§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what account was taken of the United Kingdom's role as co-chairman of the 1962 Geneva conference on Laos when deciding to close the United Kingdom embassy in Laos.
§ Mr. LuceWe took fully into account all relevant considerations in reaching our decision, on financial ground, to close Her Majesty's embassy in Laos and accredit a non-resident ambassador to Vientiane.
§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance Her Majesty's Government have offered the Laos Government to clear up the 3 million tons of bombs deposited by United States planes on Laos territory between 1965 and 1972.
§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which other European Economic Community member countries have diplomatic representation in Laos.
§ Mr. LuceFrance and the Federal Republic of Germany, amongst our European Community partners, have diplomatic representation in Laos.
§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the annual cost of maintaining the United Kingdom embassy in Laos; and what will be the estimated annual cost of administering the United Kingdom's Laos interests from Bangkok.
§ Mr. RentonThe latest available annual figure for the cost of maintaining Her Majesty's embassy in Laos is £133,063. The annual cost of administering our interests in Laos from Bangkok will depend on the number visits to Vientiane by embassy staff at Bangkok. It will certainly be substantially less than the cost of maintaining a Resident embassy in Laos.
§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs for what reason Her Majesty's Government are proposing to close the embassy in Laos.
§ Mr. RentonThe closure of Her Majesty's embassy in Vientiane and another nine posts is part of a balanced package of reductions aimed at keeping Foreign and Commonwealth Office expenditure for 1985–86 within the figure planned and approved by Parliament. In choosing the posts to close the aim has been to minimise the overall 313W effect on United Kingdom interests while maintaining a reasonable degree of geographical balance. In all cases we have looked carefully at the political, commercial and consular interests involved.