§ 24. Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in meeting Her Majesty's Government's preconditions for the negotiation of a comprehensive test ban treaty.
§ Mr. RentonWe regret that so far others have not been able to agree to the draft mandate proposed by the Western group for an ad hoc committee on nuclear testing issues at the conference on disarmament. We believe it would be premature to engage in negotiations on a comprehensive test ban treaty until solutions to the outstanding verification problems become more apparent. Discussions at the conference on disarmament can help to move matters forward.