§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the policy of Her Majesty's Government towards the establishment of an international gene bank under United Nations auspices as raised at the recent meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organisation's committee on agriculture; and what mandate Her Majesty's Government intend to give to their representative on the working party appointed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation's director general to assist in the preparation of his report to the Food and Agriculture Organisation council in November.
§ Mr. RaisonWe are keeping in close touch with FAO's useful initiative, although we consider that suitable international arrangements already exist in the global network of plant gene banks under the germplasm programme administered by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources and FAO although this may require certain strengthening. The United Kingdom representative on the FAO working party will be briefed to play a constructive role and in particular to examine the scope for improvement of the form and administration of the IBPGR programme.