§ 2.38 p.m.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will call a special Commonwealth Conference to examine economic co-operation and related matters.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Belstead)No, my Lords. Such matters are under constant review in Commonwealth fora; most notably the annual meetings of Commonwealth Finance Ministers and the biennial meetings of Commonwealth Heads of Government.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that reply, and I can understand a part of it; but this is an ongoing business with the British Commonwealth of nations of which I am a passionate supporter. Is the noble Lord aware that the present world crisis to which we are moving—the industrial crisis and related matters—might call for something special to be done within the British Commonwealth which could be of benefit to the Commonwealth and possibly the rest of the world?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting the Commonwealth Secretary-General was commissioned to convene a group of experts who produced a very useful report: The North-South Dialogue: Making it Work. 2 That is one example of the way in which the Common-wealth tries to follow the road recommended by the noble Lord.
§ Lord Cledwyn of PenrhosMy Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the shortage of grain now predicted is likely to cause even greater hardship in many parts of the world including the third world? Does he not agree that there is something radically wrong with our civilisation when efficient farmers are encouraged to go out of production and about 500 million people are suffering from malnutrition? On the question of the Commonwealth, does the noble Lord not agree that the conference of the Royal Commonwealth Agricultural Society, which is to be held in Harare in Zimbabwe in two or three weeks' time, will present Her Majesty's Government with a forum to discuss these matters in a constructive way? Can the noble Lord tell the House what initiatives the Government are proposing to take when that conference opens?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, the answer to the first part of the supplementary question from the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, on the difficulty of overcoming hunger in parts of the world which are so afflicted when other parts of the world are producing too much can best be met by doing everything possible to support improvements in the agricultural systems of the countries which are afflicted. This is certainly the general line which I know we shall be taking in Harare on that particular aspect. The noble Lord asks me to be specific, but may I refer to the last Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Melbourne in 1981 and remind him that it maintained the practical commitment to development through the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation. There, for example, is a tool which is used to effect to try to overcome the problems to which the noble Lord refers.
§ Lord Cledwyn of PenrhosMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that I fully agree that every country should be encouraged to develop its own agriculture to the full, and that it is our duty as a country to give what technical and expert assistance we possibly can? But 3 does he not agree that there are occasions when, all too frequently, these countries are afflicted by drought—as is Ethiopia at present—causing unimaginable hardship to many people? Can the noble Lord say what practical assistance Her Majesty's Government are giving to countries in those circumstances?
§ Lord BelsteadYes, indeed, my Lords. Although I am not briefed on the specific supplementary question that the noble Lord asks, I think I am right in saying that we are giving aid in Ethiopia for that precise reason. This is something that we feel we should do when there is a sudden need for it. It is fair to say that Britain tries to respond when problems of that kind arise.
§ Lord Hatch of LusbyMy Lords, will the noble Lord take this opportunity of agreeing, as I believe he will, that the Commonwealth, with its broad span, is a most suitable forum for discussion of the grave economic questions that the whole world is at present facing? Further, will he suggest to his right honourable friends, both in the Foreign Office and the Exchequer, that they might very well discuss with the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth the results of the expert examination which he mentioned before the world economic summit at Williamsburg next month?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, it was because of what the noble Lord calls the Commonwealth being an appropriate forum to discuss the grave economic problems which have been affecting the world that at the last Commonwealth Finance Ministers' meeting held last year the Commonwealth Secretary-General established a group of experts to study the international trade and payment system, including the role of the international economic institutions. Of course, as the noble Lord knows, it is the international economic institutions which have been behind the rescue packages which have had to be mounted for certain countries in recent months.
§ Lord MolloyMy Lords, the noble Lord has mentioned the meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers and the other ongoing meetings of the British Commonwealth. Would he not agree that with all the researches that are going on to which he has referred, and the possibility of the world summit next month, it might then be the correct and judicious moment for the British Commonwealth to have its summit to see how it can fit into all these proposals and make its contribution to the whole of mankind, which I happen to believe it most certainly can?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I think that the short answer to the noble Lord is that he is asking for rather too many meetings to be fitted into any one year. If I may say so, perhaps the noble Lord disregards for a moment the importance of the Commonwealth Secretariat which is based here in London and which fosters practical economic co-operation within the Commonwealth on an ongoing basis. So far as the great international meetings which are to take place within the next three months are concerned—namely, UNCTAD Six, the ministerial meeting of the OECD and the Williamsburg summit—there has been 4 some good preparation for them within the Commonwealth—I repeat fostered not least by the ongoing work of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
§ Lord LeatherlandMy Lords, may I ask the Minister whether the Government can approach the meat importing industry with a view to securing more of our imports from the Commonwealth and far less of those imports from Argentina?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I am sorry, but I did not hear the noble Lord's question.
§ Lord LeatherlandMy Lords, can the Government approach our meat importing industry with a view to seeing whether they can import more of their meat from the Commonwealth and less of it from Argentina, which we do not view very favourably at the moment?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I think that we are now getting a little wide of the original Question.