PEACEFUL USE OF ATOM

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27795, 21 October 1955, Page 13

PEACEFUL USE OF ATOM

West’s Proposals On Agency (Rec. 9 pjn.) NEW YORK, Oct. 19. The Western Powers proposed in flie United Nations today that an inter* national conference be called to agree finally on the statute of an international atomic energy agency. A similar suggestion was put forward formally yesterday by the Soviet Union.

Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia. Belgium. Brazil, and South Africa joined in co-sponsoring a revised draft resolution before the United Nations political committee, which is debating the peaceful use of atoms.

The Western atomic Powers put forward the idea of the international conference to meet objections by others, including the Scandinavian countries and India. The objectors have expressed concern that the present bilateral procedures for negotiating the agency’s draft statute would result in their being confronted with a final text for ratification without adequate opportunity for an exchange of views. Invited to the international conference would be all members of the United Nations, as well as those governments which are members of the specialised agencies but not of the United Nations itself.

This would omit Communist China and East Germany.

Senator John Pastore, the United States representative, explained the main changes in the Western revised resolution to the Political Committee. He said that no comments on the draft statute would be rejected without careful consideration.