§ 17. Mr. Rathboneasked the Secretary of State for Trade what percentage of imports from the Soviet Union is carried in Russian ships and British ships, respectively.
§ 12. Mr. Giles Shawasked the Secretary of State for Trade what percentage of exports to the Soviet Union is carried in Russian ships and British ships, respectively.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisThe percentage of the United Kingdom's seaborne exports to the Soviet Union by value, carried in Russian ships in 1975, was 78 per cent., and in British ships 18 per cent. The corresponding figures for the United Kingdom's seaborne imports from the Soviet Union by value in 1975 were 74 per cent. and 10 per cent. respectively.
§ Mr. RathboneIs the Minister aware that the figures he has given are far from reassuring? Is he sure that hidden subsidies are not being given by the Russian Government to their own merchant fleet so as to make that fleet much more unfairly competitive than it might otherwise be? Is he sure that the line of credit extended to the Russian Government is not making that Government capable of extending the subsidy to the Russian fleet?
§ Mr. DavisI do not accept that the figures I have given are meant to be reassuring. They are not. They are a cause for concern. This is a matter we propose to discuss with the Soviet authorities. Indeed, these figures result from a fairly long-standing practice in regard to these arrangements—arrangements which applied when the Conservatives were in office.
The topic of hidden subsidies involves the whole question of assessing the problems confronting us in regard to the Eastern European shipping bloc. These matters require the most careful attention and analysis, and require not simply a bilateral approach but, as far as possible, a joint approach by Western shipping interests. It is not an easy problem to resolve.