§ Lord Campbell-Savoursasked Her Majesty's Government:
On how many occasions in the last month the British ambassador in Doha has raised the issue of A1-Jazeera operations with representatives of the state of Qatar.
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)My Lords, Her Majesty's ambassador in Doha has regular meetings with both the Qatari Foreign Minister and the Director of European and American Affairs at the Qatari Foreign Ministry. The issue of A1-Jazeera was raised during the month in question. My right honourable friend the Deputy Prime Minister and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ben Bradshaw, also discussed A1-Jazeera with the Qatari Foreign Minister during his recent visit to the United Kingdom.
§ Lord Campbell-SavoursMy Lords, I thank my noble friend. That was an excellent Answer. I could not have written a better Answer myself. It will be greatly welcomed by all those people in the United Kingdom who look forward to an A1-Jazeera English language service. Can my noble friend impress upon Ministers in the Government the need to utilise the services of A1-Jazeera when they want to get a message over to people in the Arab world?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that pleasant little bouquet. We should not naturally assume that there will be English language translations of A1-Jazeera, but I do believe that the positive contribution A1-Jazeera has made to encouraging free debate on political and social issues in the Middle East is considerable. Of course we welcome the opportunities for United Kingdom Ministers to present their message directly to an Arab audience. My right honourable friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have done so. Indeed, I did so myself only yesterday when discussing business opportunities for women in the Arab world.