§ Mr. Bishopasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action is being taken to speed up international discussions on air safety with particular reference to air piracy; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NobleAs I indicated in my statement on 28th October the United Kingdom has been active in furthering international consideration of this problem. It was amongst the first nations in 1968 to ratify the Tokyo Convention on Offences and Certain other Acts committed on board aircraft; it has played an active rôle in the preparation of the draft of a Convention on hi-jacking which is to be considered by a diplomatic conference at the Hague in December; it was one of the states which requested the International Civil Aviation Organisation (I.C.A.O.) to convene an Extraordinary Session of the Assembly in Montreal in June to consider all forms of unlawful interference with civil aircraft; and this month at the invitation of Her Majesty's Government, the Legal Committee234W of I.C.A.O. has been meeting in London to draft a further convention on acts of violence other than hi-jacking, which will now go to a Diplomatic Conference. In conjunction with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, however, I certainly will not hesitate to seek further to speed up international discussions where this would be productive. [Vol. 805, cols. 115–6.]