§ 25. Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest position on the negotiations for the conclusion of a Treaty on Chemical and Biological Warfare at Geneva.
§ Mr. GodberThere has been a welcome development in these negotiations. On 30th March the Soviet Government indicated their readiness to seek agreement on the basis which this country has been advocating since 1968. We hope there will now be rapid progress towards such agreement.
§ Mr. DalyellWhereas we can applaud the American decision to destroy stockpiles of biological weapons, do not events in China make it doubly urgent to get some agreement on chemical weapons?
§ Mr. GodberYes, certainly, and the fact that progress is being made on biological weapons makes us hope that it will be possible to advance to arrangements covering chemicals. There is no question of derogation in regard to chemicals. We felt that it was better to make progress on the biological side first, and that was the attitude of the Labour Government, with which we agree.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is a substantial step forward and is something for which he and his predecessors have been seeking for some time? Acceptance of the British technical position that the two sections of this important and difficult problem should be separated, at least for the first phase, augurs well for the future.
§ Mr. GodberI agree. It is a difficult problem. We are at present studying the Soviet proposals. I hope that it will now be possible to make progress.