QUESTION
Prime Minister, you are about to attend your first economic summit Conference, now what do you see as the major problems facing you and the other world leaders in Tokyo?
MARGARET THATCHER
Well at the moment there's one obvious major problem which is the whole oil supply situation and that is undoubtedly going to dominate the Tokyo conference as it rather dominated Strasbourg last week and then you get a sharp entry … . increase in a major raw material of the kind we're seeing now. Of course that is one of the main problems that we have to consider, and particularly with oil, it enters into the cost of almost everything else and you know we have to pay more for one commodity it means you have less to spend on the rest and so it has a harmful effect on other world trade, it's what undoubtedly will be the main thing.
QUESTION
One of the decisions you took at Strasbourg was to freeze oil imports over the next five years to the 1978 level, is that the kind of thing you will be advocating in Tokyo at the end of the week?
MRS. THATCHER
I think more important that trying to have specific targets—because you know they can be a bit thrown off course by a cold winter or by one country which has expanded its output a little bit more than another—more than having its specific targets I think its absolutely vitally important to show a determination to keep down demand and to cut down demand then it will show the OPEC countries that we're not going to put extra pressure on the limited resources. [end p1]
Now there are several ways you can do it, I think most was in our own home—cut it down because we have to anyway because it's so jolly expensive but as far as the public sector's concerned one just has to say that it isn't wasted at all for the standard heating is not over and above what we really need to be comfortable. All of those things can make just a marginal difference to the demand of all of us so it is vital to express a clear determined resolve on the part of each nations that we cut down our demands, and that will be the best thing we can do.
QUESTION
And as well of course as cutting the demand there is the question, can you persuade the OPEC countries for example to increase their production step up production there, is this something which you'll be discussing in Tokyo and trying to bring to bear in the …
MRS. THATCHER
I think we all know that the shortage in fact is less than 5%; at the moment and we're all trying after all to economise by 5%; so that we bring supply and demand into equilibrium, er, but I think there are one or two countries without very much harm to their long term interests could step up demand at the moment if they wished. If we do our part about cutting down we hope that some of them will manage just to keep the supply sufficient not to push up the price even more.
QUESTION
Er, there does seem to be the, er, prospect Mrs. Thatcher of a world recession … it does seem to be growing and it also tends to be something that economists are getting more and more gloomy about … now you're a committed optimist, will you be able to make any headway in Tokyo do you think towards tackling this problem? [end p2]
MRS. THATCHER
Do you know I think I'm a committed realist I suppose in a way I'm an optimist too because there's not much point in being in politics unless you think you can help to shape and influence things for the better a bit. I think rather than talk about gloomy recessions I think it's better to say that we shall not have the prospect of growing and improving our standard of living which we had expected to have and the reason is very obvious—if you have to pay so much more for one raw material and oil is a vital raw material you haven't very much left to pay for others, and so therefore you can't buy goods from elsewhere, so in that sense the outlook for growth is very poor indeed. I think that's rather different from talking about a great big world recession because you know there's still people who think in terms of recession as the kind of recession which hit the world in the 1930's which is totally different from anything we've known in the post-war period. Even when we've called it a recession, so yes you do get trade cycles even in the post-war period but they're nothing like as damaging as those we saw in the pre-war period because I think we've learned to handle and manage our affairs a bit better. We've managed to do it on a multinational scale and not only on a national scale.
QUESTION
So in that sense you are fairly optimistic?
MRS. THATCHER
In that sense I don't think we should be too pessimistic, let me put it that way.
QUESTION
The dialogue, Prime Minister between the developed and the developing world has particular problems for Britain I think because of the situation perhaps in Southern Africa, now will Britain be able to take a full part in the discussions on [end p3] relations with developing countries at this summit?
MRS. THATCHER
Oh but of course, of course. Er, we have so much experience of trying to help and cope with developing countries, and after all our technical co-operation programme is excellent, and a very effective one and I used to be a Minister of Education for years … we specialised in taking so many people into our colleges and universities and polytechnics, er, to give them both not only technical subjects but to give them higher education of all kinds. That enables them to go back to their own countries and to teach others so we're pretty, em, experienced in doing that, and we have been pretty helpful in it. When it comes really to helping the developing countries you know the most damaging thing to their interests would be a sharp increase in the price of oil, and the OPEC countries really ought to take this into account in what they're doing this week. Because those countries need oil in fact to get their development under way, and they'll never be able to get it under way if they have to pay such a high price for it where they can't afford it from exports of other goods and raw material, so that really goes right back into the court of the OPEC countries and they mustn't just pass it on to the industrialised countries who themselves will also be in difficulty.
QUESTION
You are particularly concerned Prime Minister about the plight of the South East Asia refugees the boat people now what should this summit be doing to try and solve this problem? [end p4]
MRS. THATCHER
Two things. First we'll try to do everything we can to bring pressure to bear on Vietnam not to act in this cold callous way as to try to get people to leave having taken all their currency and possessions from them and then just cast off in boats and not knowing what's going to happen to them. That is a cold callous uncivilised country that's doing and behaving … doing those things … behaving in that way … and we shall try to bring the pressure of international public opinion to bear on them. Secondly refugees from that kind of tyranny really must be able to look to the free world to help them, no one country can do it, in Hong Kong the total goes up almost every week we've got about 55,000 people there … . in other countries have them too and Thailand has a tremendous problem, so the only way is to try and get together internationally to see what we can do about it, there's a staging camps and ultimately to try and settle them, but still we must remember we've got to bring pressure to bear on Vietnam and other countries who are behaving in that way, otherwise as soon as we try to deal with this wave of refugees they'll turn out another, and that would be terrible.
QUESTION
So what sort of pressure are you thinking of //TWO VOICES
MRS. THATCHER
No no you can only try to bring international pressure to bear upon them by acting together.
QUESTION
The summit itself Prime Minister, in the past er some people say that the results of summit conferences have tended to be philosophical rather than practical how do you feel it might be improved, do you think [end p5]
MRS. THATCHER
No, I've been one of the people who've been very critical of some of the communiques that come out of summits I mean sometimes they are full of pious platitudes and I hope to goodness we shall do less of that and em do one or two more practical things, I think there have been times when one or two more general ideas have come out of a summit which really have been of immense practical value. For example the one that we had in London made a quite clear declaration that the world should not go generally protectionist. Now that was because I think all countries recognised that if we were to do that the effect would be accumulative, one country might be all right at first but then another country would restrict its trade and then a third, and in the end it would make us all poorer, but the fact that everyone met together and made that statement did have an effect upon the behaviour of each of the individual countries and did manage to keep world trade greater than it would have been otherwise, that I think is a specific example. This one I think can have an effect on the energy situation both in the short term and in the longer term because we just can't sit back and say well there's going to be enough oil to last for ever, we have to recognise that we must make provision for alternative sources of supply and seriously have a bigger look at nuclear than we are now.
QUESTION
Finally Prime Minister as this is your first visit to Japan as Prime Minister are you looking forward to it?
MRS. THATCHER
Yes I'm looking forward to it, em it's pretty intensive and of course jet lag is an awful nuisance when you're going at the last minute and going straight into talks and negotiations, but we'll cope … . we'll cope all right. Thank you.
QUESTION
Thank you very much indeed.
Q
Prime Minister, can you tell us why you've chosen to visit Australia so soon after your election?
MRS. THATCHER
Well as you … because I'm very well aware that not a lot of Prime Ministers have visited Australia and I thought I would like to show the closeness of the ties between our two countries, that I do give it pretty high priority, so that's the first reason. Second Mr. Malcolm Fraser isn't at the Tokyo summit, and I thought it might help him to hear just exactly what went on from someone who was there rather than just ordinarily from the public pronouncements, and thirdly there are really quite a lot of problems to discuss and again I thought it would be very useful if he and I could have a talk before we went to the Commonwealth conference at Lusaka. That's three very good reasons.
QUESTION
When you say about the problems to discuss are you talking about the special relationship … the former special relationship between Britain and Australia which some people say ended when Britain joined the Common Market?
MRS. THATCHER
Oh no I don't think it did it is just a … it is just a special relationship it's there, er I mean there just are close ties between this country and Australia you don't need to explain them, they're there, and it would be quite silly to try to act as if they weren't there. They're also with New Zealand for the same reason.
QUESTION
So what sort of problems will you specifically be discussing with Mr. Fraser which are common to both Britain and Australia? [end p6]
MRS. THATCHER
Specifically? Well on the Commonwealth of course we will need to discuss one or two things about the future of Rhodesia er and the relationship between some of the other Commonwealth countries and countries like Australia and Britain. There is a very big energy problem which affects Australia and ourselves, er there is the problem of things that are happening in Vietnam now, and also there's the general world economy, because it's very difficult for any country to thrive and prosper at a time when world trade is not expanding, and it's not going to expand very fast if the price of oil goes up very sharply.
QUESTION
So you will be, as it were, at a mini-summit with Mr. Fraser?
MRS. THATCHER
A mini-summit—I suppose that's quite a good way to describe it.
QUESTION
Thank you very much indeed.