HC Deb 18 May 1965 vol 712 cc1204-5
Q3. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Prime Minister to what extent it is his policy to encourage Ministers to travel abroad on trade promotion missions.

Q7. Mr. Gower

asked the Prime Minister how many official overseas visits by Ministers during the present session of Parliament have been connected primarily with promotion of overseas trade.

The Prime Minister

Ministers have made 120 official visits abroad in the present Session of Parliament; it is not possible to say how many of these visits have been primarily concerned with trade promotion because all Ministers are encouraged to discuss trade matters when they travel overseas.

Mrs. Short

Is my right hon. Friend aware that we fully support this attitude and would encourage Ministers to go abroad and look for new markets? When they are going abroad, will they bear in mind that there is another part of Europe as well as the Common Market and that the countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union are very fruitful markets for consumer goods and heavy engineering goods?

The Prime Minister

I think that perhaps few Members have been more concerned with Eastern Europe for the past 15 or 16 years than I have, and I remind my hon. Friend that the very first Ministerial visit overseas by a member of this Government was paid by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade to Moscow and Peking.

Mr. Gower

Would not the right hon. Gentleman agree that, while Ministerial contributions to the promotion of trade can be important, the best way to get increased trade is to give the utmost encouragement to manufacturers and exporters instead of inflicting them with punitive and penal taxation?

The Prime Minister

The hon. Gentleman will be aware that successive Governments have found very great difficulty in finding a really watertight export incentive scheme which does not fall foul of international obligations. His own Government tried hard to find one but failed. We are trying hard to find one and we hope to succeed. I do not underrate the difficulties of providing a scheme which will be really effective and will be consistent with the G.A.T.T.