740.00119 Council/9–2445
The Belgian Ambassador (Silvercruys) to the Acting Secretary of State 11
Mr. Secretary of State: At the Potsdam Conference it was decided that a state not represented on the Council of Foreign Ministers would be invited to send representatives to participate in the discussion and study of any question in which it had a direct interest.
[Page 359]The placing on the agenda of the conference now taking place in London of problems relating to the regulation of the navigable waterways in Europe and to the status of regions such as the Rhine and Ruhr basins indicates the examination of questions in which Belgium has a vital and permanent interest. The Belgian Government believes that it should be directly associated in the exchange of views which will take place on this occasion. My Government has instructed me to remind the United States Government of Belgium’s legitimate concern with these questions. It is confident that the five Governments represented at the Council of Foreign Ministers deem that they should respond to this concern and will invite the Belgian Government to participate from the outset in the discussion and study of these questions.
I avail myself [etc.]
- The text of this note was transmitted to the Secretary of State in London in telegram 8384, Secdel 109, September 24, 1945. In a note dated October 1, the Acting Secretary of State informed the Belgian Ambassador that his note had been referred to the Secretary (740.00119 Council/9–2445).↩