Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

CFM Files: Lot M–88: Box 58

Decision Taken by the Council of Foreign Ministers on April 22nd, 1947, Concerning the Report of the Trieste Commission of Inquiry¹⁵

secret
CFM (47) (M) 149

Moscow, April 23, 1947.

The Council of Foreign Ministers having considered the report of the Trieste Commission of Inquiry as well as the comments on the report submitted by the Government of the Federated People’s Republic of Yugoslavia and by the Government of Italy,¹⁶ have reached the following conclusions:

(1) The solution of the questions of the budget, balance of payments, currency, customs and other financial and economic questions concerning the Free Territory of Trieste which were discussed in the report of the Commission falls within the competence of the Governor and the Council of Government and the Popular Assembly of the Free Territory in accordance with the relevant Articles of the Permanent Statute of the Free Territory of Trieste. Until the coming into force of the Permanent Statute the solution of these questions falls within the competence of the Governor and the Provisional Council of Government in accordance with the relevant Articles of the Instrument for the Provisional Regime of the Free Territory of Trieste. In the solution of these questions the economic independence of the Free Territory should be provided for in accordance with the above mentioned provisions, particularly Paragraph 4 of Article 24 of the Permanent Statute.

(2) The Council of Foreign Ministers recommends that, as from the date of the establishment of the Provisional Council of Government of the Free Territory of Trieste and until a new customs regime is introduced by the authorities of the Free Territory of Trieste the present regime should be maintained and goods of Italian and Yugoslav origin should be imported into the Free Territory of Trieste without payment of customs duty, provided that reciprocal arrangements will be granted by these countries to the products originating in the Free Territory of Trieste; and that the Governor and the Provisional Council of Government should make every effort to institute the new customs regime within a period of three months.

(3) As the balance of payments may show a deficit in free foreign exchange over the period July–September, 1947, the Council of Foreign Ministers is of the opinion that in the event of the Security Council receiving from the Governor and the Provisional Council of Government a request for financial assistance from outside to cover the urgent needs of the first period, the Security Council should recommend that an amount up to $5,000,000 be made available to the Government of the Free Territory from the resources of the United Nations Organisation.

(4) The Council of Foreign Ministers decides to request the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as soon as the Governor of the Free Territory of Trieste has been appointed, to transmit to him for his information the report of the Trieste Commission of Inquiry, the observations on it of the Italian and Yugoslav Governments, and the text of this decision.

15. The Report under reference, circulated to the Council of Foreign Ministers as document CFM(47) (M)2, March 10, 1947, is not printed, but see footnote 28, p. 163. The Report of the Trieste Commission of Inquiry was considered by the Council of Foreign Ministers at its 38th Meeting, April 21, 1947. At that meeting, the Council decided to appoint special deputies to consider the Commission Report; see telegram 1489, Delsec 1454, April 21, from Moscow, p. 370. The Special Deputies prepared a draft decision for the Council, which the Council accepted after making some revisions during its 41st Meeting, April 23, 1947; see the editorial note, p. 378. The amended text is printed here. Copies of this decision were transmitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations by Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Vyshinsky under cover of a letter dated September 7, 1947, designated U.N. doc. S/577, October 9, 1947; for the text of Vyshinsky’s letter, see Department of State Bulletin, October 26, 1947, p. 824.
16. The comments of the Italian and Yugoslav Governments were circulated to the Council as documents CFM(47) (M)113, April 7, 1947, and CFM(47) (M)144, April 19, 1947, neither printed.