ONFIDENTIAL
7. Discussion could then move to the Community (see Community
Steering Brief). The Budget will not be uppermost in the
Federal Chancellor's mind and he will no doubt with to
explain first his general approach to the Community!
8. Dr Kohl is no expert on world economic and financial
issues; detailed discussion should therefore be left to
Finance Ministers. He must realise however the importance
of getting an early grasp of this field, given the
repercussions it has for his own domestic economy. It would
no doubt pay dividends if the Prime Minister were to give
him a full account of her current preoccupations, concent+
rating perhaps on the problem of indebtedness, on the
prospects for recovery and on Japan.
છું', '
9. Given the priority Dr Kohl attaches to improving
relations with Washington there will be advantage in
according a fair share of time to this subject.. It is
likely, however, that there will be little difference
between the two sides on the nature of the problem or on how
to approach assolution. The Prime Minister should perhaps let the Federal Chancellor make the running, but will wish to
set out our concerns. She might also invite Dr Kohl to expound his views on East/West relations and particularly on dialogue with Soviet and other East bloc leaders: we would not expect him to wait too long before seeing Honecker and possibly Brezhnev.
10. On defence the Prime Minister might concentrate onnseeking the Federal Chancellor's agreement to our ideas on the
closer coordination of defence policy, leaving it to
Defence Ministers to have more detailed discussion on
IDENTIAL
/hardware?"
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.