§ 2. Mr. Juddasked the Minister of Overseas Development what studies he is initiating on the relevance of overseas aid, development and trade policies to the economic wellbeing of Great Britain and on the relative merits of multilateral and bilateral programmes; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. OramIt is one of my right hon. Friend's responsibilities to keep under review all aspects of overseas development. In doing that, he, naturally, takes into account the economic effects of aid giving in this country as well as in the recipient countries.
§ Mr. JuddDoes my hon. Friend agree that there are a lot of misleading attitudes here about the cost of aid? Is it not a fact that we do quite well out of aid programmes, and ought we not to hear more about this? Second, if we are to avoid fragmentation of the economies of the developing countries, are not multilateral programmes of growing importance?
§ Mr. OramI agree with both parts of my hon. Friend's supplementary question. There are mutual benefits, for both donors and recipients, in aid giving, and we are very keen on multilateral modes of aid giving.