§ Miss Joan Lestorasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the outcome of the Belgrade conference on security and co-operation in Europe follow-up meeting.
§ Dr. OwenThe course of the Belgrade meeting, the British contribution to it, and the Government's view of its outcome are described in detail in a White Paper which was published on 10th March. This includes as annexes the full text of the concluding document, of the speeches made by my right hon. and noble Friend during the opening and closing phases of the meeting, and of the various proposals put forward by the United Kingdom during the meeting.
In the statement that I made on 7th December 1977, in reply to a Question from the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Sproat), on the progress being 31W made at Belgrade, I emphased the Government's desire that the meeting should end constructively, with all the participants subscribing to a balanced and substantial concluding document. The meeting proceeded throughout by consensus and in the event this proved impossible. Western countries were prepared to negotiate on the basis of a draft document put forward by the neutrals and non-aligned group of countries, but the Russians and their allies refused to do so, and showed no disposition to make any concessions of substance in the key areas of human rights and human contacts which have always been central to Western interest in the CSCE follow-up process. Faced with this unbalanced Soviet approach, the United Kingdom and its partners and allies were left with no option but to agree to a short and mainly factual concluding document. I should like to put on record the Government's deep regret that despite the best endeavours of our own and other Western delegations, and neutral and non-aligned countries, an opportunity to further the development of the detente has thus been missed.
However, the results of Belgrade should not be dismissed as without value. Preparations for it concentrated the minds of all concerned on the need to honour their commitments, which led to some progress being made both in the run-up to the Belgrade meeting and during it. The successful completion of the review of implementation has firmly established the right of all the participating States to criticise quite frankly the record of other CSCE States in implementing the Final Act. And the discussion of proposals for improving implementation has focused attention on the areas where improvement is most needed. The ideas put forward at Belgrade remain for future discussion.
The concluding document itself, moreover, is by no means worthless. It contains both a reaffirmation by the participating States of the validity and importance of the Final Act, including, the human rights provisions, and a commitment on their part to meet again at Madrid in 1980. It also contains agreements to convene three meetings of experts: at Montreux in October 1978 to discuss the peaceful settlement of disputes; at Bonn in June 1978 where a "Scientific Forum" will be held; and at La Valletta in February 1979 to discuss 32W various economic, scientific and cultural questions affecting the Mediterranean.
The CSCE process thus remains very much alive. In the run-up to the Madrid meeting the Government will continue to implement their obligations fully and completely. They will expect others to do the same. And as in the past, as at Belgrade itself, they will not hesitate to speak out in those cases where the provisions of the Final Act are inadequately implemented or ignored by others.