§ 22. Mr. MansTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress is being made towards EC association agreements with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesI am delighted to be able to tell the House that the European Community's association agreements with Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which were the result of a United Kingdom initiative in 1989, were signed in Brussels on Monday 16 December 1991. The agreements contain a variety of measures designed to bolster the economies of these countries and bring them closer to the Community and its member states. They include trade liberalisation provisions to promote economic development through the gradual establishment of a free trade area. The agreements will also help prepare them for the eventual membership of the Community which they seek.