To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he intends to meet the United States Secretary of State to discuss short-range nuclear weapons.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs met Mr. Baker and other NATO colleagues at the North Atlantic Council meeting held at Turnberry on 7 and 8 June. NATO agreed at that meeting that negotiations on United States and Soviet short-range nuclear weapons systems in Europe should begin shortly after a CFE agreement is concluded.We shall continue to be in close touch with the United States on this subject in preparation for the NATO summit in London from 4 to 6 July.