§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give details of the preliminary agreement recently reached by the 14 signatory countries of the Antarctic treaty upon the exploitation of oil and minerals in Antarctica.
§ Mr. OnslowNo agreement about the exploitation of oil and minerals in the Antarctic was reached between the Antarctic treaty consultative parties at their recent meeting in Wellington. However, the meeting drew up a procedural framework to guide the conduct of future discussions on a minerals regime. It was also agreed that informal discussions would be continued in Wellington in January 1983.