§ Mr. Peelasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made towards negotiating new arrangements to replace the Anglo-German Offset Agreement which expires on 31st March, 1971.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeWe have today concluded an agreement with the Federal German Government on the means of relieving the foreign exchange burden resulting from the stationing of British Forces in the Federal Republic of Germany after the expiry of the current Offset arrangements on 31st March, 1971. The most important provisions of this Agreement, of which copies are available in the Library of the House, are as follows. It will run for five years. The Federal Government will continue to make and promote purchases of British civil and military goods and services. In addition, the Federal Government will pay Her Majesty's Government a sum of DM 550 million (about £62.5 million) in five equal annual instalments. Although the Agreement contains no target figures, the Federal Government expect that over the next two years payments for equipment and services in the military field will attain levels substantially similar to those foreseen in the 1969–71 Agreement, and that in the ensuing three years payments will be on a scale commensurate with the purposes of the new Agreement.