§ 2.34 p.m.
§ LORD KILLEARNMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can give this House an up-to-date progress report on the implementation of the terms regarding British claims agreed to in the exchange of Notes of August 7 (Treaty Series No. 56 (1962)).]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)My Lords, the United Arab Republic Government have opened a bank account in London, as agreed by them in the Exchange of Notes of August 7 (paragraph 10 of Note IA on page 8 of the White Paper), and have paid into this account the agreed sum of £357,500 for distribution to British subjects who have applied for transfers from Egypt of sums in excess of £E.1,000 and up to £E.5,000. Up to October 18 payments out of the £357,500 amounting to £204,474 had been approved by the United Arab Republic Government, the individual amounts to be paid having been furnished in lists notified to Her Majesty's Embassy at Cairo.
In addition, between August 7 and October 26 the equivalent of £67,240 had been received in the British Embassy account at Cairo in respect of transfers up to and including the first £E.1,000. (This transaction is referred to in paragraph 7 of Note IA printed on page 7 106 of the Exchange of Notes of August 7.) This amount also is available for distribution to British subjects outside Egypt who have applied for transfers, and the United Arab Republic authorities have at the time of payment into the Embassy account furnished the details required to enable the individual payments to be made by the Foreign Office.
The first of the regular meetings provided for in Article 6 of the Note to review progress in effecting transfers is to take place early this month.
§ LORD KILLEARNMy Lords, I should like to thank the noble Earl for his very informative and useful Answer. May we take it from what he has told us that the Government are satisfied with the rate of progress of this rather complicated arrangement with the Egyptian Government? That is my first point. My second point is a very small one, and perhaps a rather impertinent suggestion to make. It involves a question of procedure. When one gets a bundle of Notes like this (I do not know if any of your Lordships has seen it; there are twenty Notes in this collection) could not we be provided with an explanatory memorandum or something of that kind? This matter is most involved, as any of your Lordships will appreciate when you try to read the Notes. It needs a senior wrangler to understand them. I make this suggestion in all humility.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEIn reply to the first supplementary of my noble friend, I think that the Egyptian Government has fulfilled the undertakings under the recent exchange of Notes. That does not mean that we are necessarily satisfied with the expedition with which we can work out everybody's claim. That has always been one of the great difficulties about this matter. With regard to the second supplementary, I very much sympathise with my noble friend. I will consider what he has said. It is, I know, very difficult for ordinary people, and Ministers, to work out these matters quickly.
§ LORD KILLEARNI thank the noble Earl very much.