§ 72. Mr. Wallasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement about the recent talks held by the rulers of the Trucial States and Bahrain.
§ Mr. George ThomsonYes. The rulers of Bahrain, Qatar, and the seven Trucial States met at Dubai on 7th and 8th July, to discuss matters of common concern. This was the first meeting of rulers of all nine of these States. In their final communiqué the rulers announced that in accordance with their wish to strengthen relations between their States 157W they signed a Currency Agreement providing the introduction of a new Gulf currency in place of the Indian External Rupee. They also welcomed the steps being taken to develop the Trucial States and agreed that money contributed for this purpose should be administered by the recipient States through the Development Office they have set up.
As I said in the House on 21st June, we welcome greater co-operation between the States. We hope that the success of the Dubai meeting will encourage the rulers to further steps in this direction.