§ 1. Mr. Wilkinsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the current progress of the reform of the international monetary system.
§ The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Anthony Barber)The deputies of the Committee of 20 are meeting this week in Washington, and I hope very much that they will make real progress towards international agreement on the reform of the monetary system.
§ Mr. WilkinsonCan my right hon. Friend assure us that he will press his colleagues in the Group of Twenty to come to some conclusive arrangement at their meeting this week?
§ Mr. BarberIt is likely that at this week's meeting of the deputies all aspects of reform will be covered. In answer to the wish of my hon. Friend that we should make real progress, I would say that when one considers the events that led to President Nixon's announcement on 15th August last year and all that has followed, the need for reform is obvious. At the last meeting of the IMF in 212 Washington in September I did not meet one Finance Minister who took a different view. The encouraging thing is that by and large there is now a great deal of common ground.