asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he is satisfied that the safeguards proposed for the Banabans can be made permanently binding on the Government of the new State of Kiribati.

My right hon. Friend is confident that the Kiribati Government will honour their constitutional commitments which include the entrenchment, with a Banaban right of veto, of the provisions relating to Banaba. In addition, the Gilbert Islands Government have expressed their readiness to discuss a treaty with Fiji to safeguard the rights in these provisions.