§ Mr. Ivan HendersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many ministerial visits were made to Rwanda between 1979 and 1997; and how many have been made since 1997. [52224]
§ Mr. MacShaneInformation on how may ministerial visits were made to Rwanda between 1979 and 1995 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
However, from 1995 when the British embassy in Rwanda opened there have been 11 ministerial visits to Rwanda. The majority of ministerial visits have been made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (seven). She has visited Rwanda every year since 1997 and twice in 2002.Baroness Chalker visited in August 1996. My hon. Friend the Member for Manchester. Central, then Minister of State in the FCO, visited Rwanda twice in 1998 and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Rwanda with his French counterpart, Hubert Vedrine, in January 2002.