H of C
FROM: MINISTER DATE: 16 April 1993
CC:
Mr Holmes
High Commissioner (o/r) SAD, FCO
Parliamentary Relations
Unit, FCO
Sir Michael Marshall MP
CALL BY SIR MICHAEL MARSHALL MP, PRESIDENT OF THE IPU, ON PRIME MINISTER NARASIMHA RAO: 16 APRIL 1993
Sir Michael Marshall, accompanied by me, called on the Prime Minister at his residence at 1230 today. The call lasted nearly half an hour. A lady from the Prime Minister's Office took a record.
2.
Sir Michael opened with thanks for the generous hospitality extended by India to the IPU before raising two IPU points:
(a) he hoped that the conference in Delhi would give
new impetus to participation by the Indian Parliament in the work of the IPU, with particular reference to the IPU's efforts in the area of UN reform. He would like to take the Prime Minister's mind on this. Mr Narasimha Rao asked for specific examples and Sir Michael quoted several,
eg initiatives to gather support amongst parlia- mentarians for additional resources for the United Nations peace keeping missions and for supervision of elections. The Prime Minister said he was in favour of the IPU trying to clarify and develop its specific role in relation to the UN but advised that it should try to identify new areas where it would not tend to duplicate the work of existing UN agencies;
(b) Sir Michael said that the IPU sought to develop
friendship and cooperation within countries and one device that had been found fruitful had been inter-parliamentary groups from countries whose governments had mutual problems. He instanced a