Mr. Gresham Cookeasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now state what specific arrangements have been made under the Anglo-Russian Trade Agreement to import Russian consumer goods into this country and to export United Kingdom consumer goods to Russia; and to what extent the quotas for the permitted imports of Russian goods into this country have been taken up so far, and by whom.
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§ Mr. MaudlingQuotas for the exchange of consumer goods to a total value of £3.4 million in each direction for the year ending June 30th, 1960, were agreed with the Soviet Trade Delegation at the end of August. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the notice which was published in the national newspapers. I understand that negotiations between United Kingdom trade interests and the Soviet trading organisations have been proceeding. Applications for import licences indicate that most interest is being shown at present in goods traditionally imported from the Soviet Union, but it is not our practice to disclose the names of firms to whom import licences have been issued.