Summit talk ‘will top the agenda’

Press, 10 November 1983, Page 6

Summit talk ‘will top the agenda’

PA Wellington The proposed new Bretton Woods summit would be the main item on the agenda when Commonwealth heads of government met in New Delhi this month, said the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, yesterday. Mr Muldoon- also told Parliament that he believed his formula for discussions leading to the summit would overcome the objections of the main stumbling block, the United States. Hie trade and payments issues involved divided themselves into a series of questions which could conveniently be addressed by working parties before a full plenary conference, he said.

“I have suggested that these working parties be of 22 members on the same basis as the interim committee and the executive board of the International

Monetary Fund and World Bank,” said Mr Muldoon. “Major economic powers have a single voice and the smaller countries are grouped, one member representing the group.” Mr Muldoon said he had found this approach persuasive in discussions with representatives of the United States Administration and other major countries. The New Delhi conference chairman, Mrs Indira Gandhi, had circulated material on the suggested approach to all Com- ■ monwealth heads of govern-.;? ment. Mr Muldoon also said he believed that if the “preparatory period” went beyond the American presidential election next year the Administration “might well feel it could take part.” He was answering questions by Mr lan McLean (Nat., Tarawera).