The Consultative Council consisting of the five foreign ministers held its sixth session on June 17 and 18, 1949. Although discussion was not publicized and no decision was announced, a communiqué was issued by the Council giving the principal matters discussed by the ministers. An important item on the agenda concerned aspects of the German problem in collaboration with “political questions of mutual interest”. The Council examined the progress accomplished in plans for the common defense of the five countries, in particular the report of the last session of the defense ministers' conference, and considered a report of the finance and economic committee on the application of the decisions reached at the fifth session of the Council. The reports of the Secretary-General on a year of cooperation in social and cultural matters between the five countries were approved and directions given for further work in these fields.