740.00119 Council/8-2445
The Secretary of State to the British Chargé ( Balfour )
My Dear Mr. Chargé d’affaires: I thank you for your courtesy in forwarding to me, by your letter of August 15, the message of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs concerning the agenda of the first meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. I shall also be grateful if you would kindly forward the following comments to Mr. Bevin:
“I, too, am looking forward with keen anticipation to the beginning of the work of the Council of Foreign Ministers. I plan to arrive in London one or two days before the first meeting, which will, apparently, be agreed on for September 10.
“I shall be happy to examine in advance the British draft proposals for the political sections of the peace treaty with Italy. I assume that the Council will wish, at its first session, to survey the heads of agreement to be embodied in this treaty, leaving to the Deputies12 the elaboration of the actual draft. I should think the Council would find it more convenient to take up the question of the future of the Italian colonies in connection with the Italian treaty rather than to treat this question as a distinct item on the agenda. Otherwise, the subjects listed in your message seem to me to record fully the agenda assigned to the Council by the Berlin Conference.
“If you have in mind any matters on the Far East which you think should be brought up at this time, I should be glad to have your suggestions.”
I thank you for your kindness in transmitting these comments to Mr. Bevin.
Sincerely yours,
- Telegram 1810, August 22, 1945, 7 p.m., to Moscow, directed Ambassador Harriman to inform Foreign Commissar Molotov that Assistant Secretary of State James C. Dunn would accompany the Secretary of State to the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers and would remain as the Secretary’s Deputy on the Council. Ambassador Harriman was further directed to impress strongly on Molotov the importance of each Foreign Minister being represented on the Council by a Deputy who, as a high policy-making officer of his Government, would have authority to carry forward the work of the Council expeditiously during the intervals between the attendance of the Foreign Ministers (740.00119–Council/8–2245).↩