§ 31. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will report progress at the current disarmament conferences, with particular reference to linking negotiations covering strategic and intermediate nuclear weapons.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweThe conference on disarmament in Europe has got off to a good start. We welcome Soviet willingness to resume the MBFR talks, on conventional force reductions. We are playing a very active part in the resumed conference on disarmament. We urge the Soviet Government to resume the negotiations about intermediate and strategic range nuclear weapons, without any preconditions. Neither the Soviet Government nor the United States Administration have so far suggested that linking the two negotiations more closely would increase the chance of early progress.