Office of the Historian

396.1 GE/4–2654: Telegram

First Meeting of the Heads of the 16 Allied Delegations, Geneva, April 26, 11:10 a.m.: The United States Delegation to the Department of State1

confidential
priority
Geneva, April 26, 1954—3 p.m.

Secto 9. Repeated information Seoul 7, Tokyo 5, Paris 115, London 69, Moscow 11. Department pass Defense. Tokyo pass CINCFE. Secretary held first meeting with 16 this morning primarily concerning procedural and organizational matters. Eden met with Molotov at 10:302 and came back to report to meeting of 16 delegates. As a result of two meetings, agreements reached on following:

(1)
On Chairmanship, Eden and Molotov worked out proposal of rotation among USSR, UK and Thailand. Order will be Thailand today followed by Molotov, then Eden.
(2)
Speakers will be listed in order of inscription with chairman.
(3)
Understood only with 16 that ROK would be first speaker for our side. Pyun not ready speak today.
(4)
No rules of procedure at beginning of conference but question can be taken up later if appears some necessity for having rules, in which case General Assembly rules of procedure will be considered.
(5)
Meeting would open today at 3 o’clock and meetings would be held from 3 to 7 six days a week.
(6)
Agreements reached also on seating arrangements3 and on procedures for interpretation. In view of difficulties locating qualified Korean interpreters language of day will be French, Russian, English and then Chinese or Korean.
(7)
Understood photographers will be permitted at first plenary session for 10 minutes at opening. Agreed with Molotov and 16 no press thereafter and no observer delegations.
(8)
As to today’s business meeting of 16, left it with Eden he would arrange with Molotov for agreement that meeting today be confined to organization.
(9)
As to agenda, 11 [16?] concurred position no formal agenda required since conference being held pursuant to Berlin agreement and since Berlin communiqué calls for peaceful settlement Korean question. Eden did not discuss agenda with Molotov.

Dulles
  1. A set of minutes of this meeting (AD Verb Min/1) from which the time of the meeting is taken is in FE files, lot 60 D 330, box 14824. The meeting, at which Dulles presided, adjourned at 12:55 p.m.↩
  2. No record of the Eden–Molotov meeting has been found in Department of State files.↩
  3. The minutes of the meeting indicated that the seating arrangements called for the chairman to face the delegations, which were arranged according to English alphabetical order, auditorium style, in three rows of eight, nine, and three, with a microphone for the head of each delegation.↩