Canada to Raise Issue of Visa Fees with Soviet Officials at Un, in Moscow

Mitchell Sharp, Secretary of State for External Affairs, has given assurances that he will raise with Soviet diplomats at the United Nations General Assembly the issue of the high exit fees imposed on Soviet Jewish intellectuals. In a letter to Sol Kanee, president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Sharp said he planned to meet with the Soviet officials, including possibly Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, with whom he intends to discuss the matter. Gromyko is scheduled to address the General Assembly next Tuesday.

Sharp wrote to Kanee that he had instructed the Canadian ambassador to the Soviet Union “to follow the matter closely.” He added that the Soviet action was “bound to be seen” as an obstacle to better international relations while at the same time the Soviet was seeking improvement in those relations. He said he hoped that such considerations would cause the Soviet government “to reconsider its decision.”

Sharp said the protocol on consultations signed by Canada and the Soviet Union in 1971 “provides a framework for raising issues like this.” He added that “the next meeting under the protocol will probably take place between me and the Soviet Foreign Minister in New York towards the end of this month. I intend to make representations to Mr. Gromyko on this matter at the time,” he wrote, adding, “there may be other occasions at the forthcoming session of the General Assembly when a discussion on this subject will be appropriate.”