asked the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development if he will give details of the protocol signed on 23rd April for the prolongation of the 1959 Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement for a further period of five years, indicating the commodities to which it relates; and if he will make a statement on the effects on British imports from and exports to Russia the agreement has had from 1959 up to the most recent convenient date, with particular reference to trade with Scotland.

The protocol extends without change the 1959 Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement which provides a general framework within which all Anglo-Soviet trade takes place. I propose to publish the text of the protocol as a White Paper. Between 1959 and 1963 United Kingdom imports from Russia increased by 44 per cent. and exports to Russia by 102 per cent. Many Scottish firms shared in this trade.

Is the Minister aware of the peculiar fact that Russian ships come regularly to Aberdeen to discharge cargoes there and go away empty, thereby wasting manpower, ships and fuel? Will he look into this anomaly and rectify it?

The ships could easily go away full if the Soviet Government would buy more goods from Scotland and Aberdeen with which to fill them.

I recognise that there is room for imports and exports to increase by ten times, but will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that we buy twice as much from the Soviet Union as they buy from us? Will he press them to buy more consumer goods and so provide more work for our own people?

In the recent negotiations we not only renewed the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, but I received assurances from the Soviet Government that the imbalance existing in our trade will now be reduced.