At the 446th meeting of the Council of Western European Union (WEU), held at ministerial level on 11 September 1972 in Rome, the delegations discuss East–West relations, and particularly bilateral contacts with the countries of Eastern Europe. The French Foreign Minister, Maurice Schumann, and the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, particularly raise the question of Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions in Central Europe (MBFR), the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and the Soviet attitude to Vietnam and the Middle East. On the matter of Germany, Sir Alec Douglas-Home states that the United States, France and the United Kingdom have agreed to reaffirm their rights and responsibilities for the country as a whole. He also affirms that the Western Allies will continue to defend their position in the face of efforts from the Eastern bloc to enhance the status of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in international organisations.