396.1–GE/4–954: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Soviet Union1
643. Re Deptel 642 to Moscow.2 (Take no action until receipt reference.) Tripartite reply to Soviet aide-mémoire of April 5, 1954 follows:
“The Governments of France, the United Kingdom and the United States note from the Aide-Mémoire of the U.S.S.R. dated April 5 that the U.S.S.R. has now agreed on the technical and administrative arrangements for the Geneva Conference.
Although it has been agreed that English, French, Russian, Chinese and Korean should be official languages for the discussion of the Korean problem, the decision on the official languages for the discussions on the problem of restoring peace in Indochina can, of course, only be made after agreement has been reached at Geneva on all the participants for the discussions about Indochina.
With reference to the U.S.S.R.’s proposal that qualified interpreters for oral translations into official languages be obtained by agreement among the conference participants, it is assumed the U.S.S.R. will have at Geneva as soon as possible appropriate officials authorized to discuss the necessary arrangements in this regard as well as other technical and administrative details prior to the conference, with representatives of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States who are now in Geneva.”