13
Reference.........
CONFIDENTIAL
Miss Solesby, U N Dept.
UK AND THE COMMITTEE OF 24
1.
We discussed your minute of 8 May. You kindly agreed to include a reference to BIOT in paragraph 7 of your submission and to change the last sentence of paragraph 9 to read "The other considerations are more finely balanced." This was because the submission as drafted appeared to suggest that, even apart from political considerations, the arguments on the whole favoured cooperation. We agreed that this was open to question.
2.
Largely for reasons of time and space you have not included my other point about visiting missions, though I believe you agree with it. The visiting missions which we would still wish to refuse correspond closely to those which the Committee would like to send.
We may, therefore, by our refusals, create an unfavourable impression which the offer of missions to places in which the Ommittee is not so interested might well not dispel. We might thus end up with a net negative balance of esteem on visiting missions. Perhaps you could work this thought into the letter to New York which you will be drafting after Ministers have taken their decision?
10 May 1974
cc
Mr Weir
Mr Larmour
Mr Champion
Mr Nicholas
Mr Byatt
DESL
A C Stuart
Hong Kong & Indian Ocean
Dept.
Mr Cox
Mr Hickman
Mr Preston
Mr Carless
CONFIDENTT AT