§ 33. 33. Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what efforts are being made to increase the real prices of commodities from the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. [37867]
§ Mr. HanleyExperience has shown that attempts to ignore market forces and increase commodity prices artificially are doomed to failure. Instead, Britain has been helping African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to increase their overall export earnings by advocating trade liberalisation and providing aid to encourage export diversification.
§ Mr. CorbynDoes the Minister accept that his reply will be disappointing to those who are suffering the effects of structural adjustment programmes? They have been forced to liberalise their economies to export more goods for less profit and often lower local domestic production and consumption. Does he recognise that the way out of poverty for many people in the world is for farmers to be paid decently and properly for their products without the profits being creamed off by banks and manufacturing organisations in the west?
§ Mr. HanleyAs I said, experience has shown that attempts to ignore market forces usually fail. International commodity agreements have failed to achieve real price rises over a sustained period. Some attempts have been costly failures. The International Tin Council left debts of £183 million and when the international coffee agreement collapsed, the consequent sharp decline in prices had an adverse effect on producing countries. Therefore, intervention in commodity prices has not proved effective in reducing poverty.