Finance Ministers (Paris Meeting)

HC Deb 24 February 1987 vol 111 c205W

Mr. Forman

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement about the meeting of Finance Ministers in Paris on 22 February.

Mr. Lawson

I attended a meeting of the Finance Ministers and central bank governors of six of the group of seven major industrialised countries in Paris on 22 February. A copy of the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting has been placed in the Library. As I said at the press conference in Paris after the communiqué had been issuedFor a number of weeks there has been speculation in the press about a possible meeting of the G5 or the G7. I have all along insisted that there should be no meeting until it had been properly prepared and that we knew we were close to an agreement of substance. And that we have now had—a well prepared meeting that has reached an agreement of substance. Along with Secretary Baker and Minister Stoltenberg I am one of the three survivors of the Plaza Agreement of 1985. And I see this as its lineal descendant—Plaza II. Then, we were all agreed that the dollar needed to fall and we acted accordingly. Now, we all agree that the time has come for a period of stability, and we will act accordingly. I welcome that.