HC Deb 11 May 1989 vol 152 cc512-3W
Mr. Atkinson

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many joint ventures have been entered into by British companies with(a) Soviet state enterprises and (b) Soviet co-operatives to date; and if he will list them.

Mr. Alan Clark

I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Mr. Fisher) on 10 May 1989. Of those, 33 signed UK/USSR joint ventures of which we are aware, 29 are with Soviet state organisations while the remaining four are with Soviet co-operatives. My Department is unable to list them, however, as much of the information has been provided to us on the basis of commercial confidentiality.

Mr. Atkinson

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many joint ventures have been entered into with the Soviet Union by EC companies to date; and if he is able to list the number for each member state.

Mr. Alan Clark

The most comprehensive and most recent survey of joint ventures entered into in the Soviet Union by EC companies held by my Department is aPlanEcon Report1 dated 24 March which gives details of 103 joint ventures which had been registered with the Soviet Ministry of Finance on or before 15 February 1989. For ease of comparison, the number with each member state is as follows:

EC Member State Number
West Germany 36
Italy 20
United Kingdom 12
France 10
Luxembourg 3
Spain 3
Belgium 2
Denmark 2
Netherlands 2
Greece 1
Ireland 1
Portugal 0
92
Joint Ventures having partners from more than one EC Member State 4
Joint Venture having partners from an EC Member State and a third country 7
103
1 The PlanEcon report is a weekly United States publication, which analyses major macroeconomic and trade developments in the economies of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

The number of joint ventures has since risen, though no more recent comparison is available. As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, Central (Mr. Fisher) on 10 May 1989, my Department is, for example, aware of 33 joint ventures signed to date between United Kingdom companies and the Soviet Union, not all of which have been registered with the Soviet authorities.