§ 75. Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make a statement about progress at disarmament and security conferences.
§ Mr. LuceAt the conference on disarmament at Geneva, the United Kingdom has continued to press for a comprehensive ban on chemical weapons. Our delegation tabled a further proposal on verification on 12 July. We shall continue to urge the Soviet Union to join us in reaching the earliest possible agreement on such a ban.
In the second round of the Stockholm conference on disarmament in Europe, which ended on 6 July, the Soviet Union and its allies regrettably prevented consensus on a working group structure for future sessions. We will continue our efforts to begin substantive negotiations in the next round beginning on 11 September.
In Vienna, the latest round of talks on conventional force reductions, which ended on 19 July has focused on the initiative tabled by the West in April. However, the Eastern response so far has been negative.
Despite United States willingness to resume nuclear arms control talks, the Soviet Union has refused to return to the negotiating table.
We welcome the swift, constructive and serious American response to the proposal for United States-Soviet talks on outer space arms control.