56. Editorial Note
The Sixth Session of the Baghdad Pact Ministerial Session began on January 26 and concluded on January 28. For text of the final communiqué, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pages 1018–1020. The accounts of the restricted sessions of the meetings are in Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–KA/1–2659 to 396.1–KA/1–2959. In addition to this file, information including side discussions on related matters, such as the ongoing negotiations for bilateral agreements between the pact members and the United States, is ibid., 780.5.
One of the tangible economic results of the meeting was an agreement by the participants to contribute $150,000 ($50,000 from the United States, $50,000 from the United Kingdom, and $50,000 from the regional member states) to establish a Baghdad Pact Multilateral Technical Assistance Fund. The United States also agreed that if the present examination of the proposed Turkish-Iranian railroad proved that the [Page 210] project was economically and technically feasible, the United States would be prepared to render financial support to it. Agreement was also reached to relocate the Baghdad Pact Atomic Energy Center from Baghdad to Tehran at the invitation of the Iranians. Iraq was not present at the meeting, and the member states agreed that its membership in the pact was a question for Iraq alone to decide.