§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will have urgent talks with his European Community colleagues in order to take practical steps in support of the Acapulco declaration signed by the Rio 8 group of countries; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarWe shall be giving the Acapulco declaration full consideration. In some areas which it covers, we share the Group of Eight's approach, for example, through the current efforts of the Twelve to encourage negotiated peace in central America. We look forward to continuing,658W with our European Community colleagues, the political dialogue with the Group of Eight begun last September in New York.
§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to support the demands contained in the Acapulco declaration recently signed by the Rio 8 group of countries.
§ Mr. EggarWe welcome the positive aspects of the Acapulco declaration for peace development and democracy, which we are studying.
We shall continue to support the current efforts to achieve a peace settlement in Central America. The United Kingdom voted in favour of the United Nations General Assembly resolution concerning the south Atlantic zone of peace to which the declaration refers, and we have consistently supported efforts to eradicate drug trafficking.
We welcome, too, the commitment of the Group of Eight to continue to seek negotiated solutions to the debt problem. We recognise the severity of many countries' difficulties and the need for the international community to provide adequate support to countries implementing economic reform programmes.
Latin America's debt problems are primarily a matter for negotiation between the debtor country and the commercial banks in which creditor Governments should not intervene.
We will continue to play our part, with our European Community partners, in the dialogue with Latin American states represented in the Group of Eight, which was begun in New York in September.