Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Germany and Austria, Volume VII, Part 1

Conference files, lot 60 D 627, CF 210

No. 413
The United States Delegation at the Berlin Conference to the Department of State¹

secret

Berlin, February 3, 1954—9 p.m.

Secto 79. Following Bidault’s departure from tripartite meeting,² Eden said to Secretary that joint appraisal from United States-United Kingdom Embassy [in] Cairo due tomorrow and he would then see what could be done.

Secretary said we are still holding up economic aid to Egypt and cannot do so much longer. Planes which United Kingdom recently planned for Israel have not helped matters with respect to economic aid for Egypt. Eden replied he was under impression planes were Mosquitoes and not very important, but perhaps they were meteor jets. He would let me know. He then said United Kingdom was sending 6 night fighters to Syria and had offered to hold up delivery if United States held up delivery military items to Saudi Arabia. Secretary expressed personal view it desirable work out some kind of system between United States and United Kingdom, which would result in better coordination of deliveries of military equipment to Middle East. Referring back to Saudi Arabia, Eden said he hoped to have some new proposals regarding terms of arbitration for Saudis “in the next week or so”.³

1. Repeated to London, Jidda, and Cairo.
2. For reports on the Tripartite Foreign Ministers meeting, see the memorandum by MacArthur and Secto 80, Document 411 and supra.
3. Dulles and Eden also discussed Iran and Turkey at this meeting. With regard to the former they considered the composition of the oil consortium that would operate in Iran and with regard to the latter they discussed the placing of a military dump near the Turkish-Iraqi border. The U.S. Delegation reported on these discussions in Sectos 75 and 76 from Berlin, Feb. 3. (Conference files, lot 60 D 627, CF 210)