EMBARGO: 4.00 A. M.
THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER 1974
ijAUSTRA1 IA
PRDME MINISTER PRESS STATEMENT NO. 388
28 November 1974
PRIME MINISTER'S VISIT TO EUROPE
The Prime Minister, Mr. Whitlam, announced today that
arrangements were being finalised for him to visit a number of
European countries over a period of five weeks in December and
January. Leaving Australia on 14 December, Mr. Whitlan would visit
Belgium, Britain and Ireland before Christmas, and thereafter he
hoped to visit Malta, Greece, the Netherlands, France, Italy,
Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany.
In Brussels he would call on the European Commission. He proposed
to take the opportunity afforded by overnight stops to and from
Europe to have discussions with the Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka
and Bangladesh. He will also have a brief meeting in Islamabad.
with President Bhutto of Pakistan, on his return flight from
Europe. Recalling that his previously planned visit to Europe
in the past northern summer ( June/ July) had had to be deferred
because of the elections in May, Mr. Whitlam stated that he regarded
the visit as of sufficient importance to be undertaken at the
earliest convenient opportunity. His absence from Australia
would coincide with a period when Parliament was in recess.
The visit would represent a major step forward in
establishing or expanding relationships at the highest level
of Government between Australia and the countries of Europe.
Consultations at the Head of Government level are essential
to the establishment of a basic understanding and framework
within which mutual interests can be identified and pursued.
It is important that the nations of Europe fully appreciate
the development of Australia's foreign policy since 1972,
particularly countries with wqhich Australia has such major trading
relationships and important migration and cultural ties.
The visit will help make up for neglect by previous Governments
and provide opportunities for improved relationships in the future.
Mr. Whitlam said no previous Australian Prime Minister
had paid an official visit to-Italy, Yugoslavia or the Soviet
Union. The last Australian Prime Minister to pay an official
visit to Europe had been Sir Robert Menzies, more than a decade
ago.
The intervening years had seen developments in Europe
of enormous significance, not only for the Continent itself,
but also for relationships between the major powers and for
countries like Australia which had traditional economic,
commercial and cultural ties with many European countries. It
was not widely appreciated, perhaps, that the European Community
was Australia's second largest market for exports after Japan
and the largest source of Australia's imports. Important
financial and commercial interests had been built~ up between
Australia and Europe. Mr Whitlam noted that his visit to the
European Commission will be the first by an Australian Prime
Minister since the Community's formation.
Western Europe had moved towards a degree of political
and economic integration that made it an entity of major
importance with which Australia needed to develop and deepen
a whole range of contacts. The countries of the Western world,
of which Australia was one, were working to solve unprecedented
economic and financial problems. The Soviet Union, one of the
two Super Powers, was a part of Europe and its policies were of
crucial importance to the development of the continent in peace
and security. Mr Whitlam said he believed a visit by an
Australian Head of Government would give particular stress to
our recognition of the importance Europe had for Australia i~ n an
increasingly interdependent world. Amongst the matters he would
discuss in Europe would be the food and energy situations which
had the widest implications for the achievement of a world
order based on equity and stability.
A particular aspect of his itinerary which would give
him great pleasure, and to which he wished to draw attention,
concerned his visits to countries, other than Britain~ from which
large numbers of migrants had settled in Australia in the postwar
years. These countries included Italy, Greece, Malta and
Yugoslavia. He would make a point in conveying to leaders of
government in these countries Australia's gratitude for the
contribution which their migrants had made to the economic and
cultural development of Australia.
His visit to Greece would be the first by a Head of
Government since the restoration of democracy in that country.
The visits to Moscow and Paris will mean that the
Australian Prime Minister, having previously exchanged views
with the leaders of the United States, Britain and China, will
have met the leaders of the five nuclear powers and permanent
members of the Security Council. In seeking such contacts in
Europe, Mr Whitlam said, he would have as a further objective
to build with the leaders of modern Europe the same close
relationships as he had developed with national leaders in
Asia and North America.
In summary, Mr. Whitlam said the visits were important
because of Europe's position as Australia's largest trading
partner; its significance as a source of international finance
and its crucial position in the world monetary system; its
advanced technological situation, particularly in emergy matters;
and its significance as a source of migrants and of culture for
Australia. In view of the importance of the visits, Mr. Lionel
Bowen, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Special
Minister of State, will travel with Mr. Whitlam. Mr. Whitlam
will use a Qantas charter aircraft and will be accompanied by
his wife, members of his personal staff and representatives
of government departments with a prime interest in the visit,
including the Secretaries of the Departments of Minerals and
Energy and of Overseas Trade, and Deputy Secretaries of the
Department of Foreign Affairs and of the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet, and a senior Treasury official.
CANBERRA, A. C. T.