Foreign and Commonwealth Office- London SW1A 2AH
-A RUG 1979
DESK OFFICER
INEX
PA
Telephone 01- 233-5341/8 ny 30
IN CONFIDENCE
Lt/Colonel M R Robinson OBE
West India Committee
48 Albemarle Street London W1X 4AR
Your reference
Our reference
Date
19 July 1979
My dear Max,
PROPOSED SEMINAR ON THE FUTURE OF BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORIES
We spoke about this today and I said I would send you a copy of a letter which is issuing to various people who may be invited to this seminar at Sussex University from 24-26 September.
We are a little overloaded with academics and feeling the need of some robust businessmen who would be able to and interested in contributing to the sort of discussion we hope will develop. Our problem, as you well know, is how to decide our political, economic, investment and financial policies towards those re- maining small dependencies most of them in the West Indies which, for various good reasons, are either unable to or unwilling to contemplate full independence by themselves and for whom federation or association with other territories is not probably a practical solution, certainly for the time being.
Do you think you could suggest to me in confidence the names of two or three members or associates of your Committee who might be interested in playing an active part in a seminar of this sort from whom we would choose one to be invited. I suggest we do it this way so as to avoid any possible difficulty of landing you with the slightly embarrassing job of making a specific choice.
When you have thought a bit about this you may like to discuss it further with me on the telephone and I shall be very happy to en- large in any way you may find helpful on what our objective is.
Yours ever Patrock
PC Duff
West Indian & Atlantic Dept
CC:
Mr Clarke, HKGD