§ 46. Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether changes in the status of Gibraltar were discussed in his 220W recent talks with the Spanish Government; and if he will make a statement.
§ 56. Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on his recent visit to Spain.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeI visited Madrid from 27th February to 1st March at the invitation of the Spanish Foreign Minister. In addition to bilateral questions and international matters of interest to Britain and Spain, we naturally discussed the question of Gibraltar on which we had earlier agreed to "think together"; our talks were essentially exploratory and there were no detailed proposals under discussion.
Following is the Joint Communiqué:
The British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Right Honourable Sir Alec Douglas-Home, accompanied by Lady Douglas-Home, paid an official visit to Spain from 27th February to 1st March, 1972, at the invitation of the Spanish Foreign Minister, Sr. Don Gregorio Lopez Bravo.On 29th February Sir Alec Douglas-Home was received in audience by His Excellency the Head of the Spanish State, and paid courtesy calls on H.R.H. the Prince of Spain, and on Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, Vice-President of the Government.After a full and frank exchange of views on the question of Gibraltar, the Ministers took note that there were still differences over the United Nations' Resolutions on the question, and agreed to continue to consider it in a constructive and realistic spirit, with the aim of finding a satisfactory solution.The conversations also afforded the two Ministers an opportunity to hold a wide-ranging and positive review both of all aspects of bilateral relations between the two countries and of the evolving situation in Europe and the world. They noted that their views on many of those questions coincided.The British Secretary of State invited the Spanish Foreign Minister to pay an official visit to London in July at a date to be decided in due course.