Catalogue description Council of Foreign Ministers: Minutes and Papers

The Council of Foreign Ministers was established by the Potsdam Agreement reached by the three Heads of Government of the UK, United States and USSR at the Berlin Conference of 17 July-2 August 1945. That Agreement provided for a Council of Foreign Ministers to continue the necessary preparatory work for the peace settlements following the conclusion of the war in Europe, and to attend to such other matters as might from time to time be referred to the Council by agreement between the member governments.

Membership consisted of the foreign ministers of the UK, US, USSR, France and China: China, although having accepted an invitation to join the Council, did not in fact participate at the meetings which were essentially concerned with European affairs.

Sessions of the Council were held in London (September-October 1945), Paris (April-May and June 1946), New York (November-December 1946), Moscow (March-April 1947), London (November-December 1947) and Paris (September 1948 and May-June 1949). Deputies of the foreign ministers met frequently between sessions of the Council. Two ad hoc commissions were set up by the Council in 1947/1948, namely the Austrian Treaty Commission and the Commission of Investigation into Former Italian Colonies.

Although the Council, as such, did not meet after 1949 and, apparently, was never formally terminated, the series includes records of later tripartite meetings of the UK, US and France, and of the several international conferences held in 1954 and 1955.