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16. There may be pressure from the Allies to make public the
exchanges with the Secretary General of NATO. We have agreed
firmly to resist the idea of a public statement by NATO at this
stage; and I believe that we should continue to press on NATO the
wisdom of maintaining the confidentiality of the consultations
until the publication of the Defence White Paper. Even then I
would hope that NATO would not wish to take issue with us at least
in detail over our definitive decisions; and I would make sure that
the passage in the Defence White Paper on NATO consultations was
generally acceptable to the Alliance. However, against the
possibility of NATO's insisting on publishing the Secretary General's
letter, my reply at Annex C has been drafted with an eye to possible
publication eventually.
Recommendations
17. I recommend that the Committee should:-
a.
b.
c.
a.
take note of the progress of the non-NATO
consultations;
agree that, pending the outcome of consultations
with the United States, reductions in our forces
in Cyprus should take place on the lines indicated
in paragraph 3b above;
take note that a further paper on Cyprus will be
submitted to the Committee in the light of the
outcome of those consultations;
take note of the progress in our NATO consultations,
and in particular of the Secretary General's formal
letter at Annex B;
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