HC Deb 26 June 1978 vol 952 cc1030-3
38. Mr. Forman

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what steps her Department has taken to promote international agreement on debt relief for the poorest developing countries.

43. Mr. Tim Renton

asked the Minister of Overseas Development what consideration her Department is now giving to questions of, first, the Common Fund and, secondly, relief of debt of the poorest developing countries.

The Minister of State for Overseas Development (Mrs. Judith Hart)

I expect to announce within the next month how we intend to fulfil the commitment we reached internationally in Geneva last March to seek to adjust the terms of past aid loans, or take other equivalent measures, to benefit the poorest countries.

I think the United Kingdom made a valuable contribution to the promotion of international agreement at the Geneva UNCTAD conference, which I attended. Since then, we have co-operated in further work within OECD.

The Government's policy towards the Common Fund takes full account of my Department's views. Questions on this are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade.

Mr. Forman

With regard to the writing-off of official overseas debt, may I ask whether the Minister has given serious consideration to the United Kingdom acting unilaterally if necessary in this matter, as Canada, Sweden and Holland have done? Does the right hon. Lady accept that she would be better employed directing her attention to these urgent questions than to the sort of subjects she raised in her recent speech in Rome when she talked about extending the concept of intervention and planning from the national to the international level, which is just useless?

Mrs. Hart

The hon. Gentleman is not perhaps aware that I cover a great many points in a great many speeches. That was one speech which I regarded as being very effective. The hon. Gentleman will know that the action taken by Canada, Switzerland and Sweden has been taken as their contribution to the Conference for International Economic Co-operation Special Action to which we are contributing $115 million through IDA. There is no question of our not acting unilaterally on this matter. We wish that all developed countries would act in this way. We do not have to bear in mind precisely the way in which they are acting to make our decisions.

Mr. Renton

Will the right hon. Lady tell the House what she means when she says that discussions on the Common Fund are taking full account of her Department's views? Does she not agree that negotiations on this and other commitments made by Commonwealth Heads of Government, following the Paris North-South talks last June, have ground to a faltering halt?

Mrs. Hart

No, I would not agree at all that they have ground to a faltering halt. When I say that my Department is fully involved in all these discussions, I mean—without revealing anything that I should not reveal—that several Departments are involved in discussions on this matter, although, of course, the Department of Trade is in the lead. There are indications—I think that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade would agree—of grounds for optimism in believing that it may be possible to resolve some of the problems, or that at least we may be able to move further forward in the next two or three months on the basis of the discussions which are taking place.

Mr. James Johnson

Will my right hon. Friend take special note of the unusual and almost unique position of the Sudan in this connection? Is she aware that this is a nation of 18 million to 20 million people whose annual income per head is possibly $90, and yet 30 per cent. of any loans they get is earmarked to pay interest on the debt accumulated by the Sudan? Does my right hon. Friend agree that this is a stable society in North Africa?

Mrs. Hart

I am sure that my hon. Friend will be glad to know that the position is quite clear. We regard this as an aid measure. We regard it as logical that those countries which have in the past received loans from us—and which therefore are due to repay both capital and interest—but which now receive grants from us could be entitled to retrospective adjustment of the terms. In any country, whether it is the Sudan or any other, what will matter is whether the country is now in receipt of grants from us and has been in receipt of loans in the past.

Mr. Goodhew

Will the right hon. Lady tell the House whether she has had international agreement to Item 39, Overseas Aid Class 11.8, in the Supply Estimates, which was a grant of £50,000 to the Trades Union Congress? Will she tell us what it was in aid of?

Mrs. Hart

I think that a separate Question on that would be called for, if I may say so. There is quite a lot of information to be given to the House about it.

Mr. MacFarquhar

Will my right hon. Friend ensure that in any discussions internationally on debt relief or other aid matters to the poorest countries she is in the fullest possible consultation with the Japanese Government? Will she inform them that, while we welcome their recent decision to double official development assistance in three years rather than five, we hope that it will be on the lines that Mr. McNamara indicated in Tokyo? In particular, will she try to direct Japanese aid efforts to South Asia, where some of the poorest countries are situated?

Mrs. Hart

I had the opportunity of discussions with the Foreign Minister of Japan when he was here about a month ago, and we discussed these matters in some substance and detail. I hope very much—and particularly in relation to the Summit Meeting in Bonn shortly—that we shall find that the Japanese are very ready to play a full part in the reinvigoration of the economies of the developing countries as a part of the contribution towards ending the world recession. This is absolutely crucial.

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