nese companies' share. He did not
know how this could be achieved but the attempt must
be made.
(2) It was necessary for Japan to increase
her st ks of oil; at present these amounted to only 45 days'
supply including oil in transit. He thought this
should be raised to '60 or possibly 90 days'.
Mr Hirahara wondered whether there should be an
association of importing countries to match OPEC.
It might be useful to have international meetings.
He would however prefer consultation in bodies such as
a
OECD or among/limited range of countries.
///
Mr Beckett
suggested that international meetings in certain
}
countries carried a danger of involvement in politics
and therefore were undesirable. As to stocks, we
worked to 75 days but considered this inadequate.
Most of this was held by the companies but some by the
Government. He would like to know why the Japanese
wanted to increase the proportion of oil supplied
security?/M
through Japanese companies. Would this give increased
Mr Hirahara said that Japan was grateful fþr
the help given by the UK and the US but pointed out that
negotiations carried out mainly by the big companies
did not necessarily reflect the Japanese point of view.
There was also the price point. Mr. Beckett asked
whether it was intended that Japanese enterprises should
enter into partnership with those of other countries or
that they should start from scratch. Mr Hirahara
thought that both methods were desirable. Mr. Beckett
suggested that partnership might be found fruitful.
While increases in cost must be passed on to the
customer, in the UK the competition between the
suppliers was the consumers' safeguard.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Mr Bottomley
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