§ 24. Mr. Juddasked the Minister of Overseas Development what has been the value of the British aid programme in East Pakistan, and what has been its value in West Pakistan in each of the past five years.
§ Mrs. HartI am publishing details of the allocations of new bilateral project aid in each of the five United Kingdom financial years from 1965–66 in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
New commitments of non-project aid which have totalled £22.8 million in the last five years are not separately allocated to East and West Pakistan, but the bulk of this aid has been for commodities such as fertilisers, industrial and pharmaceutical chemicals, agricultural equipment, tractors, machinery and spare parts of various kinds which have been used in both East and West Pakistan.
§ Mr. JuddI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does she agree that when the immediate life and death issues of East Pakistan are taken into account, it will be found that some of our economic involvement in West Pakistan has been of rather marginal significance and that there is an important priority to change the balance between them?
§ Mrs. HartI certainly agree that we should try to ensure, as far as we can —indeed, this is what we do—that a reasonable balance is maintained in the use of British bilateral aid. During the third development plan of Pakistan—that is, in the last five years—East Pakistan has had an increased share of public development expenditure, but it has lagged considerably behind West Pakistan in private investment. However, we know that the Pakistan Government have every intention of diminishing the disparities.
§ Following is the information:
| East Pakistan | |
| £million | |
| 1965–66 | 3.4 |
| 1966–67 | 2.1 |
| 1967–68 | 2.1 |
| 1968–69 | 1 |
| 1969–70 | .4 |
| 9 |
| West Pakistan | |
| £ million | |
| 1965–66 | .4 |
| 1966–67 | 1.9 |
| 1967–68 | 1.6 |
| 1968–69 | 2.5 |
| 1969–70 | 3.6 |
| 10 |