§ 38. Mr. AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what has been Her Majesty's Government's response to President Gorbachev's proposal to bring forward the next conference on security and co-operation in Europe review conference.
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§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Soviet Union has modified President Gorbachev's original suggestion of holding a CSCE summit meeting to launch a Helsinki follow-up meeting brought forward from 1992 to 1990. Mr. Shevardnadze has since said, on a number of occasions, that the Soviet Union does not want the CSCE summit, which the Soviet Union has proposed for 1990, to interfere with the programme of intercessional CSCE meetings arranged in 1990–92, nor with the holding of the Helsinki follow-up meeting in 1992. We are willing to consider the suggestion of a CSCE summit in 1990. A successful meeting would require careful preparation and clarity as to its intended purpose and goals.