Southeast Asian Defense Treaty Organization

Extract

The third annual meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) was held in Canberra, Australia March 11–13, 1957, under the chairmanship of R. G. Casey, Minister for External Affairs of Australia. The meeting was attended by representatives of Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and United States. In the communiqué issued at the close of the session, the Council stated that its plans to consolidate and enhance its previous progress provided for 1) maintenance of the defensive capacity of the treaty members to deal effectively with armed aggression, 2) extension of the program to detect, appraise, expose and combat subversion directed from without, and 3) development of the economic resources of the treaty members, particularly the Asian member states, by measures inside and outside SEATO.