§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussion he is having through third parties with the Argentine Government about the permanent establishment of fishery protection vessels round the Falklands.
§ Mr. WhitneyNone.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will name the distinguised Falkand Islanders who have recently visited the Minister of State in his Department; and what representations they made about re-establishing a rational working relationship with Argentina.
§ Mr. WhitneyThree Falkland Islands councillors—Mr. A. T. (Tony) Blake, Mr. L. G. (Tim) Blake, and Mr. J. E. Cheek—have called on my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in London in the past six months. Regarding the details of their discussions, I have nothing to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Member on 19 December. (Vol. 51, c.37.] My right hon. and noble Friend also attended a meeting of the Islands Council in Port Stanley on 16 January. The discussions at that meeting are confidential.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current relations between civilian and military populations in the Falkland Islands.
§ Mr. WhitneyAs my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, made clear in another place on 6 December, relations between the civilian and military populations are excellent.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his consideration with the Falkland Islanders of the future structure of their internal Government and electoral system.
§ Mr. WhitneyWe are considering with the Falkland Islands Government the recommendations of their Select Committee on the constitution. These discussions are confidential.
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§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Falkland Islanders on proportional representation.
§ Mr. WhitneyNone.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what sale or lease has taken place to islanders interested in farming their own land of the £450,000 West Falkland farm, financed by Her Majesty's Government and made available to the Falklands Islands Government.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe Packe Brothers estate, to which the hon. Member refers, was purchased by the Falkland Islands Government in June 1983: it has been sub-divided into six units. The sale of these is currently in progress.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reply he has had from the European Community and its presidency about the reciprocal lifting of commercial and economic sanctions imposed at the time of the Falklands conflict on Argentina.
§ Mr. RifkindWe have been in regular contact with successive presidencies about this matter. In the first half of 1983 the German Presidency, with the agreement of our partners, invited the previous Argentine Government to send a high-level delegation to Brussels to discuss the normalisation of commercial and economic relations, in particular those between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The Argentine Government consistently declined to enter into substantive discussions, but the Community offer has been repeated and remains on the table. We naturally hope that, following the return to democracy, the new Government in Argentina will be more willing to respond.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what approaches have been made through third parties, such as Switzerland, to ask the Argentine Government about the visit of next-of-kin to Argentine graves in the Falklands.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe Argentine Government are aware of our continuing readiness in principle for a suitably prepared visit to the Islands by close relatives of the dead to take place or, preferably, for Argentina to take back the bodies of those killed in the Falklands. Details of discussions between Governments are confidential.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reasons he has given to the United Nations Secretary General for Her Majesty's Government's failure to comply with the United Nations Assembly resolution adopted on 16 November 1983, recommending that the United Kingdom should enter into negotiations with Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falklands; and whether he will place a copy of exchanges between Her Majesty's Government and the United Nations on the subject in the Library.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe exchanges with the United Nations Secretary-General are confidential. During the debate and in his explanation of vote, however, our permanent representative to the United Nations made clear our reasons for opposing the resolution adopted on 16 November in the General Assembly. Texts of these statements (UN documents A/38/PV57 and A/38/PV59) are in the Library.
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§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to make available to the public the Foreign Office file, entitled "Proposed offer by Her Majesty's Government to reunite Falkland Islands with Argentina and acceptance of lease" from 1940, which has been withdrawn from public scrutiny.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe record to which the hon. Member refers is due to be made available to public scrutiny in 1991.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contacts are made with Argentina through Her Majesty's embassy, Montevideo.
§ Mr. WhitneyNone. We are grateful to the Government of Uruguay for their humanitarian assistance in the repatriation of prisoners of war in 1982.