§ Mr. Wallerasked the Lord Privy Seal what arrangements are being made for bringing Kiribati into membership of the Lomé Convention.
§ Mr. HurdKiribati has submitted a request for accession to the Lomé Convention, and its application is now being processed. Meanwhile steps have been taken to ensure that the provisions and benefits of the overseas countries and territories decision of 29 June 1976, which have till now applied to the Gilbert Islands, will continue to apply to Kiribati until it has acceded to the Lomé Convention. The Government have given their agreement to these measures before completion of the parliamentary scrutiny procedures in order to avoid the damage to Kiribati's interests which would have been caused by delaying the matter until after the Summer Recess.