CONFERENCE ON ANTARCTICA

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29017, 5 October 1959, Page 11

CONFERENCE ON ANTARCTICA

10-Point Scheme For Co-operation

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 4. A 12-nation diplomatic working group has drawn up 10 principles aimed at preserving Antarctica as a “peaceful area.” The 10 points will guide Foreign Ministers and other delegates attending an international conference on the Antarctic, due to open here on October 15. The 12-nation conference is expected to conclude a treaty pledging peaceful cooperation, with introduction of military weapons banned from the southern continent.

All of the 12 nations attending the conference took part in Antarctic scientific research during the 1957-58 International Geophysical Year. They are Argentina, Australia. Belgium, Britain, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway. South Africa, the Soviet Union and the United States. The conference sessions will be held at the headquarters of the United States Information Agency, where suitable facilities are available for simultaneous translation of delegates’ speeches President Eisenhower originally proposed the conference on May

3, 1958, in invitations addressed to the 11 other nations joining in the Antarctic! research programme. The United States is anxious to see drawn up a treaty which would:

Freeze conflicting claims to territory in the region; Permit freedom of scientific investigation of Antarctica by al) countries, and a continuation of international scientific cooperation carried out during the International Geophysical Year; and Ensure that Antarctica is used only for peaceful purposes.

Officials said today that the position of the United States could best be summed up by saying that it wanted to develop Antarctica as “an international scientific laboratory.”

Washington diplomatic representatives of the nations which will attend the conference have been engaged in its planning for more than a year.

While no draft treaty has been prepared, informants said the set of 10 principles prepared by the working group should form a sound basis in formulating a pact. It is expected that on the first two days statements of position will be made by the various delegations, a chairman elected and other procedural matters settled After that, informants said, the conference would meet in private. with two major committees being appointed to decide on treaty details.

The sessions are expected to last from two to three weeks.