§ Mr. Thorpeasked the Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to pursue with the United States Government the proposals made by the United States Secretary of State at the Rome Food Conference last year for increasing world food production and improving distribution.
§ The Prime MinisterWe welcomed the constructive proposals put forward by Dr. Kissinger in his speech to the World Food Conference in Rome. The conference endorsed the international undertaking on world food security which gave expression to certain of his ideas. Her Majesty's Government have advised the Director-General of the FAO that they are prepared to co-operate in die implementation of the objectives, policies and guidelines contained in that undertaking. In common with the rest of the Community, we are participating in discussions with the Government of the United States and other interested Governments with a view to implementing it. These discussions are taking place in a number of international bodies, including the GATT, the International Wheat Council, the FAO and the World Food Council. There are many practical difficulties which need to be resolved before the undertaking can be fully implemented, but we expect positive results.
601WWe are also participating in the Consultative Group on Food Production and Investment in developing countries, which was another result of the proposals made by Dr. Kissinger. I had food products very much in mind in making my proposals on commodities at the Kingston meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Governments in Jamaica this year. Work on those proposals has been taken forward in the seventh special session of the United Nations General Assembly, and detailed study of individual commodities is being carried out under the aegis of OECD—where three out of the seven commodities concerned are food—and of UNCTAD—where four out of the 10 are food.