Joint Statement Following Second Meeting With President Gronchi of Italy.

THE PRESIDENT of the United States and the President of the Italian Republic met again today to complete their discussion of problems of mutual interest. They reaffirmed their intention to direct their action toward the preservation of peace, freedom and democracy. They reaffirmed that, while all possible efforts will continue to be made to achieve a reduction of armaments, the present situation does not allow any relaxation of the Western defense efforts. Concurrently, the President of the United States and the President of the Italian Republic agreed on the necessity of further deepening and extending the solidarity among the members of the North Atlantic Community through increased cooperation among them in all fields.

The two recognized that to the extent that it is possible to improve the Western world economy and to facilitate the development of the less advanced economies within it, the Atlantic Community and indeed the entire free world will benefit. In particular, as far as Italy is concerned, they agreed that Italy no longer needs grant economic aid. The area that President Eisenhower and President Gronchi agreed should be increasingly explored within the framework of established Western economic cooperation, is the possibility that, in addition to her own efforts, Italy could meet some of her problems by the extension of sound public and private, long-term foreign investments. The problem facing Italy, it was agreed, is the improvement of the conditions which are necessary to her industrial development, particularly in the south, and further to attract private, national and foreign investments.