§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will make a further statement about the proposed sale to Greece of a nuclear reactor in association with a purchase of Greek tobacco.
§ Mr. CroslandNegotiations for the sale of this reactor are continuing.
The British manufacturers have tested thoroughly the samples of Greek tobacco supplied to them, and can find no significant differences compared with the Greek tobacco which they had evaluated in the past. In their judgment this tobacco is still not suitable for blending purposes because of a continuingly distinctive aroma and flavour unacceptable to the British smoker.
However, the manufacturers have pointed out that they are always ready to test any tobacco to assess its suitability for the United Kingdom market and they will continue to keep in touch with Greek producers.
The parties to the proposed agreements are discussing with the interested parties in Greece possible methods of producing strains of tobacco which might be acceptable in the United Kingdom. I would hope that the tobacco manufacturers will be willing to participate in a study with the Greek producers to see if they can
102Wreaching a record level of 11.1 million square feet in 1968. Because of changes in the statistical basis in August 1966 exact comparisons between 1966 and 1968 in the South-East cannot be made. We are continuing to operate the i.d.c. control strictly there.
The following are the i.d.c. approvals:
help them to produce in the future a type of tobacco which would suit the requirements of the United Kingdom market.