443. Aide-Memoire From the Government of the United States to the Governments of the United Kingdom and France 1

AIDE-MEMOIRE

On June 12, 1963, the British Embassy and the Embassy of the French Republic delivered to the Department of State a copy of a Resolution adopted by the Conference on Satellite Communications held in Paris on May 20–21, 1963, requesting, on behalf of the Conference, the written views of the United States on the principles set forth in the Resolution.

The United States Government is pleased to have the opportunity to state that it shares the view of the Conference set forth in the Resolution that commercial satellite communications should be organized on an international basis in such a way as to enable European countries to participate in the design, ownership and management of the system and, in addition, to provide, as the system is expanded and developed, satellites, launchers and other equipment for inclusion in the system. It is noted that the same considerations would also apply to other participants.

Believing that additional information may be of use to the countries participating in the Satellite Communications Conference to be held in London in July, the United States Government offers the following additional comments:

Persuasive technical, economic and political considerations indicate that commercial communications satellites should be planned, developed and operated on the basis of a single global system. The concept of a single global system for commercial purposes contemplates that the organization of the system will be such that all parties are engaged in a single coordinated effort to provide global communications and that competition for traffic through independently established or managed systems be avoided. The technological development of the single system will be evolutionary.

In the interest of efficient and expeditious establishment of an operational system, the original participants should be those countries or regions having the desire and the means to make significant economic [Page 1005] and technical contributions to the development and use of the system. The original participants should, however, acknowledge the goal to be global coverage and, while recognizing that there will be differing modes of participation, should adopt the principle of non-discriminatory access to the system by all countries or regions wishing to participate.

Although most of the traffic in the early stages will be within the Atlantic and Far Eastern areas, the initial operating system should permit service to be provided at some points in all major geographical areas of the world.

This Government would expect that the voice of participants in questions of management, finance, technology, operations and supply will be related to capital invested and use of the system, recognizing, however, that all participants should be able to make appropriate contributions to such decisions.

The United States Government considers that such financial assistance to the developing nations as may be required to bring their communications system to a point permitting meaningful participation in the global system would be the responsibility of national and international sources of capital assistance and not of the entities participating in the satellite system in their capacity as such. The responsibility in this connection of such participating entities would extend only to assuring, on an equitable basis, the opportunity for future participation by such nations.

An identical aide-memoire has been delivered this day to the Embassy of the French Republic.

  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, IO/OES Files: Lot 68 D 379, K–11.1, Structure of International Organizations. Limited Official Use. The aide-memoire is Annex B to circular airgram CA–14556, June 27. For Annex A, see Document 441.