On 6 November 1962, the Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) circulates the final reply by the WEU Council to Assembly Recommendation 78 on defence outside the NATO area. The Council recognises the soundness of the view that the main object of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the preservation of a way of life and that it cannot therefore be limited to the defence of a geographical area. In the course of their political consultations, the WEU Member States, as members of NATO, closely follow and discuss all international developments wherever they occur.