92. Editorial Note

President Eisenhower, President De Gaulle, Prime Minister Macmillan, and Chancellor Adenauer met in Paris December 19–21 for discussions on a proposed summit conference between the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. During a meeting on the afternoon of December 19, De Gaulle initiated discussion on means to improve economic cooperation among the Western states. The portion of the memorandum of conversation concerning this discussion is printed as Document 93.

On December 21, the four Heads of Government issued a “Special Communiqué on the Economic Situation,” calling for increased assistance from the industrialized states to the less developed nations together with the pursuit of trade policies which would contribute to economic growth and the improvement of the standard of living for the world’s population. In order to achieve these objectives, the Western leaders “suggested” an “informal” meeting of the member and associated states of the OEEC take place in the “near future.” For text of the communiqué, see Department of State Bulletin, January 11, 1960, page 43.