Northern (N): General (N). Liberalisation of Trade With Eastern Europe

A file of correspondence and reports concerning a tour of the Soviet satellite states by Edward du Cann, the British Minister of State at the Board of Trade. The documents include a series of reports prepared for du Cann by the Foreign Office, analysing recent social, political, and economic developments in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria, each noting that du Cann will be the first British minister to visit the satellites. The documents also discuss the question of whether return visits to Britain by government ministers from the satellites should be organised; and the British government's intention to liberalise the trade controls currently imposed on goods imported from the satellites as a means of increasing Britain's trade with the bloc. Other documents comment on wider economic developments within the Soviet bloc; and the state of Britain's relations with each of the Soviet satellite states.