Interviewer
Prime Minister, you have effectively set a degree of conditionality for Soviet aid but aides to President Gorbachev have made clear that pre-conditions for Western assistance would not be acceptable in Moscow.
Prime Minister
Well, I hope Mikhail Gorbachevhe will look very carefully at the communique. The Soviet Union is already very deeply in debt and we do not wish to add to that debt unless it is possible to target the help we give on specific projects which can be of very real benefit. Each of us has a line of credit, I think, to the Soviet Union, we have had for trade for a long time, in our case that is not fully drawn upon, so they are in no difficulty about ordering things if they wish to do so. But when we act together we wish it to be of long-term benefit to the Soviet Union, something real like helping them with food processing or helping them with transport or helping them to get their produce to market. And therefore we have asked the IMF and World Bank etc to look to see how best we can help. [end p1]
Interviewer
Aides to President Gorbachev have made very clear they will not accept conditionality, they will not accept pre-conditions, have you done that today?
Prime Minister
There have been certain conditions, namely that the IMF goes in and sees what in fact can help. And also the United States and others are very concerned that the Soviet Union reduces the considerable proportion of its income that goes to military aid and that it reduces the help that it gives to places like Cuba, because it gives considerable help to those, and naturally some people feel that we should not be asked to give extra help if they are already spending a considerable amount of money on those things.
I hope they will look at the communique in the spirit in which it was intended, we are all of us there great supporters of Mr Gorbachev and what he is doing, but we remember that it is our tax-payers' money which we are risking in putting over there to help him and we want to know that it will really help and not just be another load of debt round his neck which future generations would have to repay. So I hope he will look at it as a whole, and I am sure he will.
Interviewer
On the contentious issue of agricultural subsidies, the language of the communique could be considered rather vague, have you really begun to remove the resistance in Europe and Japan to abolishing food export subsidies? [end p2]
Prime Minister
Yes we have all agreed that there must be a reduction in agricultural support. There is no possibility in the coming few years of going down to nil, the amount of help that is given is very considerable both in the States and in Japan and in the European Community. In our own case we feel very strongly about it because our family farms are larger in size than many of those on the mainland of Europe and we feel that too much help perhaps is given to some of the farms which may not be as efficient producers as our family farms are. So I think that what we have agreed would be very much in line with what our own farmers would wish to see because they could produce more more competitively.
Interviewer
But you have set no deadline for this, is it not something of a fudge which all the countries can avoid?
Prime Minister
No it is not a fudge. There was something called the de Zeeuw Report which, as its name indicates, was a report by a very competent Dutchman, which said two things: first, that you must get down the total agricultural support because it is very considerable and of course puts up the cost of food if it is not produced competitively; and second, you must do it in a way which gets down the export subsidies because if you are subsidising exports you are just knocking out the chance of other people to export their goods to lands which would otherwise buy them. [end p3]
It is a good result, it is a quite telling result, we could not have done this in the Common Agricultural Policy alone, we had to get the three groups together that we were each going to do it. Agriculture will become more competitive because it will be much more difficult to stay in as a high cost producer. And the more competitive farms, and I think that will be most of ours, will benefit.
Interviewer
Finally, on the environment have you really secured a commitment from the United States that they agree that there is now beginning to be compelling evidence on global warming?
Prime Minister
We all agree that we must take some action on global warming, the science is not wholly worked out yet and we shall know more within fifteen years, but we do know that far many more greenhouse gases, because of man's activity, are going into the world's atmosphere and we believe will contribute to global warming. We cannot wait for the final results and we must take action. It is not only on carbon dioxide emissions, it is also other greenhouse gases, methane is even more damaging, there is water vapour, there are also the chlorofluorocarbons which have a damaging effect and the nitrus oxides and of course there is the formation of clouds and so on.
But we agree that we must embark on a global climate convention and we must take the necessary precautions now. [end p4]
Interviewer
Have you convinced Mr Bush on this issue now?
Prime Minister
Yes indeed, George Bushhe has signed up to the communique.