§ Mrs. GillanTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to her oral answer of 16 December 1998,Official Report, column 954, on 426W Zimbabwe, when the review of the Government's overall relationship with Zimbabwe was announced; what are the terms of reference of the review; what progress has been made; what plans she has to publish its conclusions; and if she will make a statement. [66488]
§ Clare ShortAs I said in my letter of 14 January 1999, I am not quite sure how to make the position any clearer than I did in the House on 16 December. I had hoped that the hon. Lady would by now understand the process in which my Department is currently engaged.
Since this Government's creation of the Department for International Development and publication of the White Paper on International Development, we have been engaged in a process of consulting and reviewing our country strategies across the world, to bring them into line with the new principles, policies and objectives contained in the White Paper. As part of this process, we are reviewing our Zimbabwe strategy, as I mentioned in my answer to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) on 16 December 1998. Some of the new strategies have already been published, and the new Zimbabwe strategy will be published in early 1999. This will help to make clear the differences between our approach and that of the previous Administration.
I have already explained to the House that our policy in Zimbabwe will be based on eliminating poverty, partly by promoting a transparent and poverty-focused approach to land reforms. We have also made this clear to the Government of Zimbabwe. We are not reviewing that policy: it has been clear since we formed our Government.