The special session of the International Wheat Council which began in Washington on January 28, 1948, announced on March 6 the successful conclusion of a five-year International Wheat Agreement fixing a range of prices within which 500 million bushels of wheat would flow annually through the channels of international trade. The agreement was signed by some 36 nations, including all the major wheat-importing and wheat-exporting countries of the world with the exception of Argentina and the Soviet Union. Subject to the ratification of the signatory states, the multilateral agreement — the first of its kind in history — was to come into force on August 1, 1948, climaxing many years of effort to stabilize the world wheat market through international cooperation. The agreement provided maximum and minimum prices for each of the five years of its duration and specified quantities to be purchased or sold by each of the importing and exporting nations. While transactions outside the prescribed range were permitted, they would not apply toward the fulfillment of each member's quota under the agreement.