HC Deb 28 January 1994 vol 236 cc466-8W
Mr. Janner

. To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Israel.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 1 December 1993,Official Report, column 534.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Iran.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We apply the following criteria in considering applications for the export of licensable goods to Iran:

  1. (i) With two exceptions we should not approve licences for any goods or technology on the military or atomic energy lists—schedule 1. part 3, group 1 and 2—of the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1992, as amended. The exceptions are:
    2. 467
  2. (a) goods essential for the safety of civil aircraft and air traffic control systems;
  3. (b) radioactive material in the form of sources for medical equipment and deuterium labelled compounds for medical use.
    1. (ii) We should not approve licences for any equipment—including the exceptions to the complete ban mentioned above—where there was knowledge or reason to suspect that it would go to a military end-user or be used for military purposes.

Existing export licenses, approved under the old guidelines, will remain valid. As my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade announced in his written reply to the hon. Member for Croydon, Central (Sir P. Beresford) on 18 January 1994, Official Report, column 509, an exception has been made in one case to date. We shall support efforts among supplier countries, in particular the G7 and our European partners, to promote a harmonised approach to effective controls on the export of dual use goods to countries of particular concern.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Syria.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We do not sell arms to Syria.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Kuwait.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We consider applications for the export of arms to Kuwait on a case by case basis. We refuse applications for exports which in our view would not be consistent with our established criteria, including the common criteria for arms transfers agreed with European Union partners at Luxembourg in 1991 and at Lisbon in 1992, the guidelines agreed by the Permanent Five in London in 1991 and the principles governing conventional arms transfers adopted by the forum for security co-operation of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe in November 1993.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We consider applications for the export of arms to Saudi Arabia on a case-by-case basis. We refuse applications for exports which in our view would not be consistent with our established criteria, including the common criteria for arms transfers agreed with European Union partners at Luxembourg in 1991 and at Lisbon in 1992, the guidelines agreed by the permanent five in London in 1991 and the principles governing conventional arms transfers adopted by the forum for security co-operation of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe in November 1993.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Jordan.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We consider applications for the export of arms to Jordan on a case by case basis. We refuse applications for exports which in our view would riot be consistent with our established criteria, including the common criteria for arms transfers agreed with European Union partners at Luxembourg in 1991 and at Lisbon in 1992, the guidelines agreed by the permanent five in London in 1991 and the principles governing conventional arms transfers adopted by the forum for security co-operation of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe in November 1993.

Mr. Janner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the Government's policy regarding arms exports to Egypt.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

We consider applications for the export of arms to Egypt on a case by case basis. We refuse applications for exports which in our view would not be consistent with our established criteria, including the common criteria for arms transfers agreed with European Union partners at Luxembourg in 1991 and at Lisbon in 1992, the guidelines agreed by the Permanent five in London in 1991 and the principles governing conventional arms transfers adopted by the forum for security co-operation of the conference on security and co-operation in Europe in November 1993.

Forward to