§ Mr. Macmillan. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, accompanied by Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign Secretary, conferred today at the Hotel Matignon with M. Guy Mollet, the Prime Minister of France, and M. Christian Pineau, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
§ The Ministers exchanged views on the international situation in the light of recent conversations in Washington and Ottawa, and those which will soon take place in Bermuda.
§ The Ministers exchanged views on the British proposals for the re-organisation and redeployment of United Kingdom Forces in Germany. The British Prime Minister explained that these proposals, which formed part of an over-all review by Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom economy and overseas commitments, should enable Her Majesty's Government to continue to maintain on the continent of Europe powerful land and air forces, organised and equipped to meet the conditions of modern war. The French Ministers emphasised the necessity of working out in common all solutions relating to the organisation of defence.
§ The Ministers noted with satisfaction the work which was being undertaken in Western European Union to stimulate co-operation over research development and production of armaments, and agreed to combine their efforts to produce concrete results.
§ Questions arising out of the Customs and Economic Union on the one hand, and the proposed Free Trade Area on the other, were discussed, in particular the problems resulting from the decision of the Brussels Conference to associate overseas territories within the Customs Union. While recognising that there were differences between the concept of the Customs Union and that of the Free Trade Area, Ministers agreed that both were of great importance in order to maintain the economic 150W unity of Western Europe as a whole. They agreed that the objective of both was the expansion of world trade, not the creation of a protective grouping. They decided that there should be further detailed study and discussions of these problems between experts.
§ They welcomed the decision of the Western European Union Council to study the closer association and possible unification of European Assemblies.
§ The Ministers agreed that the conditions under which shipping began to use the Suez Canal again would be of great importance for the future of the Canal, and confirmed their identity of views on this subject.