§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he has now studied the final resolution of the Atlantic Treaty Association's twenty-fifth assembly in Washington, a copy of which has been sent to him; and what is his policy towards the proposals made for an appropriate Allied response to the Soviet build-up of strategic nuclear weapons aimed at Europe, and for a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation monitoring committee to analyse and seek consensus on Allied responses to Soviet threats in the Middle East, Africa and Southern Asia.
§ Mr. PymI have studied the Atlantic Treaty Association's proposals with great interest. As far as nuclear weapons are concerned, Alliance Ministers aim to take a decision by the end of the year on a proposed programme to modernise NATO's long-range theatre nuclear forces and a parallel arms control approach to the Soviet Union. I also believe that,132W in evolving our security policies, full account must be taken of the growing Soviet threat to Western interests outside Europe. We aim to promote co-operation between like-minded allies in response to this challenge. We shall explore all means of doing this, but a separate Alliance institution would not necessarily be the best means of achieving our objective.