TNAG-2110-FCO40-3009-Hong-Kong-participation-in-international-organisations-1990 — Page 142

CODE

18-77

Reference

Fio tel no

415

☺ -

J

Lt Col Hughes

Sec Pol Dept

OPEN SKIES : AREA OF APPLICATION

(ar 22/23 Fes!)

~

а

DZM084/91

600

3 0 MAR 1990

1. After the meeting in Mr Lever's office on Wednesday 14 March, we discussed how the present Open Skies text could be changed so as to ensure that it could apply to those of our dependent territories which we wish the Regime to cover, while avoiding any damaging dispute, for example pain over Gibraltar.

2. I would note that Mr Berman asked whether any other parties to the Treaty might have similar territorial disputes with other parties, and I will be interested to hear the results of any research you are unable to undertake on that point.

3. The draft Open Skies Treaty deals with the question of the area to which the Treaty applies in Article II.17, and in Annex B, the "draft Territory Annex". Article II.17 provides that :

"The term "Territory" means the geographic area for each party that is described in the territory Annex".

That provision causes no problem. The difficulties arise from Annex B which, as well as defining the geographic areas of each party for the purposes of the Treaty, is, according to the present draft, to list points of entry and exit, air routes into and out of each party, refuelling air fields etc. The principal problem will be that our listing of entry and exit points in respect of Gibraltar may irritate the Spanish, but it is also possible that the Cypriots may be unhappy if we purport to grant permission to overfly the SAS, without reference to them. We will need to discuss this latter point further with the MOD.

4.

The question of the description of the geographic area of the UK for the purposes of the treaty is probably relatively easy to deal with. All that is necessary is some language along the lines of:-

"This Treaty will apply to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and to all territories in Europe, [the Americas], and [Asia] for the international relations of which the United Kingdom is responsible."

(You will wish to check that whatever language we use does cover all the right dependent territories.) We would then

IM3AEW