§ 52. Mr. Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now state in detail the matters that have been, and are now, under discussion with Argentina concerning a new trade agreement; how many meetings have been held; when the discussions first commenced, and how the progress on these talks compares with similar discussions last year.
§ Mr. MackesonAs the House will be aware, a further Protocol to the Five Year Trade and Payments Agreement of 1949 with Argentina was signed in Buenos Aires on 31st December last. The text has been published as Cmd. 8744.
The Protocol makes provision for the supply of coal, oil and tinplate to Argentina and the supply of meat to the United Kingdom, and for the establishment of quotas to the value of £3 million for the import of less essential goods from the United Kingdom. As to the financial clauses, I would refer to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 20th January to my hon. Friend the Member for Louth (Mr. Osborne).
The Argentine and United Kingdom representatives will now meet in Buenos Aires to settle before 15th February those goods from the United Kingdom of a less essential nature for which licences are to be issued: one-half of the total by 31st March and the balance by 30th September.
As to the number of meetings, there were nine plenary sessions between the first which was held on 9th April, 1952, and the signature of the Protocol on 31st December, 1952. There was a break in the discussions for some weeks in the summer. There were also a large number of sub-committee and less formal meetings in addition to the plenary sessions.