§ Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on current disarmament talks and prospects for the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ministerial meeting in January 1985.
§ Mr. LuceI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave earlier to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Malone).
We remain anxious to make progress towards agreements in the current negotiations in Stockholm, Vienna and Geneva and will continue to make an active and positive contribution to that end.
§ 72. Mr. Gerald Howarthasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the mutual and balanced force reduction talks at Vienna.
§ Mr. LuceIn the latest round—27 September to 13 December—of the mutual and balanced force reduction talks, the West has continued to promote the initiative it tabled in April which offers a real opportunity to resolve the long-standing dispute over the size of Eastern forces. The East's response is still very negative. It maintains that each side should determine for itself the size of reductions necessary to reach the agreed common ceiling of 900,000 ground and air forces on each side.