TNAG-1229-FCO40-1542-Possible-visit-by-the-Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Com-1983 — Page 8

CONFIDENTIAL

OTHER BILATERAL VISITS OVERSEAS PROPOSED FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN 1984

France

1. There is a requirement for the Secretary of State to. meet M Cheysson at least once between Summits (the next one is in the autumn in Paris) for a mid-term review of bilateral relations. There is an outstanding invitation from

M Cheysson to pay an extended (weekend) visit to Pau. The two might be combined, possibly about Easter.

Netherlands

2. The Secretary of State did not accompany the Prime Minister to The Hague in September, and it would be useful for him to see Mr van den Broek in the first half of next year. (The last bilateral meeting was in November 1982).

United States and Canada

3.

The Secretary of State's programme might provide for two visits to the US (plus that for the UN) and one to Canada in 1984, but no particular need at present for him to go before Easter.

FRG

4.

It would be worth trying to arrange at least one meeting between the Secretary of State and Herr Genscher, either in the UK or the FRG, between next year's Summits on 2 May and in the autumn. The Secretary of State's diary has a pencilled entry for next year's Koenigswinter Conference, to be held in Cambridge on 5-8 April.

Italy

5. The Secretary of State will no doubt have at least one meeting with Signor Andreotti.

Belgium

6.

The Secretary of State had dinner with Mr Tindemans on 18 September. There is likely to be a requirement for one meeting some time next year depending partly on the Prime Minister's plans.

Switzerland

7.

The Secretary of State has expressed interest in visiting Switzerland (to include Berne and the UN Organisations at Geneva). He has invited Mr Aubert to come to London on 2/3 April.

A return visit towards the end of 1984 would be welcome to the Swiss.

Greece

8.

A visit to Greece might be helpful if the Papandreou

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/Government's

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Government's foreign policy becomes wilder as it enters the second half of its term with the economy in trouble and many election promises unfulfilled.

Turkey

9. If the new Turkish Government following the elections on 6 November shows signs of independence from the military and a commitment to full democracy, a visit to Ankara would help demonstrate our support.

Soviet Union

10.

Since Dr Owen went to Moscow in 1977 contacts with the Soviet Union have been reduced to a low level. However Ministers are planning to increase slowly the pace and the level of these contacts and, although technically it is Mr Gromyko's turn to come to London, the Secretary of State might find a visit to Moscow more useful and productive. The Russians are usually less reticent at home. July is suggested.

Romania

11. The policy of positive discrimination in Eastern Europe is designed to encourage those countries which pursue independent policies. High level visitors from France, the FRG and the US have recently been to Romania. We need to return the visit to London by the Romanian Foreign Minister more than two years ago in October 1981. The Secretary of State has agreed in principle to go and it would be helpful to tell the Romanians that he will do so in 1984. Such a visit might usefully and economically be combined with one to another East European country, probably Bulgaria.

Brazil and Venezuela

12. The Private Office have suggested that there might be a case for renewing Mr Pym's plan to visit Brazil. A visit to Brazil and Venezuela might best be kept as an option for 1984 when Brazilian sensitiveness towards Argentina - which led to the rebuff to Mr Pym last June - may have diminished, and the new Venezuelan administration will have got into its stride. Mr Figueiredo of Brazil has been invited to the UK on an official visit but we do not know whether he will come in 1984.

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Far Eastern Department

DATE: 24 November 1983

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Private Secretary

SECRETARY OF STATE'S PROPOSED VISIT TO JAPAN AND KOREA

1. HM Embassy Seoul have welcomed the proposal for an April visit by the Secretary of State, and have raised no difficulties of timing within that month.

2.

HM Embassy Tokyo have pointed out a number of diary constraints that would affect the timing of the Secretary of State's proposed trip to Japan, as follows:-

3.

a) there will be a new Japanese Foreign Minister after the December elections whose views will have to be sought before we can receive formal agreement from the Japanese for Sir G Howe's plans;

b) a visit in the last two weeks of April would be well timed for Japan although the Golden Week of public holidays in Japan begins on 30 April and will probably be marked by foreign tours for the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Both, however, must be in Tokyo on 29 April for the Emperor's birthday;

c) a visit in the week before Easter would be marginally preferable to one in the following week since then the timing would become very tight (the Secretary of State would have to leave London on 25 April to ensure full working days in Tokyo);

d) although it would be preferable for the proposed visits by Mr Tebbit and Sir G Howe to be as widely separated as possible, the Embassy advise that if Mr Tebbit's visit were to end on 29 March and Sir G Howe's to begin on 16/17 April this would not be unacceptable in Japanese eyes nor would it weaken the impact of the visits from the British point of view.

All the above points are subsidiary to the timing of the Parliamentary Easter recess, but they do seem to point to the week before Easter for the Japan leg of the tour. The Korean leg could precede or follow the visit to Japan. In neither Korea nor Japan is Easter or Good Friday marked as a public holiday.

/4.

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