§ Lord BROCKWAYMy 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 what is their attitude towards the proposal by the OPEC nations meeting at Algiers for an international conference of the industrialised and developing nations to consider the stabilising of oil prices and world stability in relation to the supply of raw materials and international finance.
§ The PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE, FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (Lord Goronwy-Roberts)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government welcome the reference in the Declaration of the Algiers Summit on 4th to 6th March to co-operation between developed and developing countries. It has long been our view that these problems can only be resolved by closer international consultation. We hope that this process will get off to a good start at the preparatory conference proposed by the French Government for 7th April.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for that reply, may I ask him whether the suggestion at the Algiers Conference went a little further than that? Did it not also propose that. 880 there should be a discussion between the other producers of raw materials and the developed countries? And is it not tremendously important, if inflation is to be contained, that there should be some consultation regarding the stabilisation of all the raw materials which come from those countries.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I would not dissent from the conclusion to which the noble Lord comes in his supplementary. As to his premise, it is true that the intended agenda goes beyond oil. Nevertheless, the first meeting will be preparatory, in the sense that there will be discussions as to procedure and also agenda. I have no doubt that an effective compromise will be reached so that a useful effective agenda will be adopted.
§ Lord CARRINGTONMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that certainly on these Benches what he has said will be greatly welcomed? There has been far too little consultation between the producers and the developed countries. Would he not also agree that to widen the conference in the way that the noble Lord, Lord Brockway, and the Conference are advocating, really is to suggest that all the problems of the world, or very nearly all of them, can be solved at one moment? A very great deal of preparation for such a conference would be necessary before it takes place.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for what he said in the first part of the supplementary, and I endorse what he said in the second part: a very great deal of preparatory work would be necessary to make this kind of conference effective. We are ready to attend, with a view to its being a help towards other conferences and, in particular, to the work of the International Energy Agency.
§ Lord GLADWYNMy Lords, can we assume that there will be agreement between the nine Members of the European Community before the meeting in Paris on April 7th?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, we cannot assume that. We can only hope.
§ Baroness GAITSKELLMy Lords, while welcoming very much the Minister's 881 Answer, may I inform him that I have some slight reservation about this preparatory conference because at every conference that has taken place in the last few years, the developing countries have emphasised and stuck on denunciations of past exploitations; and, whatever they have been discussing, whether population, food or trade, there is always a harking back to the past and no understanding of the fact that in a democracy like ours we also have to sell their ideas? While we have a responsibility to inform our own people about the inequalities and injustices in the world—
§ Several Noble Lords: Question!
§ Baroness GAITSKELLI am asking a question, my Lords—we also have the problem of selling their ideas to our own people.
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, I hope very much that those concerned will read, ponder, study and learn the right lessons from what my noble friend has just said.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that while I rarely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, I am in agreement with his approach to this problem? While quite obviously one has first to discuss the question of oil prices, will Her Majesty's Government take this opportunity to prepare for a much wider conference about the cost of all raw materials from the developing countries, a matter which will deeply affect our cost of imports as well as inflation in this country?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, we are already doing that. There will be a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in September to deal with development and international economic matters over a very wide range, and we are taking a full part in the preparations for that.
§ Lord BALNIELMy Lords, while agreeing that a tripartite conference of this kind could be very helpful in enabling producers and consumers in the developing countries to plan ahead, may I ask the noble Lord whether he is aware that it is absolutely essential that the consumer countries should co-ordinate their views— for example, on the conservation of 882 energy or the development of alternative sources of energy—before the conference takes place? What progress is being made in this sphere?
§ Lord GORONWY-ROBERTSMy Lords, as for the co-ordination of policy in regard to oil and its products, the noble Lord will know that yesterday and today the IEA has been in conference, and is, I think, making some progress in these matters. As for commodity and other questions, a great deal of progress has been made as the result of the Kingston Conference and we look to the special session in New York in September to make further progress on raw materials and commodities generally.