§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Trade what are the views of his Department on the common fund, which will be discussed at UNCTAD V.
§ Mr. John Smith, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 12 March 1979; Vol. 964, c. 25–7], gave the following information:
I am glad to inform the House that the negotiating conference on the common fund which opened in Geneva on 12 March has now been brought to a successful conclusion. General agreement was reached on a document setting out the main elements of the structure and financial resources of the fund. A number of detailed issues remain to be resolved, leading into work on the drafting of articles of agreement for the fund; and it was agreed that an interim conference should be convened to this end.
I strongly welcome this successful resolution of the main issues on the fund. Its purposes, objectives and method of operation are set out in terms which draw considerably on proposals which the developed countries submitted to the negotiating conference in November 1978 and to which the United Kingdom made a major contribution. The financial resources in the common fund have been set at levels which should ensure that it can make a major contribution to the stabilisation of commodity prices and to other relevant commodity-related measures, without undermining the responsibilities of producer and consumer Governments and without direct intervention by the fund itself in commodity markets.
542WThe success of this conference is a significant development in the whole area of relations between developed and developing countries. It is particularly to be welcomed that the task of negotiating a common fund, which was set by the Fourth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Nairobi in May 1976, should have been brought largely to a conclusion before the opening of the fifth UNCTAD conference in Manila in May of this year.