FOUR POWER TALKS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28543, 24 March 1958, Page 11

FOUR POWER TALKS

Plan For Meeting In Washington (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 23.

Britain, France and the United States were considering holding Four-Power talks in Washington with the Soviet Union at Ambassadors’ level, an authoritative source said yesterday.

The source said the plan to hold the talks had been discussed among the Western Big Three, but to his knowledge no firm decision had been taken. The source declined further details and the State Department refused official comment.

Diplomatic observers, however, saw the plan aa an attempt to break the current impasse on summit talks between East and West.

The United States has declared its willingness to join a summit meeting provided preliminary negotiations at a lower level give real promise of success at the heads-of-Government level. The purpose of a Four-Power meeting of ambassadors in Washington would be to sound out the Soviet Union on prospects of fruitful negotiations at higher levels, these observers believe. The new Soviet Ambassador to Washington, Mr Mikhail Menshikov, would be the central figure in an ambassadorial meeting. * Since his arrival early last month he has attracted widespread attention. He has talked freely in his fluent English to the press and on television urging a summit conference and pleading for peaceful East-West coexistence.