asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has now taken the necessary steps to ratify the Lomé Convention; and if he can yet say when it is hoped to bring it into effect.

No. The text of the convention will be laid before Parliament as the first step in the United Kingdom's ratification process, as soon as possible. It is our intention that it should be accompanied, for the convenience of Parliament, by a number of Community internal agreements some of which have not yet been concluded, but which we also have to ratify; and other relevant documents. It is not possible to give a firm date by which the necessary constitutional processes in the other signatory States will have been completed. The trade provisions of the convention were implemented administratively on 1st July.