U.N. building and sign; Goldberg arriving and seated; cameramen; conference hall; French and Japanese delegates; Goldberg and Morozov together; Morozov seated.




Initials GEM/VS/BHH/EEH



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The legal sub-committee of the United Nations Committee on the peaceful uses of outer space is meeting in Geneva, and the United States and Soviet delegates clashed as soon as the talks started.

The American delegation is led by Mr. Arthur Goldberg, his country's chief delegate to the U.N. The Russians are led by Mr. Platon Morozov. Altogether, twenty-eight nations are represented at the meeting, which is expected to spend up to a month considering Soviet and American draft resolutions on space exploration.

At the opening session today (Tuesday) Mr. Morozov immediately attacked the U.S. He accused the American of trying to take all the credit for efforts made in the past to reach international agreement on the use made of outer space.

Later Mr. Goldberg presented his proposals, and said that the political problems of our planet were not entrenched anywhere else. He said it was not too much to hope that the space age would evolve in an atmosphere of peace, law and cooperation.

The drafts put forward by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., the main competitors in space, both contains plans for governing exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies, but the Russian draft extends to all outer space.