§ 66. Mr. Tom Clarkeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why Her Majesty's Government rejected the proposal at the conference on 186W disarmament in Geneva to establish an ad hoc committee on a nuclear test ban to initiate the multilateral negotiation of a treaty for the prohibition of all nuclear weapons tests.
§ Mr. RentonIt has long been our policy that solutions to outstanding verification issues would have to be more apparent before it would be appropriate to resume negotiations proper. We remain however ready to discuss at the Conference on Disarmament, with other interested parties, the issues of verification and the possible scope of an agreement. This approach is reflected in the longstanding draft mandate for future work of the Western Group at the Conference on Disarmament. We regret that other countries have so far not accepted it.