TNAG-1260-FCO40-1600-Briefings-for-Ministers-and-FCO-officials-on-the-future-of-H-1983 — Page 9

CONFIDENTIAL

Greater exchange rate stability, based upon closer

convergence of economic policies, is an important part

of this agenda. The task for 1983/4 is to carry

forward the work forshadowed in the Annex on

"Strengthening Economic Cooperation for Growth and

Stability" and by this and other means to make a

success of the London Summit as a major step in the

right direction. A special problem whose solution must

already be overdue is the Japanese trade surplus and

Japan's foreign trading methods. We want the Japanese

to maximise their contribution to the strength of the

West while minimising their disruptive effect upon the

world economy.

11. Last and most urgent of all in this category,

there are the European Community problems which are the

subject of another paper: the European Council in

ms which

Athens is only five months distant.

distant. Here too the task

is to ensure that we make more of the Community's

economic opportunities, while reducing the financial

inequities of the present system.

National Tasks

12. The problems under this heading are legacies from

our imperial past. They are issues which are not

central to our national security and prosperity but in

which the UK has a determining influence and

CONFIDENTIAL