§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what initiative Her Majesty's Government propose to take in response to the submission by the Soviet delegation to the 43rd session of the United Nations General Assembly of detailed data on the Russian Navy, with a view to promoting exchanges of military information and confidence building measures in the naval field; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. EggarWe took an initiative on military information at the United Nations General Assembly two years ago by tabling a resolution on objective information on military matters which invited member states to provide information on the whole range of their military forces and on their military budgets. We tabled a similar resolution again yesterday and look forward to a positive response from the Warsaw pact, particularly on military expenditure.
We shall have no difficulty in providing our share of the information, including on naval forces, as it is already freely available through such publications as the annual statement on the Defence Estimates. As regards proposals for naval arms control, the Government's attitude was set out in my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Putney's answer to a question from the hon. Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mrs. Fyfe) on 28 June.