§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what problems of verification there are in current negotiations on mutual and balanced force reductions.
§ Mr. LuceBoth sides are agreed that it is essential for information to be exchanged on all manpower covered by the treaty in order to verify that its terms are being carried out as agreed. However, differences exist over the question of the scope of verification measures and the point at which they should take effect: in particular, the West considers that they should start at the signature of the treaty, while the East proposes that key elements of verification should be delayed until the end of the reductions process.