§ 17. Mr. Stonehouseasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will instruct the British delegate to the Economic and Social Council at its forthcoming meeting in Geneva to support the setting up of an International Oil Convention under the United Nations to supervise the operations of international oil companies in the production, transportation and marketing of oil and oil products.
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreNo, Sir. There is no item on the agenda of the Economic and Social Council which would properly permit discussion of such a Convention.
§ Mr. StonehouseWould not the Minister agree that it is hardly in the best interests of this country or of the oil consumers that we should depend for oil supplies upon international oil cartels over which there is no degree of public control and among whom there is no discernible competition? Would not the right hon. Gentleman at least ask his right hon. and learned Friend to have the proposal of the International Co-operative Alliance in connection with this subject placed on the agenda in Geneva?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreWe have this consideration in mind, but I do not think it would be a very suitable subject for discussion at the Economic and Social Council. There is, I am afraid, no reason whatever to suppose that oil-producing countries would surrender the control of their main raw material to the United Nations.