§ Mr. Pawseyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list his Department's principal achievements since 1979; and if he will list separately the achievements with respect to overseas development.
§ Mr. RifkindI refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. and learned Friend to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Mr. Murphy) on 18 May 1984. at columns 289–90. Since then the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has continued to make a significant and useful contribution towards the promotion of British and Western interests overseas. There have been several notable achievements during the past 10 months.
In NATO, we continued to work with our transatlantic and European allies to maintain peace and strengthen the Alliance. The Alliance's firmness of purpose in pursuin consistent defence and arms control policies has been instrumental in persuading the Russians to return to the negotiating table. Particular attention has been paid to strengthening the European contribution to NATO, and we have supported the reactivation of the Western European Union and greater European collaboration on arms procurement. We have also played a leading role in efforts to achieve a comprehensive ban on chemical weapons.
Together with our Western allies and partners, we have worked to promote a more constructive relationship between the West and the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Mr. Gorbachev's visit to the United Kingdom in December, and the discussions which my right hon. and learned Friend had with the Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, have contributed to that process.
We have played a significant role in strengthening the internal and external policies of the European Community. Notable achievements in 1984 were the settlement at Fontainebleau including an abatement in 1984 of £600 million of the United Kingdom contribution to the Community budget and an agreement under which future contributions will be reduced by about half; agreement on the control of Community expenditure, particularly agriculture expenditure; progress in negotiations to enable Spain and Portugal to join the Community on terms acceptable to the United Kingdom; and the priority now being given within the Community to bringing about a full common market in Europe.
Substantial progress has been made on some of the outstanding problems affecting Britain's remaining dependent territories. The successful negotiation with the Chinese Government of an agreement on the future of Hong Kong has provided an excellent framework for the future prosperity and stability of the territory. This has been welcomed by the international community as a major achievement for British diplomacy. Spain has lifted restrictions on Gibraltar in conformity with the Lisbon statement of 1980. In this connection we have made clear our commitment to honour the wishes of the people of Gibraltar. We have continued to honour our responsibilities to the other dependent territories, including in particular to the people of the Falkland Islands.
We have continued to take active steps to promote stability and democratic values in many developing 209W countries including the strengthening of political, economic and cultural links, and the provision of military training assistance. We have worked with like-minded Governments for peaceful solutions in areas of international tension, such as the middle east, Afghanistan, Southern Africa and Central America. We have continued to play a constructive role in the United Nations and to participate in United Nations peacekeeping forces in Cyprus and Sinai. We have participated actively with Commonwealth partners in discussion of the special needs of small states and have maintained contingents in Belize and Brunei. We have also worked closely with our allies on measures to thwart terrorism through effective international co-operation.
At the London economic summit, participants reached a large measure of agreement on basic economic objectives, including a 10-point programme for future action. This recognised the needs of developing countries, provided a framework for action on international indebtedness, and looked forward to further trade liberalisation.
Those achievements have been secured despite a continuing increase in the workload of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and reductions in its manpower of about 10 per cent. over the last five years. This reflects an increasingly efficient and cost-effective performance by the Diplomatic Service.
Overseas Development
In response to the appalling effects of the drought in many sub-Saharan African countries, notably Ethiopia and Sudan, we have played a major role in international relief operations and have provided over £100 million in drought related relief aid in the current financial year.
Successful negotiations between the European Community and 65 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (35 of them in the Commonwealth) culminated in the signing of the third Lomé convention last December. This provides for a sixth European development fund totalling 7.5 billion ecu, the United Kingdom share of which is some £780 million at current exchange rates.
More generally, we have continued our programme of long-term development assistance mainly to the poorer countries, successfully completing many projects, including the Victoria dam in Sri Lanka to which we contributed £113 million of grant aid.
A significant part of Overseas Development Administration headquarter's operations has been shifted to the west of Scotland in accordance with our dispersal policy. ODA has also put through a major rationalisation of its scientific and special units and has continued to maintain the spread of the United Kingdom's bilateral aid programmes while reducing its overall work force by some 30 per cent.