44. Mr. EmrysHughes asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why he first refused permission for the aircraft carrying Colonel Yuri Gagarin to Mexico to land for the purpose of refuelling at Prestwick Airport; and why he changed his decision.
§ Mr. P. ThomasPermission was at first refused because the Soviet Union is not a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and has not so far been prepared to grant us reciprocityin the exercise of civil aviation transit rights. After it had been represented to Her Majesty's Embassy in Moscow that a refusal of staging facilities at Prestwick would prevent Colonel Gagarin and Miss Tereshkova from arriving in Mexico in time for the opening of the International Aviation Federation, it was decided exceptionally to grant the requested facilities.