740.00119 (Potsdam)/7–2545

No. 757
United States Delegation Working Paper 1

Subject: Free and Unrestricted Navigation of International Inland Waterways.

The U. S. A., the U. K. and the U. S. S. R. are in accord that there should be free and unrestricted navigation of such inland waterways as border on two or more states, the Kiel Canal, and the Straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmora and the Bosphorus, which are comprised under the general term “Straits”. The navigation on these waterways should be regulated by international authorities representative of all nations directly interested in navigation on the waterways concerned.

As an initial step there should be set up as soon as possible interim navigation agencies for the Danube and the Rhine. The functions of the interim navigation agencies should be the restoration and development of navigation facilities on the river concerned, the supervision of river activities in the interest of equal treatment for various nationalities and the establishment of uniform regulations concerning use of facilities, rules of navigation, customs and sanitation formalities, and other similar questions. Membership on these agencies should include the United States, the United Kingdom, the [Page 656] U. S. S. R., France, and the sovereign riparian states recognized by these Governments.

With respect to the Kiel Canal, it is likewise suggested that an interim navigation agency be established with functions similar to those for the Danube and the Rhine rivers. For the time being, membership on this interim navigation agency for the Kiel Canal should be restricted to the U. K., U. S. S. R., U. S. A. and France, as the occupying powers of Germany. Consultation with other nations directly interested in the Kiel Canal could be subsequently arranged.2

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  1. Authorship not indicated.
  2. For the final paragraph of this working paper, see document No. 1372.