§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the United Kingdom will support proposals made in the United Nations for convening an early conference on the designation of the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace.
§ Mr. HurdThe Government play an active part in the United Nations ad hoc committee which was set up to discuss the proposal to designate the Indian Ocean as a zone of peace. But we believe that a conference to implement the proposal would be premature until the views of States concerned can be brought closer together. The continuing Soviet occupation of Afghanistan is an obstacle to progress.