Fourth, and finally, the U.S. delegation met with the plaintiffs' and defense attorneys yesterday morning. We feel that we reached a better understanding of their respective positions. We hope to continue to make progress on legal closure at our next legal Working Group meeting, set for May 30 in Washington. It will be important to involve all participants in this process, including attorneys for victims in U.S. court cases in the United States, to help achieve the legal peace that Austria and Austrian companies desire. While we are pleased with Austrian commitments and progress on forced and slave labor, there are other issues that need to be addressed.
Art restitution needs continued invigoration.
Austrian insurance companies need to join the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. The work of the Austrian Historians Commission should continue and it should issue interim reports. Property restitution is a matter of particular priority for the United States. There are potential gaps in Austria's restitution efforts in the 1950s and 1960s, and there may have been problems with implementation of earlier Austrian restitution laws. We agree with Austria and with the central and east European countries represented at this historic conference that the slave and forced labor initiative should be done on an urgent basis, given the age and failing health of the surviving workers.