§ 36. Mr. Goodhartasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs when he hopes to complete the renegotiation of United Kingdom defence agreements with the Trucial States in the Persian Gulf.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsWe have offered to replace our treaties of protection by treaties of friendship. It will be some time before discussion can be completed because the States are considering the form of their future association among themselves.
§ Mr. GoodhartWhat will be the meaning of this treaty of friendship? Do we intend to maintain a special relationship with the Trucial States after we have implemented our unilateral decision to withdraw our forces from the Persian Gulf?
§ Mr. RobertsI would hope and expect that our relationship with this area and with individual States will, far from diminishing, increase. There is already evidence that the States concerned would warmly welcome treaties of friendship leading in future to an amplification of our social, commercial and cultural relations with them.