§ 58. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will publish in HANSARD details of the overseas visits made by Ministers in his Department during the past two years; for what purposes and at what cost these visits were made; and what have been the results of such visits.
§ Mr. MasonYes. Information on costs will be made available as soon as it is ready. In their nature, visits of this 203W kind do not have results which can be quantified. But in the great majority of cases subsequent reports from the
204W
Minister Date Place of Visit Purpose 1964 President 30th October to 4th November China To open British Industrial Exhibition 28th to 29th October Moscow Goodwill visit 9th to 10th November Geneva E.F.T.A. 16th to 21st November Geneva and Bonn E.F.T.A. 2nd to 3rd December Paris O.E.C.D. 1965 11th to 13th January Brussels Discussion with E.E.C. on Kennedy Round 5th and 22nd to 23rd February Geneva E.F.T.A. 20th to 27th April India and Pakistan Various trade talks 14th to 18th May Amsterdam To open British Week 25th May Vienna Meeting of Finnefta Council 14th to 21st September Japan (1) Opening of British Exhibition; (2) Discuss trade for 1966 8th to 13th October Milan British Week 28th to 29th October Copenhagen E.F.T.A. Meeting 25th to 26th November Paris O.E.C.D. 1966 23rd April Amsterdam Annual luncheon of Anglo-Dutch Trade Council 28th April to 1st May Oslo To open British Fair and Fortnight 12th to 13th May Bergen E.F.T.A. 25th to 27th May Canada To address British Canadian Trade Association 6th to 19th July Moscow To visit British Industrial Exhibition 18th September to 30th October Australia Touring—various trade talks 20th to 21st October Lyons British Week 27th to 28th October Lisbon E.F.T.A. Minister of State (Mr. Darling) 1965 20th to 22nd March Lyons International Trade Fair 21st to 23rd April Milan Milan Trade Fair 1966 19th to 25th May Budapest, Prague International Trade Fair Incomex '66 26th to 27th August Paris Open Galaries Layfaette Store Promotion 12th to 18th September Brussels, Vienna International Trade Fairs 22nd to 25th October Cologne Sports Goods Fair Frankfurt Open I.C.I. building Dusseldorf Minister of State (Mr. Mason) 1964 20th to 22nd December Sweden To study the Swedish shipbuilding industry 1965 8th to 19th January Japan To study the Japanese shipbuilding industry. Departmental business in Thailand San Francisco and New York 18th to 20th May Norway To visit the Oslo International Shipping Exhibition 12th to 15th September Denmark To study the operation of large tanker on voyage from Britain to Denmark and to visit shipyards 22nd to 23rd November Belgium To open the British store Promotion in Brussels country visited have confirmed that the visit was well worthwhile.
Following is the information:
205W
Minister Date Place of Visit Purpose 1966 4th March Holland To visit the International Cycle Exhibition in Amsterdam 3rd to 10th May U.S.S.R A return visit at invitation of Soviet Government To discuss shipping including possible Anglo-Soviet Navigation Treaty. Visited Soviet shipbuilding Centres 17th May West Germany Interpac Exhibition, Dusseldorf 31st May to 3rd June Norway To attend meeting in Oslo of ministers for shipping in eleven main European maritime nations and Japan 8th September Brussels and Bretigny (near Paris) To visit the Headquarters of Eurocontrol 12th to 14th September Switzerland To visit Nuclex '66, the international Nuclear Industries Fair 18th to 29th September Brazil and Venezuela To promote British exports 4th October Holland To lay foundation stone of Eurocontrol Upper Air Space Centre 7th to 9th October Italy To open the British Shopping Week in Florence Minister of State (Mr. Redhead) 1965 19th to 22nd February Cologne, Frankfurt Trade Fairs 4th to 6th March Luxembourg U.K./E.C.S.C. Council of Association 14th April Brussels Address Luncheon of British Chamber of Commerce in Europe and call on Belgian Minister of Foreign Trade 30th April to 1st May Hanover Trade Fair 7th to 15th June Scandinavia Export Promotion 18th to 21st June Poland Poznan Internatiomal Fair 10th to 13th September Moscow Chemistry in Industry Exhibition 24th to 25th September Cologne Food Fair Minister of State (Lord Brown) 1966 26th to 29th March Lyons To visit Foire de Lyon 4th October Paris Open Store Promotion at Au Bon Marche 13th to 17th October Bucharest Opening of Exhibition of British Agricultural and Construction Equipment 21st to 24th October Lyons Opening of British Week Parliamentary Secretary (Lord Rhodes) 1965 25th to 28th July Frankfurt International Textiles Exhibition 14th to 23rd October U.S.A Export Promotion 23rd October to 1st November 1966 Mexico Export Promotion 2nd to 7th March Hong Kong British Week 7th to 9th March Philippines Export Promotion 9th to 12th March Thailand Export Promotion 27th April to 5th May Saudi Arabia Export Promotion 19th to 26th June Israel Tel Aviv International Trade Fair and Export Promotion
§ 59. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the President of the Board of Trade who, in addition to the four Ministers from his Department who made the 11 visits overseas during the Summer Recess, accompanied these Ministers and were in attendance at the various overseas 206W functions; whether this included ambassadors or any of their staffs; and why the public engagements of the Ministers could not have been carried out by these ambassadors or their representatives instead.
207W
§ Mr. MasonIn addition to private secretaries, nine officials in all accompanied Ministers from the Board of Trade. On almost all occasions the British Ambassador or one or more members of his staff were in attendance. The Ministers' personal presence was required at all public engagements that they attended.