§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the findings of the independent evaluation of the Asia and Latin America Committee of the European Union's project "Sustainable Development in the Paraguayan Chaco (PRODECHACO)", and whether they will take steps to ensure that the conditions originally stipulated regarding the settlement of indigenous peoples' land claims are fully satisfied before this project goes ahead. [HL2421]
§ Baroness AmosThe evaluation report of the EU PRODECHACO project has yet to be distributed by the Commission, which received the final version of the report on 7 May. The report will be presented to member states at the May meeting of Asia and Latin America (ALA) Committee and discussion on the20WA findings of the report will be held at the subsequent ALA Committee in June.
The UK attaches importance to the four conditions originally stipulated when the project was approved in September 1994 (particularly that relating to the settlement of land claims) and the UK was successful in obtaining an agreement that there should be an evaluation report on the status of land claims. The UK will seek to ensure that the Commission respects the conditionalities of the PRODECHACO project.