§ 27. Mr. Warbeyasked the President of the Board of Trade what was the total value of British imports from and exports to Kuwait during the years 1958 to 1962, and the total value of shipments of engineering goods to that destination for the same five year period.
§ Mr. GreenThe hon. Member will find that details of United Kingdom trade with Kuwait are readily available from Account IV of the appropriate 226 December issues of the Trade and Navigation Accounts which are documents Returned to the Order of this House. Exports of engineering products in the five year period 1958–1962 totalled approximately £33 million.
§ Mr. WarbeyAs that is an average of only just over £6 million a year and as imports from Kuwait many times exceed our exports to Kuwait, does this not demonstrate conclusively that the Board of Trade is making a big mistake in suggesting that oil imports from the Middle East are necessary in order to improve our balance of payments with those countries?
§ Mr. GreenAll that the figures demonstrate is that there is a lot of oil in Kuwait but not very many Kuwaitis.