Office of the Historian

396.1 BE/2–2454

Department of State Press Release

No. 84
Washington, February 19, 1954.

Communiqué Issued at the Conclusion of the Quadripartite Meeting of the Four Foreign Ministers at Berlin, February 18, 19541

A meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, Mr. John Foster Dulles, M. Georges Bidault, Mr. Anthony Eden, and M. Vyacheslav Molotov, took place in Berlin between January 25 and February 18, 1954. They reached the following agreements:

(A)

The Foreign Ministers of the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, meeting in Berlin,

Considering that the establishment, by peaceful means, of a united and independent Korea would be an important factor in reducing international tension and in restoring peace in other parts of Asia,

Propose that a conference of representatives of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Chinese People’s Republic, the Republic of Korea, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea, and other countries the armed forces of which participated in the hostilities in Korea and which desire to attend shall meet in Geneva on April 26 for the purpose of reaching a peaceful settlement of the Korean question;

Agree that the problem of restoring peace in Indochina will also be discussed at the conference, to which representatives of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Chinese People’s Republic and other interested states will be invited.

It is understood that neither the invitation to, nor the holding of, the above-mentioned conference shall be deemed to imply diplomatic recognition in any case where it has not already been accorded.

[Here follows the portion of the communiqué dealing with disarmament, Germany, Austria, and European security; for the full text of the communiqué, see volume VII.]

  1. The communiqué was sent to Washington in telegram Secto 171, Feb. 18, repeated to London as telegram 191, to Paris as telegram 219, to Bonn as telegram 1048, to Vienna as telegram 113, to CINCEUR as telegram 62, and to Moscow unnumbered. (396.1 BE/2–1854)↩