§ 72. Sir W. Teelingasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement as to the present position concerning negotiations for the payment of Roumania's, Bulgaria's and Hungary's bonded debts; what progress he has made in discussions and in drafting a Bill concerning the Baltic bonds and gold; and when he intends to reopen the question of the Tsarist debts to citizens of this country.
§ Mr. Goronwy RobertsAs regards the first part of the Question, I have nothing to add to the replies my hon. Friend the then Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs gave to the right hon. and learned Gentleman the Member for Hertfordshire, East (Sir D. Walker-Smith) on 15th March, and to the hon. Gentleman the Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Sir. W. Teeling) on 24th July, 1967 and 29th April, 1968.
A Bill concerning the distribution of the assets which were the subject of the recent Anglo-Soviet claims agreement is ready for introduction but I regret that time cannot be found for it in this Session.
I cannot yet say when it may be possible to re-open discussions of pre-1939 Anglo-Soviet claims with the Soviet authorities, but my right hon. Friend is considering this matter now that we have reached an agreement with them on the post-1939 claims.—[Vol. 760, c. 382; Vol. 751, c. 32–3; Vol. 763, c. 111–2.]