§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his recent talks in Geneva with the Shah of Iran.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerAs I told the hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) today, negotiations were satisfactorily concluded during the course of my discussions at St. Moritz last Friday. As a result, Britain will receive an additional 5 million tons of crude oil from Iran during 1974 and the early part of 1975 and will supply £110 million worth of British goods during the same period. The oil will be purchased by BP acting as agents for Her Majesty's Government. Parliamentary authority for the expenditure will be sought in the usual way. We reviewed the progress being made on the £250 million of industrial joint-venture prospects in Iran, which were negotiated at the Iran-United Kingdom Investment Conference last November. We also agreed to examine at an early date the potentialities for 7W Iranian investment in the United Kingdom and agreed that there were many spheres in which substantial investments from Iran into United Kingdom industry and technology could be of mutual benefit to both countries. This agreement marks a further important stage in the valuable and increasing inter-relationship between the economies of Iran and Britain.