Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (Hansard, 20 January 1987)

§ Mr. D. E. Thomas
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received any communication from the five continents 524W peace initiative, Delhi six, on its initiatives to assist with the verification of compliance with a nuclear test ban treaty; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Renton
The President of Mexico wrote to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 25 August 1986 about the meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the six nations/five continents group in Ixtapa Mexico on 6–7 August. My right hon. and learned Friend also received a parallel message from the Mexican Foreign Minister.
We welcome the emphasis which the Ixtapa meeting placed on verification issues, but we believe it would be premature to re-open negotiations on a comprehensive test ban treaty until progress in resolving outstanding issues particularly on verification becomes more apparent.

§ Mr. D. E. Thomas
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Mid Sussex, specifically discussed the outstanding problems of verification of a comprehensive test ban treaty during his recent visit to Moscow to meet his counterparts in the Soviet Foreign Ministry; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Renton
I emphasised the importance of verification of arms control agreements across the board.

§ Mr. D. E. Thomas
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further initatives his Department intends to take at the United Nations committee on disarmament in achieving an agreement on the verification of a comprehensive test ban treaty.

§ Mr. Renton
We continue to believe that the correct approach is to pursue further work at the conference on disarmament at Geneva through(a) an ad hoc committee with a non-negotiating mandate as proposed by the western group in 1984. We hope other countries will be able to respond to this, particularly those who claim that all verification issues have been resolved; (b) the ad hoc group of scientific experts, next meeting in March. The United Kingdom will continue to play an active role in this group.