1. We expressed the view in our telegram No. 34 of March 13 that nothing new or important came out of the last Ministerial Council meetings.

2. The Council accepted the invitation for the representation of O.E.E.C. on the Washington International Materials Conference and passed a number of Decisions and Recommendations (texts attached)?. It postponed consideration of the German crisis (pending further study), of the liberalization of trade (on the basis of a com­mon list on which agreement has not yet been reached) and of the relationship between O.E.E.C. and the Council of Europe (pending further consideration by Member governments).

3. The deepening problems arising out of raw material shortages, inflation and controls continue to be the main concern of the Organization: they took up most of the time of the meeting. These problems have again been wrapped up in Decisions and Recommendations in which O.E.E.C. Members restate collectively the dan­gers, the principles and the objectives which have formed the basis of similar "action" since last fall. It is difficult to see what concrete results may emerge but it is fair to say that the reputation of the Organization has not been enhanced as a result of the Ministerial meeting.

4. This may be an overly negative appraisal of the meeting. The problems it wres­tled with are world-wide and beyond the control of the Organization. They extend to fields in which a multilateral approach has, for practical reasons, rather strict limitations, and in which results must depend, in the last analysis, on measures actually applied by individual countries. It may be that little is lost by restating the broad objectives and plans although the danger exists that Member countries may hide behind these broad restatements in a sense of "action" which remains so far unproductive.¹

LOUIS COUILLARD for
Head of Mission

¹ Note marginale :/Marginal note: USSEA: I think you will be interested in this rather frustrated letter from Couillard. A.F.W.P[lumptre] April 2/50.