800.796/685
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
Mr. Wright came in to see me at his request. He gave me the substance of a message that he had received from the Foreign Office in answer to our suggestion for a series of bilateral conversations on aviation.
He said that H.M.G. was agreeable to having discussions preparatory to a United Nations meeting; that it was agreed that these must cover a fairly wide range; and that, after discussion, they had felt that a considerable number of countries should be in the picture from the beginning. They therefore proposed that a conference in the nature of a preparatory conference should be held between Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Brazil, Mexico, [Page 405] Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, France, India, and probably Belgium. The said conference, it was thought, should not be in either England or North America; accordingly they suggested an appropriate place in North Africa.
I said I was glad to see that we were in agreement on the proposal to have a United Nations conference; that it was agreed that preparatory discussions had to cover a fairly wide range; and that the only question remaining seems to be one of method. I pointed out that to hold a preparatory conference of 13 nations—14, since they asked that India be separately represented—was almost as difficult as holding a United Nations conference to start out, and of course raised questions from other countries who were not invited. I wondered if this had been considered. Mr. Wright said somewhat ruefully that he had no other instructions than these, but he left no doubt that he was somewhat staggered by this proposition.
I said that we would study the proposal. Meanwhile, I hoped he would assure his Government that we were approaching the matter with the greatest desire to find a practicable method for getting things started—as indeed I was sure they were doing.