Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Aid has been increasing modestly over the past few years. From the year before last to last year it was increased. We hope to meet the problems that Belize has by retaining in part, in the defence area, a resident training programme of about 100 men and a substantial aid programme. The aid represents a large sum per head—it is £30 per capita. We are already helping with the Southern...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My hon. Friend is right. Our aid programme is one of the finest in the world. It is targeted to the poorest nations and it has proved extremely effective. It has often been commented on by international agencies when comparing one country's aid programme with another.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Judgments concerning human rights are based on assessments of individual country circumstances. Those are judged in the light of universal and internationally agreed standards.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I know that the hon. Gentleman takes an interest in Chinese affairs and is a member of the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs. The view that he expresses are very much out of line with those of the Select Committee, which in its report suggested that it was only right that we should continue to have a relationship with China. The principles of aid have to take into account not only human...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My right hon. Friend raises the most dreadful and barbaric tragedy in the world at this moment. He will be aware that we have announced emergency relief aid worth £3.3 million in the past few weeks. I have no doubt that further consideration to other assistance will be given in due course.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: As I have said, every country must be considered on a case-by-case basis. We make our concerns about human rights very clearly known in Indonesia. However, there are attempts to improve the situation and Indonesia has a terrific record of relieving poverty. The incidence of poverty in 1970 was 60 per cent. and that was reduced to 15 per cent. in 1990. Aid for what is still a relatively poor...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Most certainly we recognise that terrible aspect of what is already a terrible problem. We are responding to the appeal of President Museveni by giving assistance to the Save the Children Fund, which is working with the Lutheran World Service to clear and to bury the bodies on the north-western shores of Lake Victoria.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My hon. Friend will be aware that Britain was foremost in initiating the Trinidad terms for debt relief and that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer, did so in 1990. Twenty-two countries have benefited, 17 in Africa. However, that debt relief is based on criteria which have been carefully worked out to help the poorest nations, not the...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Discussions in the European Union Council of Development Ministers, including the meeting held on 6 May, regularly cover the issues of aid volume and aid policy.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The important thing for the hon. Gentleman to bear in mind is that in the past eight years our aid volumes have increased by 10 per cent. in real terms, that 80 per cent. of the aid is targeted to the poorest countries and that there is a substantial amount of private investment from Britain in the poor world—half of the European Community total of overseas investment, about £1.7 billion...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Yes, my hon. Friend is quite right. We play a leading role in aid co-ordination in the European Community and are great supporters of the Horizon 2000 initiative, which promotes co-ordination at all levels between member states. Several of our leading officials are seconded to the European Community to help the community to determine its aid budget priorities.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The Overseas Development Administration recently helped establish a new network known as the British Non-Governmental Organisations for Development, or by the acronym BOND. We expect this to be an effective mechanism for non-governmental organisations to share information with the Government on how to improve the impact of overseas aid.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Yes, I am happy to confirm what my hon. Friend says. She is also absolutely right to say that the joint funding scheme is extremely well thought of in the Overseas Development Administration. It has nearly doubled in the past five years and in the current year we plan to increase its funding by 14 per cent.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Every non-governmental organisation employee in Rwanda who wished to be evacuated has been. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is about to answer the next question on precisely that subject.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: We have provided more than £93 million in balance of payments support for Uganda's economic recovery programme since 1987, which has helped to ease the debt-servicing burden. We have also forgiven all Uganda's old aid debt to the United Kingdom.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: My hon. Friend is right. The Prime Minister was responsible for the Trinidad terms which have given enormous relief to many countries, including Uganda. We very much hope that Japan will join any Paris club consensus for improving the existing terms. I should add that Japan implements the existing Trinidad terms with other creditors and has made clear that it has a commitment to help...
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: The fact is that Uganda is projected, over the years 1993–94 to 1995–96, to receive US $744 million from the World bank's special programme for Africa.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: All projects are subject to environmental assessment according to the guidelines and procedures set out in the Overseas Development Administration manual of environmental appraisal.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: Yes. Sustainable development is a central aim of the aid programme in all that it does. Environmental impact assessments are always conducted before any aid project is undertaken. Indeed, I should also add that many aid projects are designed to improve the environment. For example, forestry conservation and management projects improve the environment.
Mr Mark Lennox-Boyd: I welcome this opportunity to respond to the comments on Somalia by the hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington). I congratulate him on making himself a considerable expert on the subject and I also congratulate the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael), who has been an established expert on the subject for some years. I am glad to see that the people of...
