UN General Assembly
1961

171. The Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, speaking here the other day [1017th meeting] , referred to the communiqué of the Commonwealth Conference. I wish he had not, because it is my duty to say that while we have subscribed to that communiqué, my Prime Minister has made it clear beyond any doubt that my country stands by the twelve-Power draft resolution that was submitted to the First Committee in I960 and is still under discussion. We are glad to think that the joint statement of agreed principles for disarmament negotiations issued by the United States and the USSR in very large measure adopts the substance of the phraseology of the draft resolution. But there are some very significant omissions and significant additions to which I shall briefly refer today. My delegation will no doubt take this up in the First Committee if it comes there for discussion and if the discussions are not taking place among the great Powers outside that context. We have felt that the only way to get anything worth while done in the United Nations on One world issue or another is for the United States and the Soviet Union to come to agreement on it. We have found this to be the true, factual position and from 1952 onwards we have made the appeal each year that unless the United States and the Soviet Union come to an agreement, we are not likely to move forward. We still stand unreservedly by that position.