§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the amount of compensation remaining outstanding in repect of British companies in Romania, including the Astra-Romania Oil Company, which had their assets sequestrated in the 1940s.
§ Mr. RifkindNone. The Romanian Government paid the British Government sums of £1.25 million and £3.5 million under agreements made in 1960 and 1976, respectively, in full and final settlement of all British claims against Romania, other than those of the Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd. The two sums were distributed to claimants by the Foreigh Compensation Commission and, all possible payments having been made from them, the funds were wound up in March 1970 and March 1982, respectively. Shell's own financial claims against Romania, including those in relation to Astra-Romana SA, were the subject of a memorandum of understanding between the company and Petrom-Bucharest signed on 29 May 1971.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiatives the United Kingdom has taken under the agreement on co-operation in education, science and culture, Cmnd. 7493, negotiated between Great Britain and Romania and entered into force on 20 October 1978.
§ Mr. OnslowAs a facilitating document, the cultural agreement does not provide for specific initiatives; this is the function of the two-year programmes. Since 1978 initiatives under these programmes have included the third Anglo-Romanian historical colloquium which took place in Bucharest; the Anglo-Romanian seminar on energy conservation in the building industry hosted at Bristol university; the Anglo-Romanian round table conference hosted by the Great Britain-East Europe centre, and the colloquium on the historian-diplomat Titulescu which took place in Britain in spring this year.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many United Kingdom teachers have taken part in exchange visits to Romania; and what is the number allocated to Romania to the United Kingdom since 1978.
§ Mr. OnslowUnder the two-year cultural exchange programmes, 12 United Kingdom teachers have taken up lecturing positions in Romania since 1978. One lecturing post each year is allocated to the Romanians for teaching in Britain. Since 1978 two Romanian lecturers have taken up these positions.
94WIn addition, since 1978, 95 places have been allocated under the programme to Romania for Romanian teachers of English to attend courses in the United Kingdom. Fifty Romanian teachers have taken up these places.