overcome the challenges of the past, and the will to
create the opportunities of the future.
East/West relations
3.
Nowhere, Mr Speaker, are such qualities more in
demand than in the field of relations between East and
West. Only a Panglossian optimist could offer a wholly
positive account of East/West exchanges over the past
year. Time and again, in public and in private, we in
the West have indicated that we are ready and willing
to work for better relations with the Soviet Union, and
to negotiate seriously on nuclear arms. But the
response has not been encouraging. The Russians have
remained immobile, imprisoned in the rusty cage of
their own rhetoric. All too often our interlocutors
appear to have been unable to take yes for an answer.
4.
But we shall not let this discourage us. We remain
committed to finding a better way of managing relations
between East and West. To challenging the Russians for
peace. That is why we have so persistently sought to
improve our links with the Soviet Union and with.
Eastern Europe. And why we stand convinced of the need
for wider and deeper contact between our peoples.
5. Already we have made some slight but significant
progress. My own visit to Hungary was just one in a
growing number of direct contacts. My rt. hon. and
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