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Oral Answers
HKK 400 independent Namibia. Accordingly they instructed officials to develop proposals encompassing measures, including con- sional arrangements, with the aim of enhancing prospects of civing a negotiated settlement. Senior officials of the Five W... meet in late May for this purpose.
5. The Ministers affirmed that the close co-operation of all the parties concerned is essential to the effort to bring about a negotiated solution. The Western Five intend to consult with all interested parties in exploring and developing specific proposals which would facilitate a settlement.
6. Finally, the Ministers agreed that the Namibia issue has been on the international agenda for too long. They committed their Governments to vigorous action in the effort to bring Namibia to independence at an early date.
Hong Kong
2. Mr. Parry asked the Lord Privy Seal when he expects to announce the name of the next Governor of Hong Kong.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Peter Blaker): At the appropriate time.
Mr. Parry: Is the Minister aware that many hon. Members hope that the next Governor of Hong Kong will be a person who really believes in democratic reform and social justice for Hong Kong and not a puppet of big business such as the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, the Jockey Club and Jardine Matheson? Will consideration be given to the possible appointment of a Chinese person, bearing in mind that 98 per cent. of the population is Chinese and that the treaty on the New Territories expires in 15 years?
Mr. Blaker: I hope that the hon. Gentleman was not reflecting adversely on the conduct of the affairs of Hong Kong by the present Governor, for whom there is widespread admiration in Hong Kong and in other countries associated with it. I wish that Labour Menibers would not constantly adopt a carping tone towards Hong Kong, the achievements of which are remarkable by any standards and certainly by the standards of Asia. We know why they do so. It is because Hong Kong is one of the most successful examples of free enterprise in the world and Labour Members do not like that.
Mr. Costain: Does the Minister realise how popular the present Governor of Hong Kong is and what a splendid job he does, that the majority of people in Hong Kong would reiterate the Minister's praise for him and that any criticism of him should be withdrawn?
Mr. Blaker: I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. The successes of Hong Kong during the 10 years that Sir Murray Maclehose has been Governor have been remarkable.
Foreign Ministers (Meeting)
3. Mr. Deakins asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will make a statement about preparations for the Mexico meeting of Foreign Ministers in August.
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Nicholas Ridley): Preparations for the meeting of Foreign Ministers are in the hands of the Mexican and Austrian Governments, acting on behalf of the 11 co-sponsoring countries. We are in close touch with them.
Mr. Deakins: Will the Minister arrange to meet his colleagues from the six other Commonwealth countries
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who will be going to Mexico, with a view to ensuring al full discussion of the matter at the Commonwealth 7. conference and perhaps getting a unified Commonwealth line at the subsequent meeting of Heads of Government in Mexico in October?
Mr. Ridley: I am sure that these matters will be discussed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. However, I do not think that the Mexicans would like to feel that blocs were forming in advance of the summit or that positions were being pre-empted before it took place.
Seo
Mr. Renton: Is my hon. Friend aware that thousands of people in this country are anxious that something solid should come out of the Mexican summit which will put flesh on the bones of the Brandt report before it becomes a skeleton? Will he assure the House that he and his right hon. Friends will go to the Mexico summit with constructive proposals and not just suggestions that everything should be put off for discussion at another international meeting a year later?
Mr. Ridley: I cannot promise my hon. Friend. that I shall be going to the Mexico summit, but I assure him that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and my right hon. and noble Friend the Foreign Secretary will go to those meetings in a constructive spirit to try to find ways of making practical advances from the position that we have now reached.
Mr. Russell Johnston: Cannot the Minister say anything at all about the Government's objectives in going to Mexico? It is all very well to say that they will be constructive and positive, but in what respects, for example, does he expect that the Mexico experience will alter the Government's policies towards the Third world?
Mr. Ridley: Although I share the hon. Gentleman's desire for positive initiatives to come from the Mexico summit, I believe that it is better to allow the discussion to be free and, as it were, unpre-empted. That is exactly what the Mexicans and the Austrians, the convenors of the conference, have asked all of us to do.
Mr. Denzil Davies: Is it not clear from the hon. Gentleman's answers that the Government have no idea at all what proposals to put forward for the Mexico summit, although they pretend that they have now discovered the Brandt report? Will the Government at least consider the proposals for the reform of the IMF and the World Bank, for instance, so that the developing countries may have some say in the international financial system?
Mr. Ridley: The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that those questions have been examined and discussed in some depth, but I believe that he would be wrong to suggest that we should go to the Mexico summit with preconceived ideas. That it certainly not what the Mexicans themselves want.
Middle East
4. Mr. Thomas Cox asked the Lord Privy Seal to what extent he considers Soviet initiatives on the Middle East will contribute towards the present Middle East peace efforts.
The Lord Privy Seal (Sir Ian Gilmour): We have noted recent Soviet reierences to the possibility of an
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