TNAG-0611-FCO40-759-Presence-of-Warsaw-Pact-countries-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 20

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RY NO. 51 2 & SEP 1977

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Mr Burrows o/r

CONTACTS WITH THE ROYAL SOCIETY

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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 76

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1. I lunched today with Dr Warren, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the Royal Society. We continued the discussion which you began with Dr Keay about the preparation of further contacts between the Royal Society and the FCO at both official and ministerial level.

2. Dr Warren, while recognising that one should certainly not have too frequent meetings at ministerial level, felt that an occasional meeting of this kind was desirable. The timing of the next meeting could usefully be discussed when you and Dr Keay meet again in October.

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3. As to the content of the meeting at ministerial level, Dr Warren entirely agreed with my suggestion that the ministerial meeting should not concern itself at all with the check-list of individual items of ongoing scientific business over which the Royal Society and the FCO had day to day contacts. These items of business should be handled either on a routine basis with the FCO department concerned, or at periodic meetings between yourself and Dr Keay or myself and Dr Warren. A meeting at ministerial level on the other hand should be designed to cover not specific items like this but one or two general themes of interest to the members of the Royal Society and, at a political level, to the FCO. After some discussion we identified one certain theme and two possible starters. certain theme was the desire of the Royal Society to discuss both in general and in specific terms the problems which arose from political pressures over representation in different scientific bodies. What they really wanted to discuss here was the attitude which the FCO thought they should take over the throe most sensitive membership issues which were more and more arising in individual scientific bodies, namely Taiwan/China, Israel, and South Africa. The two other possible themes for a ministerial meeting were the contribution which scientists could make to the nuclear energy/ non-proliferation debate; and secondly the usefulness of scientific contacts in the role of providing sced corn for subsequent economic and commercial benefits to the UK, with particular reference to the Middle East. We agreed that we would reflect further on these themes and would return to the subject when you saw Dr Keay next month.

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16 September 1977

cc: Mr Lovelock

fotamiy

DHA Hannay

Energy, Science and Space Department