Editorial Note
On April 26 the Soviet press published a Tass communiqué which gave a brief summary of the Jessup–Malik conversations up to April 10 and stated that if a date were agreed upon for the convocation of the Council of Foreign Ministers then the mutual restrictions on communications and trade in Berlin could be cancelled before the beginning of the Council.
On the same day the Department of State released to the press a statement on the informal talks between Jessup and Malik summarizing the talks through April 10 and stating:
“If the present position of the Soviet Government is as stated in the Tass Agency release as published in the American press this morning, the way appears clear for a lifting of the blockade and a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. No final conclusion upon this can be reached until further exchanges of view with Mr. Malik.”
The full texts of the Tass communiqué and the State Department press release are printed in Berlin: Quellen und Dokumente, Bd II, pages 1545–1547. The Tass communiqué was also published in the New York Times, April 26, pages 1 and 6; and the text of the State Department press release in Department of State Bulletin, May 8, 1949, pages 590–591, and Germany 1947–1949, pages 273–274.