Weapons Control (Hansard, 19 October 1988)

§ 32. Mr. Wallace
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made during the summer adjournment on negotiations towards a treaty regarding chemical weapons.

§ 60. Mr. Evennett
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the general progress of the arms control negotiations in Geneva.

§ 65. Mr. Chapman
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about progress in all arms negotiations or conferences currently under way.

§ 72. Mr. Curry
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress is being made on the negotiation of a treaty to ensure the global elimination of all chemical weapons.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
The United States/Soviet nuclear and space talks in Geneva continue to make progress but their conclusion is unlikely this year. The United States and Soviet Union are negotiating verification protocols to the threshold test ban and peaceful nuclear explosions treaties with a view to early submission for ratification. We hope that a mandate for conventional stability talks covering the area from the Atlantic to the Urals can soon be agreed in Vienna. The mutual and balanced force reduction talks in Vienna remain stalled.
At the Geneva negotiations for a global chemical weapons convention discussion during the summer session (which finished on 20 September) continued on a series of technical issues, particularly verification.
The United Kingdom is again playing an active role in the first committee of the United Nations general assembly which convened in New York on 17 October.