I will nominate two persons for reappointment as members of the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

We must provide additional help for them.

I want to salute Country music as the purest echo of rural America at work to help build the progress and well-being of our land.

We'll make even more progress in the future.

It is a plan for generating a real and productive partnership among Federal, State, and local governments and the private sector.

This is indeed a rural program of comprehensive development, initiated and controlled and forged at the grassroots level.

This bill will improve the Federal Government's capacity to meet the needs of our small towns and country areas.

Today I am pleased to sign the Rural Development Policy Act of 1980, which places into law many of the reforms that were developed by this rural policy.

We hope that the resumed talks will be conducted on a serious, sustained and productive basis and will lead to a just and lasting settlement of all outstanding issues.

This legislation is the culmination of a joint effort by the Congress and the administration.

Today rural America is entering a new era of opportunity for growth and progress.

This bill also extends our authority to conduct rural development research and extension activities.

I believe, in the future, that what we do for these families and for these communities will pay rich dividends for our country.

I know how important rural America is to our country.

I welcome the resumption of the Cyprus intercommunal talks.

Finally, the bill's authorization of the WEB project represents a major step both for rural development and for water resources policy in South Dakota.

The bill I am signing today strengthens the Secretary of Agriculture's role in this endeavor.

I am today signing S. 670, the Rural Development Policy Act of 1980.