§ Mr. Tom ClarkeTo ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Watford of 19 June 2002,Official Report, column 268, what proposals he will be putting to the forthcoming G8 summit at Kananaskis that would increase access for exports from sub-Saharan Africa to OECD countries; and how much these measures would generate in terms of increased exports from sub-Saharan Africa in each year. [64367]
§ The Prime MinisterThe G8 summit is taking place in Kananaskis tomorrow and Thursday. The UK has put forward proposals for Africa on trade as part of a larger package of commitments on conflict, education, health, development assistance and debt. G8 members are committed to the objective of duty-free and quota-free access for all products originating from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the World Trade Organisation Doha Ministerial in November 2001. The UK sees it as imperative to move forward on integrating LDCs into the multilateral trading system and ensure they can harness the benefits of trade for poverty reduction. The forthcoming G8 summit in Kananaskis offers the opportunity to take forward these issues. The European Commission has estimated that developing country gains from a 50 per cent. cut in tariffs by both developed and developing countries would be in the order of $150 billion, around three times current aid flows.