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Written Answers
Common Land
10 JUNE 1993
Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement of his policy in relation to common land.
Mr. Yeo [holding answer 8 June 1993]: It remains our policy to safeguard the status of common land and to strengthen the ways in which we protect and use it. We recognise that this policy requires legislation but I cannot say when such legislation will be introduced.
NATIONAL FINANCE
Drugs and Arms
Mr. Ainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what direct involvement Her Majesty's Customs has had in the three discoveries of cannabis on a location off the west Wales coast over the last three weeks; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what action he proposes to take to increase surveillance to prevent importation of drugs and arms on the west Wales coast.
Sir John Cope: The bales of cannabis were trawled from the seabed by a fishing vessel and the master promptly and correctly notified Customs on each occasion. Customs subsequently took possession of the cannabis when the trawler returned to port at Milford Haven.
Customs are constantly vigilant to prevent the importation of both drugs and arms on the west Wales coast as elsewhere and they deploy anti-smuggling teams, based at Swansea and Pembroke dock, to meet the assessed risk of such smuggling.
The Customs strategy in relation to anti-smuggling controls is based on flexible targeting of resources towards areas of the highest risk at any given time.
Debt Reduction
Mr. Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his policy on the United States proposal to join the international consensus on debt reduction on Trinidad terms.
Mr. Nelson: The Government very much welcome the announcement by the United States Administration that it is seeking congressional approval for measures to enable the United States to join the Paris Club consensus for the implementation of debt reduction on Trinidad terms for the poorest and most indebted countries.
Debt reduction on Trinidad terms was originally proposed by the Prime Minister in 1990.
A modified version of the Prime Minister's Trinidad terms proposals, implemented by the Paris Club from December 1991, provide for 50 per cent. reduction in the debt payments due over a period of between one and three years. They also provide for consideration of the question of the country's whole stock of debt after three to four years, subject to satisfactory performance under IMF programmes.
Approval of the legislation and necessary appropria- tion measures by Congress should allow the United States to give the 50 per cent. debt or debt service reduction under the Trinidad terms as presently implemented. The United States proposal should also allow the United States to participate in a Paris Club stock of debt reduction.
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Written Answers
292
If the United States is able to implement Trinidad terms this is good news. It implies full international consensus at the Paris Club in favour of debt reduction. Moreover this should also facilitate in due course progress on other key objectives of the United Kingdom's strategy for official debt.
The Government would like the present Trinidad terms improved so that they conform more closely to the proposals that my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major) actually put forward in Trinidad in 1990. In particular, we would like to see:
an increase in the rate of relief in excess of 50 per cent. on a case-by-case basis. For some countries, relief of up to 80 per cent. might be justified;
where a debtor has a good track record of performance under IMF programmes, immediate stock of debt relief should be given. There should be no need to have to wait three to four years.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
Hong Kong
Sir Thomas Arnold: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the progress of the Sino-British talks on the future of Hong Kong.
Mr. Hurd: There have now been four rounds of talks between Britain and China about electoral arrangements in Hong Kong. We have the responsibility to ensure that the elections to be held in 1994 and 1995 are fair, open and acceptable to the people of Hong Kong. There should also be objective criteria for confirmation of members of the 1995 Legislative Council as members of the first legislature of the Hong Kong special administrative region in 1997. We are working hard for a successful outcome from the talks. But we also need to ensure that the elections are held on time. The talks will therefore need to be brought to a conclusion in good time to allow the practical arrangements for the elections to be made; they cannot go on indefinitely. We must make more progress.
Serbia
Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to discuss recent political events in Serbia with the Federal Yugoslav representative in London; and if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's view of recent develop- ments in the Yugoslav Federation.
Mr. Douglas Hogg: None. Recent developments in Belgrade were discussed at the EC General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 8 and 9 June. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and his European colleagues condemned the repression evident in Serbia, in particular the physical abuse of the opposition leader, Mr. Draskovic and his wife, and the moves to ban opposition parties.
Latvia
Mr. Wareing: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Latvian Foreign Minister about the development of democracy in that country and the position of the ethnic Russian minority; and if he will make a statement.
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