§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list, for each of the past five years(a) the total amount spent by the UN on crop substitution programmes in Afghanistan and (b) the amount contributed each year by the United Kingdom. [47848]
§ Mr. Tony LloydWe have been unable to obtain the information on UN expenditure. Projects run by UNDCP in Afghanistan have included preparatory work for crop substitution, but the UN has not recorded this expenditure separately.
The UK contributed £900,000 to the overall UNDCP programme in Afghanistan in 1997. This did include preparatory work on a poppy crop substitution module.
§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what monitoring is being undertaken to ensure that money given to Afghanistan for crop substitution programmes is actually spent on those programmes; and if he will make a statement. [47847]
§ Mr. Tony LloydThe UK contributes directly to the pilot projects operated by the UN Drug Control Programme in Afghanistan, and initiated a donor monitoring mission in Afghanistan in November 1997. FCO and DFID officials took part. We continuously monitor the development and implementation of UNDCP's programme through our Posts in Vienna and Islamabad. In May the UK hosted the Afghanistan Donor 165W Support Group meeting which endorsed the full integration of drug control assistance into the UN's aid programme.