain, India, Iran, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Turkey, USSR, the United States, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia.