North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Hansard, 15 January 1980)

§ 12. Mr. Michael Brown
asked the Secretary of State for Defence when he intends to meet his colleagues from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

§ Mr. Pym
On present plans I expect to meet NATO Defence Ministers at the Eurogroup and Defence Planning Committee meetings in May.

§ Mr. Brown
In view of the fact that the flashpoints for potential aggression now occur beyond NATO's frontier, in places such as Afghanistan, does my right hon. Friend accept the need for him and his colleagues in NATO to discuss the limitations which exist because NATO's boundaries end at the equator? Will he consider what possible discussions might take place to take this fact into account?

§ Mr. Pym
It is my view that the defence of freedom and democracy knows no boundaries. Whereas, of course, it is appropriate for alliances to have certain boundaries for structural and administrative purposes, the threat that exists is worldwide. It is the policy of the Government to give the most active encouragement to all our NATO allies to perceive the threat in worldwide terms. As I have already said in answer to previous questions, we are fulfilling that policy as best we can at the present time.

§ Mrs. Dunwoody
The right hon. Gentleman was suggesting in his earlier answer that he accepted without criticism the policy of common arms procurement with all his European colleagues. If that is so, what effect will that have on industries within Great Britain?

§ Mr. Pym
I was giving support and encouragement to the interoperability of weapon systems within the Alliance and to the need for collaboration between member countries of the Alliance over the procurement of weapons. With inflation at its present level, the cost of replacing systems goes up and up and there is an economic incentive to cause the Alliance to look more carefully at collaboration. That is what we are doing.