ANNOUNCEMENT BY FOUR POWERS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25796, 6 May 1949, Page 7

ANNOUNCEMENT BY FOUR POWERS

The agreement to lift the Berlin blockade and counter-blockade and to hold a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers was announced after Dr. Philip Jessup (United States), Sir Alexander Cadogan (Britain), Mr Jean Chauvel (France), and Mr Jacob Malik (Russia) had met for an hour and 35 minutes at the Park avenue office of the United States delegation to the United Nations. The statement, issued on behalf of the four Powers said that their representatives had agreed on all the main questions of principle involved, and that all the restrictions in Germany which had been under discussion would be lifted. A meeting of the Council of Foreign Min ; sters would be held after an interval. The statement said that the Council of Foreign Ministers would consider German questions and problems arising from the situation in Berlin, including the question of currency. The United States delegation’s office later announced that “the final details are clear,” and said that a communique would be issued to-morrow. Informed sources say that the phrase •including the question of currency” in the statement issued by the four Powers was put into the announce-

i ment at Mr Malik’s request. They say > that the Western Powers considered| f the currency problem one of the issues r to be discussed by the Foreign Minisr ters. Mr Malik asked that it be rpeni tioned, and the West did not resist the ) request. It is said that there was no r attempt to bring up currency as a con- ; dition for raising the blockade. i One informant thinks the Russians wanted currency mentioned because f they did not want to drop it entirely. It was the first time the currency i angle had come up since it was noted 1 that Mr Stalin had ignored it in his r gnswers to an American reporter, i It is reliably reported in ,New York » and in London that Mr Malik indi--1 cated that the Soviet was to accept May 12 for the lifting of the restricl tions in Germany, and May 23 for a r Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Paris. Reuter’s correspondent at Lake Suc- - cess says that • to-morrow’s communique is not expected to set out ? any hard and fast agenda for the - Foreign Ministers’ meeting, but in- - formed resources say that the agenda will include the whole problem of * Germany’s future government, the* ’ withdrawal- of the Allied occupation : forces, the municipal government of - Berlin, and the currency question.