C.F.M. Files: Lot M–88: Box 2079: CFM Documents
The Acting Chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers (Byrnes) to the Secretary General of the United Nations (Lie)5
Excellency: The Representatives of the United States of America, of France, of the United Kingdom and of the Union of Soviet Republics meeting as the Council of Foreign Ministers in New York have prepared a Peace Treaty with Italy which shall come into force when ratified by the Four Powers in question.
The Treaty establishes a Free Territory of Trieste whose indedendence and integrity would be ensured by the Security Council of the United Nations. The Permanent Statute and the Provisional Statute of the Territory appear as an Annex to the Treaty, as does likewise an Instrument on the Free Port of Trieste.
So as to permit the Security Council to study the texts in question, I have the honor to transmit to you the relevant Articles and Annexes [Page 1560] of the Draft Peace Treaty with Italy (Articles relative to the boundaries between Italy and the Free Territory of Trieste, the boundaries between the Free Territory and Yugoslavia, the work of the Boundary Commission, the general principles concerning the Statute of the Free Territory; annexes concerning the regime of the property and interests transferred to the Free Territory, the technical guarantees given the Free Territory and the Permanent Statute of the Free Territory, the Provisional Regime of this Territory and the regime of the Free Port), and to inform you that the Ministers of Foreign Affairs have instituted a committee which will hold itself at the disposal of the Security Council for the purpose of furnishing it with all necessary information concerning the Free Territory, its Statute and the provisions concerning the Free Port of Trieste.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America, of France, of the United Kingdom and of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are desirous that the texts submitted, on the terms of the Treaty for approval by the Security Council be decided on by the latter before January 15 as the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Italy is to occur at the beginning of February.
Respectfully yours,
This letter was prepared in draft by the French Delegation and was agreed upon by the Deputies at their 130th Meeting, December 9, 1946. As approved by the Deputies, the draft letter was circulated to the Council of Foreign Ministers as document CFM(46) (NY)67(Revised), December 9, 1946, not printed. In approving the draft letter at its 20th Meeting, December 10, 1946, the Council agreed that the letter would be signed by the Acting Chairman of the Council and despatched to the United Nations Secretary General as soon as the texts to be attached to it were completed; see the United States Delegation Minutes and item II of the Record of Decisions of the Council’s 20th Meeting, pp. 1494 and 1506. The text printed here differs from the draft text in CFM(46) (NY)67 (Revised) only in very minor language changes.
As finally sent, this letter was not assigned a CFM document number.
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