§ Mr. Rhodes Jamesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the meeting of European Community Foreign Minsters in Copenhagen on 13 July.
§ Sir Geoffrey HoweI attended a meeting with other Foreign Ministers of the Twelve on 13 July in the framework of European political co-operation. We adopted statements on East-West relations, the middle east and Afghanistan. Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
The discussion of East-West relations covered recent developments in the Soviet Union, the prospects for current arms control negotiations, and the CSCE follow-up meeting in Vienna.
We reaffirmed our support for an international conference on the middle east, recalled our commitment to respect for human rights in the occupied territories, and agreed that the Twelve should continue to contribute to economic and social development in the territories.
We agreed that the Twelve should pursue their contacts with all the interested parties in the middle east.
We noted the action taken by Syria against the Abu Nidal organisation, following the firm stand taken last year by the Twelve and other members of the international community in response to Syrian involvement in terrorism. We agreed that the Twelve would lift their ban on high-level contacts with Syria, but leave their other measures against Syria in place.
We also discussed South Africa, and asked officials to study the implementation of the measures agreed by the Twelve last September.