Interviewer
Mrs Thatcher, what kind of opportunities are there in the Soviet Union for British firms?
Prime Minister
Very considerable. The Ukraine has enormous potential—that is where we are now—and we have had our exhibition here and many many firms have come to show what they can do. A number of them are signing up Joint Ventures. I think this is one of the places to be because the Ukraine has many raw materials, it is really one of the food bowls of the world and we have been specialising in food processing and some of the exhibits this morning included both a lot of computers and also a lot of pharmaceuticals.
Now we have had quite an invasion of British here, a very friendly invasion, and they are very pleased to see us. There is a very good market here and I would like to think that Britain was active in coming here. Germany is already active, Italy, and we must [end p1] be well up front too.
Interviewer
What can the British government do to help emerging UK firms that are interested in the Soviet market?
Prime Minister
As you know, our Embassy is always ready to help, we keep Commercial people there and they are on the look-out for business and they are always ready to help, I hope. Businessmen will come to them and see and they will receive that help. And then of course we look at the credit position to see if we can cover it through ECGD.
So the Embassy are as active as they can be, but in the end it is up to the people themselves to make the decision to come. And we try to do as much as we can to run courses to tell them about the background. It is not very easy in the Soviet Union because so many things are nationalised, they know that does not work and since things are changing. And I think this is a very critical time because the question is whether they are really going to get the change in attitudes which will be necessary for the breakthrough which they are expecting. Certainly here they have got it and certainly in a number of other places.
Interviewer
Do you think that the Soviet citizens can afford our goods? [end p2]
Prime Minister
The Soviet citizens have a lot of Roubles, they are not, alas, convertible. But you see it is not only the kind of consumer goods that we are coming for. They have, for example, this problem: about 40 per cent of the food they grow never gets to market because it goes bad in storage or it goes bad in transit. Now here we have an exhibition which shows them about food processing, you cannot get your food to market, you have got to turn it into something which will store well. It may be you can it, it may be you jam it, it may be that you turn it into some kind of tinned foodstuff and then you can store it. And then there is another firm at the moment which is doing a study of telling them precisely how to get it to market.
Well, that is very practical because we are very good at food processing and I think we are very good at distribution. So that is something where we can really help the Ukrainian people. Pharmaceuticals we also can too and with hospital equipment. So they will buy these things because it is necessary to enable them to make better use of the tremendous raw materials that they have.
Interviewer
Is Britain lagging behind other wealthy nations in exploiting this new Soviet market?
Prime Minister
Well, I am glad to see quite a lot of people here. We have had big firms like Courtaulds and ICI who have been here for a very long time, and some others. But now the opportunities are opening out. But what they want to be sure of is that they are not tied up [end p3] by so much bureaucracy that they cannot get their raw materials and components through. And also, if they go into a Joint Venture say with a Soviet company and our side are providing some things and the Soviet company is agreeing to find other components, they perhaps are not so used to working as efficiently as we are and I have had complaints that the Soviet components have been so much behind that sometimes they have had to consider whether they should come out. But then I am afraid usually I or the Foreign Office or the Department of Trade usually gets word through to the Soviet government to say: “Look, we shall not be able to carry on if it goes on like this.”
Perhaps it is not surprising. For years, people's way of showing they were against communism was not to work too hard because everything was owned by the state and they were not paid any better if they worked hard. Now it is very different, the attitude has to change and they must look to their own hard work for their standard of living and look to delivering things on time if they are going to get more orders.
But you can see it is quite a change round in attitude but it is happening so I think it is much better now.
Interviewer
Turning to the media, what role can British television play in cementing better bonds between Britain and the Soviet Union?
Prime Minister
Oh tremendous, certainly by showing our best, and on television we really have some of the best I think in the world. [end p4]
And secondly, we do some very good films in conjunction, for example, with the Open University which explains for people, for example, how the free enterprise system works. They do not know about costing, they do not know about accounting, they have been told what to make, where to get their raw materials from. They have no idea how much anything costs, they just do as they are told.
You also, I think, can show them what kind of basic legal system it is necessary to have for companies and for people and for health and safety. I think there really is a great demand for this basic general knowledge, it is more than general knowledge, it is a combination of general and specialised, it is the kind of thing which we take for granted because we have known it for so many years. But they do not know about it and I think it would help.
But otherwise, just show the very best quality you produce, whether it is in music, whether it is in the arts, whether it is in documentaries, whether it is in some of the marvellous drama that you do—the very best.
Interviewer
Central has established a creative association, links between the media in the USSR and Britain. What other roles can media, television and radio play in cementing these bonds between the two countries?
Prime Minister
I wonder if you could do anything for young people to young people. Young people are passionately interested in the whole of the new electronic industries, and that of course includes all the [end p5] arts these days are electronic. You know, you go to a recording studio and all the backing is done electronically and it just may be that we could bring some young people over to show them how it is done and then help them back here.
Young people are going to come into a totally different world and it is changing very rapidly. So much of the equipment that you have, for example, any computer firm has, most electronic firms have, gets out of date very quickly and therefore you are again ideally situated to do small films of explanation about this.
But I am a great believer in people to people. Do not necessarily explain only, just bring them over to see and to meet other people and in the new world I think we should encourage all contacts and television is worldwide. I know full well now that the televising of the House of Commons is shown all over the world and so they will come up to you and say: “Look, we have seen you and what is it like?”
So you really, by being worldwide, are helping us to make contacts. But they judge Britain by what you show.
Interviewer
You did mention that British television is among the best, if not the best, but some of it is very controversial. Would you want to have the controversial documentaries transmitted in the Soviet Union to show the panoply of opinions we have?
Prime Minister
I think that we should have to obviously trust you to exercise your judgment. If you show the best, I think you are much [end p6] much more likely to want to have other people striving for the best. It is a period when I think there is a tremendous reaching out and the longing for a better quality in everything and an understanding that if you want to have a better quality of life, that a lot depends upon people themselves not accepting lesser quality. But also they know that if you want to build a city that you are proud of, you have got to build it on the basis of the family, you have got to build it on the basis of living by certain rules. Of course there are always exceptions, but the standard of the city and the quality of its life depends upon living up to certain things and certain standards being accepted by the overwhelming majority.
Now that does not mean you do not have a terrifically good time. Yes you do, as a matter of fact you have a much better time if your streets are free of litter and graffiti and you can walk about without fear of crime at night. That is what good standards mean, that is what quality of life means.
Interviewer
Finally, Prime Minister, is the Cold War over?
Prime Minister
I believe the Cold War is over, I said that over two years ago in Washington when they looked at me really rather in astonishment and I said that I believed that President Gorbachev has brought about the end of the Cold War because his is a vision of a totally different society for this country, not one command is dominated and dictated to by government, but one where government tries to set a framework of enlarging freedom and justice because they have not had [end p7] a rule of law here, they have only had the dictate of government; enlarging freedom and justice for people themselves to live a better life and to create a better life for themselves.
So long as that continues, and I am certain that it will so long as Mr Gorbachev is there, and now there are many many people urging him to go even faster, so long as that continues, then the Cold War is over.