Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

740.00119 Council/7–1047

The British Embassy to the Department of State ³

Aide–Mémoire

Ref. 23/217/47

At the 43rd meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers during their recent session in Moscow it was agreed “to settle through diplomatic channels the question of the place and time of the beginning of the work of the Deputies for Germany”.⁴

2. The British Embassy have been asked by His Majesty’s Government to suggest to the United States Government that this meeting of the Deputies should take place in London and that October 1st might be a suitable date. A similar approach is being made to other members of the Council of Foreign Ministers concerned and in the event of the above suggestion proving generally acceptable His Majesty’s Government will issue formal invitations.

3. His Majesty’s Government have in mind the possibility of setting a limit to the duration of the meeting by means of a directive to the Deputies from the Council of Foreign Ministers instructing them to report within a fixed period say four weeks. His Majesty’s Government would welcome the views of the United States Government upon this proposal as well as upon the suggestion that the meeting should be held in London starting on October 1st.

Washington, July 10, 1947.

3. In a memorandum of July 30, 1947, to the British Embassy, not printed, the Department of State accepted the British proposal contained in this aide-mémoire concerning the next meeting of the Deputies for Germany on the understanding that the other Governments concerned also desired the Deputies to meet on October 1 (740.00119 Council/7–1047).
4. See the Provisional Record of Decisions of the 43rd Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, April 24 and the report on that meeting in telegram 1546, Delsec 1472, April 25, from Moscow, pp. 386 and 388.