§ 2.44 p.m.
§ 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 whether they will make a statement on decisions reached at Geneva regarding a Common Fund to stabilise the world's main commodities, including foodstuffs and raw materials.
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I am pleased to say that, although a number of important issues remain to be resolved, progress was achieved in the recent Geneva negotiations towards consensus on the structure of the Fund. In the light of this, it was agreed that the conference should be reconvened before the 5th Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at Manila in May 1979. At the end of the session in Geneva the chairman of the conference, Mr. Walker of Jamaica, circulated his own conclusions on the outcome of the discussions, and I am placing a copy of these in the Library of the House. I am also placing in the Library of the House a copy of proposals put forward in the course of the conference by the developed countries of Group B, and of a statement made on behalf of these countries at the end of the session.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for that very full reply, may I ask her whether it is not very important that a decision should be reached on this matter before UNCTAD 4 meets during the coming year? Further, since the British attitude was constructively conciliatory and there was a quite extraordinary change in the attitude of Japan, why was agreement not reached? Was it because of the attitude of the United States of America and of Western Germany? What was the reason for this unexpected breakdown?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I am not sure that it was completely unexpected. We have to reach a very complicated decision. The British delegation worked extremely hard throughout that conference for a positive outcome from it, and we all hope that the next round of negotiations, which will be held very early next year, will provide the framework for drafting the articles of agreement for the Fund. We shall be preparing for it on this basis with our partners. Both the developed and the developing countries, I am sure, want to resolve the outstanding problems before the next meeting, the meeting of UNCTAD 5, and I believe there has now been sufficient movement on all sides for this to be possible in the next round of negotiations.
§ Lord SOAMESMy Lords, could the noble Baroness confirm that Her Majesty's Government's attitude towards these negotiations (which, if I understand it aright, are being conducted by the Community, and not by Her Majesty's Government) and the Community attitude in this is not that there should be an interference with the market prices of commodities but that, on the other hand, it should be an extension, as it were, of the Lomé Agreement which exists between African countries and the Community; that is, between the Third World, the developing countries as a whole—those who need an agreement of this character— and the rich countries, both the new rich and the old rich?
§ Baroness STEDMANYes, my Lords; the noble Lord is quite right. We believe that arrangements for the stabilisation of the developing countries' export earnings through the IMF compensatory finance facility and the Lomé Stabex Scheme are necessary complements to stabilising the commodity prices, as distinct from the earnings, through commodity agreements and the Common Fund.
§ Lord BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I ask the Minister, are not the two outstanding issues the contribution which Governments should make to the Common Fund and the contribution which should be made to what is termed "the second window", which is for research and industrial development in the developing countries? Is it not a matter of reaching 553 a compromise between two figures on both those subjects, and may that not be realised at the February meeting?
§ Baroness STEDMANYes, my Lords; I think my noble friend is right on that. There are problems on the figures that should be involved and the amount of money that should be involved, and there are still outstanding problems on the question of the second window, as to whether there should be voluntary contributions or how this should work. These are things which we hope to get settled in the next round of negotiations early in the New Year.