asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a statement about the part played by the United Kingdom in the European conference for satellite communications.

The United Kingdom played a leading part within the Conference in securing European participation in the commercial global communications satellite system, to be set up under the Interim Agreements signed at Washington on the 20th August, 1964. A report by the technical planning staff of the Conference on ways in which Europe could acquire its own capability in communications satellites technology is under study by the committees of the Conference and by member governments.