Office of the Historian

C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2080: Records of Decisions

Record of Decisions, Council of Foreign Ministers, Third Session, Seventeenth Meeting, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, December 6, 1946, 4 p.m.

New York, December 6, 1946, 4 p.m.
secret
CFM(46) (NY) 17th Meeting

Present

France
M. Couve de Murville (Chairman)
M. Alphand
M. Bérard
U.S. U.K.
Mr. Byrnes Mr. Bevin
Mr. Connally Mr. Jebb
Mr. Vandenberg Sir Oliver Harvey
Mr. Sterndale Bennett
Lord Hood
U.S.S.R.
Mr. Molotov
Mr. Gousev
M. Kozyrev

I Report of the Deputies27

Mr. Dunn read the report of the 129th meeting of the Deputies.

1. Permanent Statute of the Free Territory of Trieste:

(a) Article 31a (Freedom of Transit),28 approved by the Deputies, was adopted by the Council.

(b) Article 31b (Railways)29 was adopted as follows:

“Without prejudice to its proprietary rights over the railways within its boundaries and its control of the railway administration, the Free Territory may negotiate with Yugoslavia and Italy agreements for the purpose of ensuring the efficient and economical operation of its railways. Such agreements would determine where responsibility lies for the operation of the railways in the direction of Yugoslavia or Italy respectively and also for the operation of the railway terminal and facilities on that part of the line which is common to all. In the latter case such operation may be effected by a special commission composed of representatives of the Free [Page 1463] Territory, Yugoslavia and Italy under the chairmanship of the representative of the Free Territory”.

(c) Article 31c (Civil Aviation).30 After an exchange of views, a decision on this Article was deferred.

2. Special Facilities in the Free Port of Trieste:

(a) Article 3 of the Instrument of the Free Port of Trieste was adopted as follows:31

“The area of the Free Port shall include the territory and installations of the free zones of the Port of Trieste within the limits of the 1939 boundaries.

“The establishment of special zones in the Free Port under the exclusive jurisdiction of any country is incompatible with the status of the Free Territory and of the Free Port.

“In order, however, to meet the special needs of Yugoslav and Italian shipping in the Adriatic, the Director of the Free Port, on the request of the Yugoslav or Italian Government and with the concurring advice of the International Commission, provided for in Article 21, may reserve to merchant vessels flying the flags of either of these two States the exclusive use of berthing spaces within certain parts of the area of the Free Port.

“In case it shall be necessary to increase the area of the Free Port such increase may be made upon the proposal of the Director of the Free Port by decision of the Council of Government with the approval of the Popular Assembly.”

(b) It was decided to instruct the Committee on Trieste to give further consideration to the first paragraph of the above text of Article 3 of the Free Port Instrument.

(3) Draft of Letter to the Secretary-General of UN concerning salary and expenses of the Governor of the Free Territory.32

The draft prepared by the Deputies was adopted by the Council.

(4) Conference on the Regime of the Danube:

The text prepared by the Deputies regarding the convocation of a Danubian Conference was adopted by the Council.33

(5) Preparation and signature of the Treaties:

(a)
It was agreed that a drafting Committee should prepare final texts of the Treaties in New York (probably by early January) and that the final texts should then be circulated to signatory powers at least two weeks before the date of signature.
(b)
Signature. It was agreed to leave the question as to time and place of signature in abeyance until such time as the date of the next Council session was decided.
(c)
Translation. It was agreed that there should be an official French translation of the Treaties of Peace with Roumania, Bulgaria, [Page 1464] Hungary and Finland, and that the wording at the end of the respective Treaties (“done in the city of ______ in the _____ languages”) should be modified so as to mention the French language.

(6) Communication to the Security Council of the draft Permanent Statute of the Free Territory of Trieste, the draft Instrument for the Provisional Regime [and]34 the draft Statute of the Free Port:

(a)
The Council instructed the Deputies to prepare a draft letter transmitting the above texts to the Security Council.
(b)
The Council agreed that the Drafting Committee remaining in New York should furnish the Security Council, if requested, with any necessary explanations of the above texts.

II. Fourth Report of the Committee of Economic Experts. Annex XIII of the Treaty of Peace with Italy (CFM(46) (NY)42)35

The U.S.S.R. Delegation having withdrawn all its reservations, the texts contained in the report were adopted.

III. Report of the Committee of Naval Experts; Document CFM (46)25036

Following an exchange of views a decision on the report was deferred to a later date.

IV. Next Meeting of the Council

Saturday, December 7, at 10:30 a.m.

  1. The substance of the Deputies’ Report is recorded in the United States Delegation Minutes of this meeting, supra.↩
  2. For text of article 31A, see Annex 1 of the Record of Decisions of 129th Meeting of the Deputies, December 6, p. 1443.↩
  3. For text of article 31B as reported by the Deputies, see ibid.↩
  4. For text of article 31C, see Annex 1, p. 1444.↩
  5. For text of article 3 under reference as reported to the Council by the Deputies, see Annex 3, p. 1445.↩
  6. For the draft letter under reference, see Annex 2, p. 1444.↩
  7. For the text under reference, see Annex 5, p. 1446.↩
  8. Brackets appear in the source text.↩
  9. Not printed, but see footnote 24, p. 1455.↩
  10. Not printed, but for a description of the contents of the Report, see footnote 25, ibid.↩