TNAG-1420-FCO40-1903-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 123

CONFIDENTIAL

10. The Russians had moved into public relations in a big way in

the run up to the Summit. He had commented in Prague to Johannes (Deputy Foreign Minister) that the Soviet Foreign Ministry seemed to

have disappeared, to be replaced by Agitprop.

11. The PUS agreed with this analysis. After a rough passage in

UK/Soviet relations stemming from the need to maintain UK national

security in the wake of Gordievsky's defection, the aim now was to draw a line under the episode. European expectations might be

dashed if the Reagan/Gorbachev meeting proved insubstantial. The US

was aware of this risk. There was a blockage in negotiations in all

the technical fora. HMG would like to see movement, eg in MBFR. A

decision was also needed whether to maintain or modify the proposed

challenge procedure on CW. Problems of verification remained. Was it practical to require each side to give the other the right to go

anywhere to inspect on request? Overall, the UK's twin aims were to give a new impetus to the various arms control negotiations, while ensuring that existing agreements remained valid particularly the

unratified SALT Treaty and the ABM Treaty.

EUREKA (Mr Hare (ESSD) joined the meeting)

12. Mr Brunner and the PUS agreed that it was not yet possible to grasp the practicalities of EUREKA Mr Brunner said that the Swiss would like to see a small, provisional secretariat as a coordinating point. They agreed with the UK that the programme should be led by

private enterprise, and wished to ensure that small firms eg Swiss firms participating in the ARIANE space project from small

states would have as much access as the multinationals. There was

no question of Swiss public funding. Mr Brunner and two colleagues (Sommaruga and Hochstrasser) in Berne were handling the Swiss

interest.

-

13. The PUS said that British firms were showing greater interest in European industrial cooperation, including the EUREKA

discussions. Mr Braithwaite (DUS Economic), who handled EUREKA in

the FCO, would be glad to discuss further with the Swiss bilaterally

or in the margins of a multilateral meeting. Mr Brunner welcomed

this, and said that the Swiss would certainly attend the London

meeting on EUREKA financing. There was no objection to involving

CONFIDENTIAL