QUEEN'S SPEECH ON PROROGATION
My Lords and Members of the House of Commons
The Duke of Edinburgh and I were pleased to receive the State Visits of His Excellency the President of the Republic of India and Mrs Venkataram in April [and His Excellency the President of the Italian Republic in October 19901.
We recall with pleasure our visit to New Zealand in February for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Waitangi Treaty and to attend the Commonwealth Games. We remember with satisfaction our State Visit to Iceland in June, followed by a visit I made to Canada.
My Government have welcomed continuing progress towards economic and political reform in the Soviet Union. They have also welcomed the far reaching political changes which have taken place in most Eastern European countries and have worked to help the new governments in these countries to move towards full democracy and free economies.
My Government have also welcomed the changes in the German Democratic Républic. They have played a full and constructive part in taking forward the process of German unification in an orderly way so that it can contribute to the future security, prosperity and stability of Europe.
My Government have maintained a sound defence based on the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. They have also played a full part in the process of adapting NATO to the new circumstances in Europe, set in hand at the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in London in July.
My Government have continued to work for the achievement of balanced and verifiable arms control agreements. They have played a full part in the Vienna negotiations on reducing convential forces in Europe and in the talks in Geneva on the abolition of chemical weapons. They have continued to cooperate with the United States over the removal of cruise missiles from the United Kingdom under the terms of the Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on intermediate range nuclear forces. As a depositary power of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, my Government played an important part in the Fourth Review Conference of the Treaty.
My Government have continued to work actively for the completion of the Single European Market. They have made proposals for improved Community economic and monetary cooperation. They have, with our European Partners, concluded a Fourth Lome Agreement. They have continued to play a full part in the Community and other international responses to economic and political reform in Eastern Europe and in wider multilateral negotiations designed to liberalise international trade.
My Government have warmly welcomed the independence of Namibia, for which they have long worked, and Namibia's membership of the Commonwealth. In South Africa there has been welcome progress towards the end of apartheid which my Government over many years have sought to encourage.
My Government have maintained a substantial and effective overseas aid programme to assist developing countries, in particular the poorest of them, including the provision of humanitarian assistance.