§ Mr. Ian Lloydasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether it is the policy of Her Majesty's Government to initiate further exchange visits between Heads of State or Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and of those countries which seriously abuse human rights.
§ Mr. RaisonIt is not our normal policy to preclude such visits because of abuses of human rights in the country concerned. In general, we believe that dialogue rather than isolation is the best way of influencing other countries' performance on human rights as in other issues of concern to us. High-level visits can provide good opportunities for bringing our influence to bear.