On 16 August 1979, the Secretary-General of Western European Union (WEU) circulates a draft reply from the United Kingdom delegation to Assembly Recommendation 329 on the industrial bases of European security. The Council recognises the need to determine priority areas for defence equipment cooperation and standardisation. However, this work is already being carried out within NATO’s Conference of National Armaments Directors and the independent European Programme Group (IEPG), which are also working on the harmonisation of procurement procedures wherever this is possible. Joint projects have taken several forms, and the various stakeholders are fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages of different cooperative structures. The establishment of permanent industrial consortia may be an effective means of undertaking collaborative armaments projects. The Council believes that both the framework necessary to encourage cooperation and the structure required for decision-making already exist. The focus should therefore be on developing specific projects rather than devising new structures or methodology.