TNAG-0429-FCO40-494-Programme-Analysis-and-Review-(PAR)-Future-of-Dependent-Terr-1974 — Page 117

Mr Goulden (Planning Staff)

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SEA BED AND COASTAL WATER RESOURCES OF BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORIES.

I am sorry that we have taken so long to reply to your minute of 16 January to Brian Hitch.

1.

2. I agree with the action you propose in your second paragraph. We have already drafted a letter which might be circulated to Governors on a personal basis and which we shall of course wish to clear in due course with the other departments concerned. The draft letter does not (and I do not think it need) indicate what line we propose to take at the Conference with regard to the Z concept, which, as you know, Ministers have recently considered in the context of our overall law of the sea policy.

3. As you are a ware, MTD's main interest in this exercise is to have some assessment of the justification, in economic terms, for exerting ourselves at the Law of the Sea Conference to ensure that dependent territories acquire the same rights over ETZ's or whatever other type of resource zone the resulting convention provides for as sovereign states. I assume that we should in any case wish to resist on principle any move at the Conference to discriminate against dependent territories in this regard. I wonder whether this point of principle

should be mentioned in the covering note?

4. If the Research Department paper is to mention defence interests it ought I think to be rather more explicit. Paragraph 8 as it stands is misleading and paragraph 11 needs to explain how the defence interests of the USA in the Caribbean affect our dependencies in the area.

5. It would certainly be useful to send a copy of the paper to Mr Archer of the IGS. There is no security problem, Mr Archer is covered by the official Secrets : Act and has in fact been positively vetted.

H J S Pearce

Marine and Transport Department

13 February 1974

CC:

Miss Bishop (Research Dept)

Mr Hamylton-Jones (GGD)

Mr Preston (CD)

Mrs Maccoll (Economists)

Mr Champion (GGD)

Mr Stuart (HIKIOD

Dr Roberts (LAD)

Mr Huijsman (WIAD)

Dr Hall (ODA) Mr Hazle (TRED)

CONFIDENTIAL