§ Mr. Tinnasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether there has recently been any change in the regulations under which temporary travel documents are issued to East Germans for travel to North 174W Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MulleyThe three Powers responsible for the Allied Travel Office, the Americans, French and ourselves, last month, after consideration in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, adopted new rules for the issuing of temporary travel documents consisting of a liberalisation of the rules formerly in force. As a result, the exceptional cases in which travel facilities were not given in the past—less than one in a hundred in the case of travel to this country—should become even fewer.
We regard this liberalisation as being in line with the desire of the member Governments of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, reaffirmed most recently at Washington on the 11th of April, to work for real progress in improving relations between East and West.