Q3. Mr. Batesasked the Prime Minister if the group of Commonwealth experts examining the proposals for a general agreement on commodities have yet reported.
§ The Prime MinisterThe group of Commonwealth experts have not yet reported. They are meeting for the first time today. They are expected to submit an interim report in time for a meeting of Commonwealth Ministers in August.
Mr. BatesIs my right hon. Friend aware that there is a widespread welcome for the initiative in the communiqué to transfer real resources from the developed to the developing countries by international co-operation in trade and in primary commodities? Since, despite our present difficulties, we have remained one of the richest nations in the world, will he be assured that Labour Members will give widespread support for this type of programme? With which other international groups is he pursuing such initiatives on commodities?
§ The Prime MinisterI am grateful to my hon. Friend. As he knows, this initiative was warmly welcomed by the Commonwealth and has been referred to the study group to which I referred in my main answer. It has also been warmly welcomed by the United States, and particularly by the United States Secretary of State. The French and other Governments have given it a fair wind and it has been warmly received by the OECD. This is an important initiative—indeed, one of the most important for a very long time—in terms of world trade and the relations between developed and developing countries. I hope that before long there will be a chance to debate the matter in the House. I hope that we shall get a similarly warm reception from the Opposition in favour of a scheme which has been so widely adopted and supported throughout the world.
§ Mr. Ian LloydIs not the new economic international order, with its galaxy of commodity agreements to which the Prime Miinster committed this country in Jamaica, far more far-reaching in its economic effects on the United Kingdom than anything the Commonwealth is likely to do? How soon will the House have the chance to discuss this matter in detail?
§ The Prime MinisterThe hon. Gentleman is right to say that the matter is of fundamental importance. It is important to us as consumers of imported commodities because we have not gained any more than have the primary countries from boom and bust in commodity affairs. This is a very important matter for this country, but I hope the hon. Gentleman will recognise that this initiative has been warmly supported by advanced as well as by developing countries.