HC Deb 14 November 1966 vol 736 cc37-8
The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)

With permission, Mr. Speaker, I would now like to make a short statement.

As the House knows from the communiqué at the end of my visit to Moscow in February, I invited the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Mr. A. N. Kosygin, to visit this country as the guest of Her Majesty's Government. Mr. Kosygin expressed his thanks for this invitation, which he accepted.

I am glad to be able to inform the House that it has now been agreed that Mr. Kosygin will arrive in Britain for an official visit on 6th February, 1967.

Mr. Heath

Is the Prime Minister aware that we on this side welcome the announcement which he has just made about the visit of Mr. Kosygin and the opportunities that this will provide for what we hope will be a fruitful exchange of views? May I express the hope that his programme will include not only London, but visits to other parts of the country?

The Prime Minister

Yes, Sir. The programme is being discussed. I think that we shall want to arrange the maximum amount of time for talks, but Mr. Kosygin, as the right hon. Gentleman knows, has a very deep technological interest in the kind of things that Britain can make—as I myself saw at the Trade Fair this year. On his previous visit to this country he spent most of his time touring the country looking at the great engineering centres, rather than staying in London.

Mr. Murray

Without wishing to press my right hon. Friend too much on the agenda for the meeting with Mr. Kosygin, may I ask him whether he will consider including in it Britain's relationship with the Common Market, and the future talks about it, with a view to getting a wider European grouping than that which is proposed by the Community in Europe?

The Prime Minister

My hon. Friend knows that I cannot outline the agenda at this stage, but on previous visits to: he Soviet Union I have discussed with the Soviet leaders not only the question of Britain's possible relationship with the Common Market, but the widening of trade contacts between groupings in the West and groupings in the East.

Sir A. V. Harvey

Will the Prime Minister again take up the question of Gerald Brooke's release and point out that any gesture that the Russians could make would go a great way towards improving relations between both countries?

The Prime Minister

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. I pressed this very strongly upon Mr. Kosygin in February and on my visit in July. As the House knows, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will be visiting Moscow before Mr. Kosygin's visit to this country, and, as he said last week, no doubt this matter will be raised then.

Mr. Frank Allaun

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend's announcement, but can he say whether it is reasonable to assume that the questions of non-proliferation and Vietnam will receive high priority in these talks?

The Prime Minister

On the experience of my two previous talks with Mr. Kosygin this year, I can certainly tell my hon. Friend that no subjects are likely to loom larger in the discussions than those two.

Mr. Hooson

I, also, welcome the news which the Prime Minister has just announced, but will he consider introducing into the talks the suggestion that there may be talks between representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries and N.A.T.O. Powers with a view to seeing whether the climate is not ripe for achieving some kind of détente?

The Prime Minister

This question has been discussed in previous meetings of this kind but it raises many difficulties. Although it is a point of view that the Soviet Government have put forward from time to time, in the last talks in which I have been involved there was more interest in bilateral talks between individual members of the Warsaw Pact and N.A.T.O., and in preparation for that both the Warsaw Pact countries and the N.A.T.O. countries have been working together on a declaration that might facilitate bilateral arrangements and agreements of that kind.