On 23 September 1981, at the 582nd meeting of the Council of Western European Union (WEU), Sir Ewen Fergusson, Assistant Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, discusses the recent visit to Moscow by a British delegation. On the matter of the reduction in long-range Soviet missiles deployed in the western regions of the USSR, the British Government continues to hold the view that the Soviet offers should be rejected. The latest proposal, made in December 1979, required that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) drop its plans for the deployment of Cruise and Pershing missiles but excluded Soviet SS-20 missiles, which could be targeted on Western Europe from the east of the USSR. On the question of the geographical zone of application of a future conference on disarmament in Europe, the USSR has proposed extending the zone to the air space and the sea and ocean regions adjacent to Europe. French ambassador Emmanuel de Margerie welcomes this exchange on major topical issues which he believes demonstrates WEU’s usefulness and vitality.