20. Editorial Note
On March 6, the Governments of Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia jointly announced that their armed forces would be placed under a unified command. The announcement followed signature by the Syrian and Egyptian Governments on March 2, at the conclusion of Salah Salim’s talks with Syrian leaders of a communiqué which indicated that the two governments had agreed not to join the Turkish-Iraqi alliance or any other alliances, to establish a joint Arab defense and economic cooperation pact, and to advance these objectives with other Arab States. Following his stay in Damascus, Salim visited Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian Government also subscribed to other parts of the Egyptian-Syrian communiqué of March 2, the text of which was simultaneously made public. The arrangements reached through these agreements was subsequently known as the Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi or ESS Pact. The text of the March 2 communiqué is printed in Documents on International Affairs, 1955, pages 326–327.