IT
The Rt Hon Patrick Jenkin MP
Secretary of State for Industry Ashdown House
123 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6RB.
BRITISH EMBASSY,
BERNE.
Ма одной равно
10
14/2
©
Jean recretary of State,
Rw rc
8 February 1983
RECEIV
14FEB 1983
WADESKO INDEX
73.13
EGISTRY ction Taken
JT
Many thanks for your letter of 3 February. I was very glad to know that you enjoyed your visit to Davos and found the discussions stimulating.
The Symposium was, in its way, an important event in that it brought together so large a number of distinguished public figures. Certainly the Swiss attach a lot of importance to it. The Federal. Councillor Furgler for instance emphasised during a short discussion I had with him before the dinner at Davos how valuable he found the contacts and I have since heard the same from the two State Secretaries who attended, Jolles and Probst. The other main Swiss participant, Leutwiler of the National Bank, was perhaps rather more reserved in his attitude
A feature of Swiss life is a certain hunger for international contact, and I sometimes think they are apprehensive lest Swiss neutrality should become synonymous with isolation. The enthusiasm of the Swiss authorities for the CSCE conference, because it alone brings them into negotiating contact with the major powers, illustrates this point. They are of course also gluttons for weekend speeches perhaps surprisingly so when they could be walking in the Alps).
!
Important and interesting as they were, the proceedings in Davos hardly seem to me appropriate material for an official report. I thought however that the character and tone of the event were well. described by the correspondent of the Journal de Génève who covered the Symposium day by day and wrote two concluding articles by way of a resumé. I enclose copies of these which, as I hope you will agree, accurately convey the flavour of the proceedings and are a sufficient record of an inconclusive debate.
In conclusion may I say that while sharing the reservations about weekend conferences which you expressed at the very agreeable lunch we had together I believe that it is nevertheless important in terms of Anglo-Swiss relations that the United Kingdom should be
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