§ 3.44 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD DRUMALBYN)My Lords, with your Lordships' permission, I should like to read the text of a Statement which is being made at about this time in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development and President of the Board of Trade:
"The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which opened in Geneva on March 23, ended suc- 1134 cessfully earlier to-day. The recommendations adopted by the Conference will be presented to the General Assembly of the United Nations at its 19th Session in the Autumn.
"The recommendations adopted by the Conference include proposals for diversifying and expanding the exports of manufactures from developing countries, on access to markets for primary products, on commodity policy and proposals concerning aid for development.
"Among the latter is an important recommendation which Her Majesty's Government initiated, inviting the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to study the feasibility of a new scheme for multilateral aid, and, if appropriate, to work out such a scheme. This would be administered under the International Development Association. It would be designed to help developing countries whose development programmes were threatened by adverse trends in their export proceeds of a nature or duration which could not be adequately dealt with by short-term balance of payments support.
"I"—
that is, my right honourable friend—
"was also able to inform the Conference of four additional measures in the field of multilateral aid. These are:
First, at a conference to be held next Autumn we shall announce an increase in our contribution to the Special Fund and the expanded programme of technical assistance for 1965.
Second, together with other Western countries we are willing to support an increase in the United Nations budget which will make possible an expansion of the activities of the United Nations Secretariat in the field of industrial development.
Third, we are willing to provide capital assistance to the African Development Bank at the appropriate time.
Fourth, we are also willing to examine sympathetically the possibility of assisting other regional 1135 development banks including the Inter-American Development Bank.
"Another important recommendation adopted concerns the future institutional arrangements for dealing with matters considered by the Conference. It recommends that the Conference should be established as an organ of the General Assembly of the United Nations, meeting at intervals of not less than three years, and that when the Conference is not in session its functions should be exercised by a trade and development board composed of 55 members representing the different groups of States participating in the Conference.
"The Conference and Board will function over broadly the same area as the Conference which has just ended; they will have power to make recommendations, but these will not be mandatory. I believe the proposed new institutions can do constructive work in many fields which are not adequately covered by existing international bodies.
"I am glad to say that, despite some last-minute difficulties, broad agreement was reached over this wide range of issues. Perhaps the most encouraging feature was that it proved possible to negotiate compromises which in general avoided resolutions being passed which stood no chance of being implemented and which would have served only to emphasise differences of interest and approach between the richer and poorer nations.
"This has been the largest and most important Conference ever held on international economic relations. Its outcome will influence the course of world affairs, political as well as economic, for a long time to come. Its failure would not only have been a set-back to the expansion of world trade; it would have been a severe disappointment to the hopes and aspirations of the developing countries. Its success can contribute to the creation of a greater prosperity in which all can share".
§ EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, we are much obliged to the Minister for giving us this statement. There can be no doubt about 1136 the importance of the Conference which has been in session, and there is no doubt a good deal of relief in this country because, although at one point it looked like breaking down, it has not in fact broken down but, I gather from the Statement, has come to certain conclusions. The Statement today, of course, summarises some of these, but we have not got the official report of the Conference itself. That will have to be examined in fairly close detail when we get it.
It is important for us to have another look at the four points which the Government have in mind with regard to the statements to be made in the autumn. But it would probably be helpful if we knew in advance that the increased contribution which Her Majesty's Government are prepared to offer in the autumn was likely to be supported. We talk about the other nations of Western Europe, but will they include France will they include Germany and the like? No doubt we shall have to wait for further information about this. We are hoping to have a debate next Wednesday week on the matter covered by this particular Conference and the statement today, but perhaps the Minister could get in touch with us to see whether it is possible for us to have certain further details in the meantime?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Earl for what he has said. I shall, of course, do my best to see what further information can be made available to the House before the debate next Wednesday week. Noble Lords will realise that my right honourable friend returned from Geneva only this afternoon, so that it has not been possible for me to get much more information than I have been able to give to the House. But in these circumstances, and as we are to debate this matter on Wednesday week, perhaps noble Lords will be prepared to leave the matter there for the time being.
§ LORD HENDERSONMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord whether in the next day or two there will be an official communiqué from the Conference itself, giving the results of the Conference? I take it that what we have just had is a personal statement by the Minister on the work—it just summarises. But surely there will be in the next day or two an 1137 official communiqué covering the results of the Conference. That is really what we should like to have before next Wednesday week.
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I am sure that the resolutions of the Conference, which I understand were carried through one by one yesterday, will be available by then. But I am afraid that I am not in a position to inform your Lordships exactly what other information will be available.
§ LORD HOBSONMy Lords, while welcoming the statement generally, I should like to ask whether the noble Lord can give an assurance that the terms of this agreement will not apply to those underdeveloped nations which have not paid their subscriptions to the United Nations?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, if they were represented at the Conference, and took part in the Conference, no doubt they will be represented equally in the permanent body which is to be set up and which is to have the 55 members. But I do not think that the noble Lord will expect me to say more than that on this subject.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord just three questions, because I think the answers might be helpful to us in the debate which we are going to have next week? The first arises out of reports in the Press that there was agreement between the developed nations about giving 1 per cent. of their gross national product per annum in money for overseas aid. My first question is: was such an agreement reached? The second question— and it arises from a question put by my noble friend Lord Alexander of Hillsborough—is whether the other Western countries, including the United States of America, have agreed to associate themselves with the scheme for compensatory finance through the International Development Association, which appears to be the most important of all these recommendations. My third question is whether the proposals for increases in multilateral aid, to which Her Majesty's Government have agreed, will mean an increase in the total amount of overseas aid which we intend to give; or whether there will be a reduction in the overseas 1138 aid to which we are already committed in other directions.
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, if I might answer the last question first, my understanding is that what is intended is that there should be an increase in aid. On the other two subjects, with your Lordships' permission I think it would be wiser to wait until we see the actual text of the resolutions. I should not like to mislead your Lordships on this subject.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for the Statement, and while welcoming the recommendations that have been made, may I ask him whether he could obtain information on two other points, in addition to the many important points that have already been raised to-day, before the debate on June 24? The first is: are the Western countries referred to in the Statement prepared to waive import restrictions, tariffs and other barriers on trade, so that these other countries may export their products to the richer parts of the world? Secondly, will the provisions under this agreement comprehend the necessity for rural development especially the expansion of small farmers' operations in these territories?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, the first question is a very general question. Your Lordships will understand that different countries have different approaches and different reservations to the various recommendations for the way in which access for primary products should be assured and commodity agreements should be made, so it would be quite impossible to give a general reply to that question. The second question is rather more specialised and, with respect, I would suggest that this is the kind of point that would come out more easily in the debate.
§ LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETHMy Lords, would the noble Lord be good enough to explain the situation in respect of some matters which have been raised by a national newspaper to-day? For example, will Egypt, which has declared its intention to push us out of the Middle East and to destroy Israel, and the country that is in trouble with Malaysia—along with whom we are in battle—be treated as well as members of the British 1139 Commonwealth which are developing, or will there be a distinction in these circumstances? Are the British Commonwealth countries, including the developing countries of the British Commonwealth, to be treated not less advantageously than the countries which I have indicated?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, I think I should say that the Statement I gave does not mention preferences, since all that could be agreed upon at the Conference was to study this matter further.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, is it not the case that unless the study takes into account the fact that these people have not only to produce goods but to sell them in the rich markets of the world, the study will be quite valueless?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNMy Lords, this, of course, was one of the main factors that was at the basis of all the discussions in the Conference. Again, I think that this is the kind of matter which could not be dealt with quickly in question and answer.
§ LORD HOBSONMy Lords, does the noble Lord's reply to my noble friend Lord Morrison of Lambeth mean that the question that the agreement should include Egypt or Indonesia is still a matter for further consideration, or have we agreed to treat them as, say, friendly members?
§ LORD DRUMALBYNNo, my Lords. What I tried to convey in my answer was that agreement has not been reached at all on this matter so far. The only agreement is to study the matter further.