Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

The Council of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) held a special informal meeting in Washington, D. C., on September 28, 1959. According to the press, five of the pact's members, Australia, France, Pakistan, Thailand, and the United States, were represented by their foreign ministers, several of whom were in the United States for the opening of the fourteenth session of the UN General Assembly, while the Philippines and the United Kingdom were represented by their ambassadors to Washington. The proceedings were, as usual, closed to the public. At the conclusion of die meeting, the Council issued a communiqué noting, inter alia, that there had been no formal agenda and views had been exchanged on a wide variety of topics, including the uneasy military situation in Laos, a country located within the region of direct interest to SEATO and yet not a member of the organization, inasmuch as it was forbidden by the Geneva treaty of 1954 to join any military alliance. With regard to Laos, the communiqué asserted that the SEATO member nations were united in their determination to abide by their treaty obligations and would continue to follow closely any developments threatening the peace and stability of the treaty area.