REPOST ON VISIT TO LONDON
1. The visit was characterised by the flexible and practical arrangements which were made. These, in turn, uzde possible valuable discussion of a wide range of topics.
Exposition by the Director
2. Dr. Mårtens thanked Her Majesty's Government for their continuing support. He explained the details of the Fund's activities and provided supporting docu- mentation to Dr. Summerskill and to officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, These set out contributions to the Fund, the use to which these contributions had been put, and the likely calls on the resources of the Fund in future.
General position of H.M,G.
3. The position of H.M.G., as evidenced in the discussions which took place, ims as follows:-
(1) It was extremely valuable that Dr. Martens was able to visit London at
this time. H.MG. had provided a cash contribution to the UNFDAC of £50,000 a year for three years. 1974 was the last of the initially agreed contributions, and H.M.G. must now consider whether it was possible to renew this contribution for a further period.
(ii)
To achieve a continuation it was necessary to present to the Government a clear picture of the practical advantages of the Fund's achievements.
(iii) The Minister axpressed herself as impressed with what had been done, and
indicated that she personally saw the case for continued contributions. The decision did not, however, rest with her, and the Government's res- ponse would have to take accomt, inter alia, of the general financial climate at the present time.
(iv) The Minister asked about the relationship between the Fund and the
Specialised Agencies, and the possibility of money being made available from the normal budgets of the Specialised Agencies for activities connected with drug abuse control. She accepted that money from the Fund might be "drowned" within large programmes if a disproportionate amount of it were channelled for use by the Specialised Agencies es executing agents.
(v) The Home Office expressed interest in the Acting Director's suggestion
that the use of UNFDAC money by Specialised Agencies should load to the development of programmes and projects by those Agencies with the Fund money as an initial "trigger" for greater activity founded from Agency sources. In the light of the present financial constraints on oil- importing countries it appeared unrealistic to expect to obtain the US$ 98 million in contributions to the Fund which had once been envisaged. There would be advantage, therefore, in examining the basic objectives of the Fund in so far as these affected the use which was made of its financial resources. It might be preferable to concetrate upon using the Fund's money as what was described as a "pump-pidner" to generate other resources from multilateral and bilateral sources