DRAFT RESPONSE TO PQ BY MR JAMES PAWSEY
DSR 11C
1. I refer my Hon Friend to my reply to the Hon Member
for Welywn Hatfield on 18 May last year (column 288/9).
Since then my Department has continued to make a
positive contribution towards the promotion of British
and Western interests overseas. This has led to a number
of notable achievements during the last 10 months.
2. The Government has been active in maintaining the
cohesion of the Western Alliance on such vital issues
as East/West relations and in promoting a more constructive
relationship with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Mr Gorbachev's visit to the United Kingdom in December,
and my own discussions with the Foreign Ministers of the
Soviet Union, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, have
contributed to that process.
3. In NATO, the Government has continued to work with
Britain's allies to maintain peace and strengthen the
Alliance. The Alliance's firmness of purpose in pursuing
consistent defence and arms control policies has been
instrumental in persuading the Russians to
rstanding and return to the negotiating table.
Particular attention has been paid to strengthening the
European contribution to NATO. The Government has
supported the reactivation of the Western European Union.
and greater European collaboration on arms procurement
means of fulfilling that aim.
/4.