Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The Department for International Trade has announced on Friday 10 July further details of the new Trade and Agriculture Commission which has been set up to act as an advisory board to my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade. The Commission will be chaired by Tim Smith, former director of FSA, and will have a fixed term of six months to consider trade policies that...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: HM Government is clear that trade does not have to come at the expense of our values. Our focus at the current time is negotiating Free Trade Agreements with the United States of America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand; alongside considering accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). We do not currently have plans to negotiate a free...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, the short answer to that Question is no. The Government were required by the court judgment to retake their licensing decisions; they have now done so in a way that reflects the judgment. The Government take their export responsibilities seriously and assess all export licences in accordance with strict licensing criteria. We will not issue any export licences where to do so would...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: First of all, I utterly condemn the reprehensible killing of Mr Khashoggi. The UK and Saudi Arabia have a long-standing bilateral relationship based on a number of pillars, including trade, defence, security, energy and shared concern about regional issues. Saudi Arabia is a major political and economic power in the Middle East, and its position as home to the cities of Makkah and Medina give...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The assessment of whether an incident created a possible breach or serious violation of international humanitarian law is a complex matter. In order to review that, we were required to draw on all available sources of information, including some that were—I am sure noble Lords will understand this—necessarily confidential and sensitive. We are therefore not able to go into the details of...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: We indeed have assessed that there were a small number of incidents that have been treated, for the purposes of the analysis, as violations of IHL. However, these were isolated incidents that did not display any particular pattern, and our analysis shows that Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with IHL in the specific commitments that it has made.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: I think my noble friend will understand that this is of course a complex matter. It was very important that, this time, we got it right. Developing a revised methodology and applying the enhanced IHL analysis to recorded allegations across the conflict is not a straightforward task. It was vital that the Government got this right first time, with a comprehensive assessment process that was...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The noble and gallant Lord makes a good point. As I have said previously, we have examined all the incidents and are satisfied that these were isolated incidents that did not display any particular pattern. Our analysis shows that Saudi Arabia has a genuine intent and the capacity to comply with IHL.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: I do not believe that they are, but in order to give the noble Lord a completely accurate answer to his question, I will write to him.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The assessments we make are very much our own assessments, led by specialist people who are expert in these matters. We draw on information from a number of sources, including but not confined to the Saudis, and a whole range of material is considered in coming to our view of what the appropriate assessment of a particular incident should be.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: As I have said previously, the assessments draw on a number of sources, some of which are necessarily confidential and sensitive. However, I have heard the question clearly and I will write to my noble friend with the information she is seeking.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The noble Lord raises a matter I am personally very familiar with, having myself experienced as a businessman the Saudis’ propensity not to pay on time. I fear that the only quick advice I can give him, slightly lightheartedly, is persistence with them. I normally find that persistence pays off. More seriously, our embassy in Riyadh is always willing to help British exporters in this...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Both personally and as a Minister I remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation in Yemen. I think it is important that we continue to work with all parties to find a political solution to the conflict. This will help create the conditions for the legitimate Government to improve their capacity to protect human rights. Yemen is a human rights priority country for the UK.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: First, I acknowledge the noble Lord’s obvious deeply felt concern about this matter. The UK and Saudi have a long-standing bilateral relationship based on a number of pillars, including trade, defence, security, energy and shared concern about regional issues. Matters are changing in Saudi Arabia. We have seen progress on social reforms under Saudi Vision 2030. For example, the Saudi...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The second round of negotiations for a UK-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) took place from 15-26 June 2020. A Written Ministerial Statement was published on Tuesday 30 June, updating parliament on the outcomes of the round. Talks continued to be positive and constructive, with progress being made towards a comprehensive agreement. Discussions spanned the majority of areas covered by an FTA,...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The Ministerial Forum for Trade last met on 22nd April 2020. It has been convened twice since it was established in January of this year and will meet again in the coming weeks. The Forum is chaired by my Hon Friend, the Minister of State for Trade Policy, and membership comprises Ministerial representatives from each Devolved Administration and UK Government Territorial Offices. The forum...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Project DEFEND is working to help Britain become more resilient and ensure that more diverse supply chains are put in place to allow the continued flow of essential items and avoid shortages in future. We are analysing critical supply chains and identifying countries with a high level of supply chain influence, in order that we can help strengthen Britain’s supply chain resilience. Our...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Arms exports require an export licence. As outlined in my response to the Noble Lord on 22 June, UIN:HL5414, HM Government publishes Official Statistics (on a quarterly and annual basis) about export licences granted, refused and revoked to all destinations on GOV.UK, including those for exports to the Middle East. These reports contain information including the overall value, type (e.g....
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, coronavirus has highlighted the importance of access to critical goods. Having a diverse and reliable pool of suppliers is clearly in our interest, whether from a security, sustainability or value-for-money perspective. The Henry Jackson Society report makes a useful contribution as we consider resilience in our supply chains. We are supporting businesses to diversify supply chains...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The noble Lord makes some strong points. My department is considering import dependency and will continue to analyse imports, including from China, to determine whether the UK is particularly reliant on certain of our trading relationships. Project Defend is looking at our trading relationships with a range of international partners. It will analyse critical supply chains for a range of...