SUMMIT TALKS PROSPECTS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28528, 6 March 1958, Page 11

SUMMIT TALKS PROSPECTS

Rejection Of Soviet Offer (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 5. President Eisenhower will hold a press conference today and is expected to shed further light on the prospects of a summit conference. The President may divulge part of the conversation he had earlier this week with the Soviet Ambassador, Mr Mikhail Menshikov, and say whether he thinks there is ground for believing that the present deadlock over the question of preparation for the conference can be broken. Mr Menshikov, who has established a reputation for geniality and friendliness since he has been in his Washington post, will be questioned himself by reporters tomorrow when he will be the guest speaker at a National Press Club luncheon.

Mr Dulles, the Secretary of State, told a press conference yesterday that the conditions for a summit conference laid down by the Soviet Union in its note to France last Saturday were unacceptable to the United States. The North Atlantic Treaty Powers, meeting in Paris, also rejected the Soviet terms. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Gromyko, proposed in his Note that a Foreign Ministers’ conference be held in April, but only if preceded by agreement on a date in June for summit talks. Furthermore, under the Soviet terms, the Foreign Ministers would have the limited task of deciding a summit agenda and the composition of the conference. Although Mr Dulles was emphatic in his rejection of the latest Soviet terms, he declared that the United States was ready to meet at the summit if there were prospects of making real progress. He left open the door for further exchanges. The Secretary of State said that while the particular procedure of a summit meeting was certainly not from the United States point of view an indispensable way of proceeding, if it was in fact going to arrive at a result, “we are willing to accept it.” Mr Dulles said there were "certain prospects” of a change in the United States attitude on the question of a trial ban on nuclear testing. Previously this has been tied to an agreement on a cut-off date for nuclear weapons production. He said the question would be discussed with the Allied nations.

What the final position would be could not be disclosed, because it had not yet been determined.