Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the Cabinet
(Cab. 5/1)

Commercial Relations with Russia

The Minister for External Affairs reported that in the Commercial Modus Vivendi which was being negotiated between the British Government and the U.S.S.R. (Russia) provision was made in Article 4 for the extension of the agreement to any member of the British Commonwealth, by means of an exchange of notes between the Government of the U.S.S.R. and the member of the Commonwealth concerned.

It was agreed that the inclusion of the provision in question in its present form was objectionable and should be opposed, and that the British Government should be requested to inform the Soviet Ambassador in London that the Saorstát is prepared to establish a most favoured Nation treatment Modus Vivendi, pending the conclusion of a Commercial Treaty between the Saorstát and the U.S.S.R.