§ Q25. Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Prime Minister whether, in committing the United Kingdom to the general support of international commodity agreements at the Commonwealth Prime Minister's Conference in Jamaica, it was Government policy to employ devices which stabilised prices or devices which stabilised the foreign currency earnings of primary producers.
§ The Prime MinisterIn seeking at Kingston to give fresh impetus to the conclusion of commodity agreements, where appropriate, I was hoping to promote future co-operation to ensure greater stability of prices and supply. For some commodities, arrangements less complex than international commodity agreements might be appropriate.
85WMy proposals also include establishing the framework of a scheme for the stabilisation of export earnings from commodities. Such a scheme would, of course, be quite distinct from price stabilisation arrangements, although both could come under the umbrella of the kind of general agreement on commodities which I suggested.