§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government concerning the proposal which will come before UNCTAD IV for an integrated programme for commodities.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe latest proposals put forward by the UNCTAD Secretariat for540W an integrated programme for commodities have a number of points in common with the proposals put forward by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister at Kingston last May. The forthcoming UNCTAD conference will provide an opportunity to build on the common ground which exists.
§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government on the proposal which will come before UNCTAD IV for setting up buffer stocks of 10 core commodities in order to ease fluctuations in price and supply.
§ Mr. DeakinsInternational agreements incorporating buffer stocks already exist for cocoa and tin. There is also an International Coffee Agreement based on export quotas triggered by movements within an agreed price range. As for the remaining seven products on the list of "core" commodities selected by the UNCTAD Secretariat, we believe that each product needs to be examined to determine whether or not buffer stocks would be a suitable mechanism for achieving greater stability.
§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Trade by what means Her Majesty's Government proposed to pursue the Prime Minister's Jamaica initiative on commodity trading; and what place in any initiatives he envisages for UNCTAD and the Conference on International Cooperation, respectively.
§ Mr. DeakinsWe are in the process of agreeing with other member States in the European Community a common line for the discussions in both the UNCTAD conference and the CIEC. We believe that these conferences will provide good opportunities to further the objectives enunciated in May 1975 at the Jamaica meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.