§ 13. Mr. Sproatasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the latest progress of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe latest news from Geneva is encouraging, and I hope that further progress will be made on the declaration of principles and in basket III before the Christmas break in the work of the conference.
§ Mr. SproatI welcome the progress that has been made, in particular the agreement of the Soviet authorities at last to the reunification of families, but will the Minister see to it that the allies remain absolutely firm in demanding more progress on the military confidence-building measures, and in particular on the giving of advance notice of troop manoeuvres, since this is about the only security element in what is at least partly a security conference?
§ Mr. HattersleyThe hon. Gentleman is quite right; the major security element in the conference now is the confidence-building aspect of it, and the notification of manoeuvres is an essential part of that. The British Government, as part of the Western co-ordinated attitude on these matters, will continue to press for satisfactory answers in that area.