Press Release (1960)005 19 May 1960

Communiqué The Permanent Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization met in Paris on 19th May, 1960, and heard statements from the Foreign Ministers of France, the United Kingdom and the United States on the events which prevented the holding of the Summit Conference. In the communiqué published at the end of its meeting in Istanbul, the Atlantic Council welcomed the prospects of negotiations with the Soviet Union and expressed the hope that these negotiations would lead to an improvement in international relations. It regrets that Mr. Khrushchev's position has made negotiations in Paris impossible. Reaffirming the complete solidarity of the countries of the Alliance, it fully approves the statement of the three heads of state of government in which they "remain unshaken in their conviction that all outstanding international questions should be settled not by the use or threat of force but by peaceful means through negotiation", and "remain ready to take part in such negotiations at any suitable time in the future".