The second meeting of the Council of the Southeast Asian Defense Treaty Organization (SEATO) was held in Karachi, Pakistan from March 6 through 8, 1956, under the chairmanship of Hamidul Haq Chowdhury, Foreign Minister of Pakistan. The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the eight member states: Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and United States. In the communique issued at the close of the session, the Council maintained that SEATO had made a notable contribution to the maintenance of peace in southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific. Council members affirmed that their countries would never commit aggression and that their cooperation under SEATO was directed toward mutual defense and the maintenance of peace. In regard to political developments in southeast Asia, the Council noted with satisfaction reports of the steps being taken toward establishing full self-government and independence for Malaya within the United Kingdom, and the further progress in the development of free political institutions in the region, particularly in regard to Cambodia, Laos and the Republic of Vietnam which, although not members of SEATO, were under its protection.