§ 14. Mr. Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade details of the types of goods involved in the £2,400,000 imports and £1,500,000 exports between East Germany and this country during last year; and to what extent he proposes to extend this trade and balance the account between imports and exports.
§ Sir D. EcclesI will, with permission, circulate the Answer to the first part of the Question in the OFFICIAL REPORT. As regards the latter part, imports into East Germany are strictly controlled by the Communist authorities, and I doubt whether there is scope materially to extend our trade there.
§ Mr. LewisThat reply is a little more encouraging than the one we had last week. Can the right hon. Gentleman give an assurance that it is not the policy of the Government to use political objections to prevent trade with any of these countries and that, provided normal commercial terms are agreed to, he will 1021 extend trade with any country—of course, bearing in mind strategic considerations?
§ Sir D. EcclesSubject to the last words of the hon. Member's question, Yes.
§ Mr. BeswickIs the President aware that one reason why there is a restriction upon the entry of goods from this country into Eastern Germany is that ours is one of the few countries which has no financial agreement with the
| TRADE WITH EAST GERMANY IN 1956 | |||
| £ | £ | ||
| Imports | 2,405,952 | Exports and re-exports | 1,537,054 |
| including | including | ||
| Chemicals | 1,156,592 | Fish and fish preparations | 119,862 |
| Machinery | 311,020 | Miscellaneous animal and crude materials | 150,574 |
| Petroleum and petroleum products | 214,787 | Nonferrous metals | 102,306 |
| Crude fertilisers and crude minerals excluding fuel | 312,140 | Machinery | 273,087 |
| Various manufactures | 437,054 | Various manufactures | 234,216 |
| Re-exports | 546,903 |