§ 26. Mr. Dykesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to seek to pay an official visit to France in the near future for discussions with the French Minister of Finance.
§ Mr. BarberM. Giscard d'Estaing came to London for talks with me on 24th November. He invited me to make a return visit, but no date has yet been fixed.
§ Mr. DykesI am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. I hope that his return visit will be made as soon as possible, bearing in mind that, by any yardstick, the French economy has made astonishing progress since the crisis of 1968, not least with a similar rate of price and wage inflation to our own but with a substantially faster rate of growth. I am sure that there are lessons for us in that example.
§ Mr. BarberWhen M. d'Estaing came here in November, one of the things we discussed was the economic situation in our two countries. I think that it was to our mutual benefit and advantage to do so.