§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III on the immediate fulfilment of United Nations aid targets.
§ Mr. WoodThe Government have accepted the target of total net financial flows to developing countries of 1 per cent. of gross national product. The target for the terms of official aid endorsed by the United Nations is that of the Development Assistance Committee. The official aid programme is within this.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III towards the extension of multinational rather than bilateral aid.
§ Mr. WoodWithin the growing aid programme the Government plan some increase in both multilateral and bilateral aid.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III 235W towards the provision of loans on easier terms.
§ Mr. WoodThe Government will try to encourage the acceptance of the need for soft terms in aid loans, appropriate to the circumstances of the individual recipient countries. The loans provided by Britain are already on easier terms than the average of those of other donors, and Her Majesty's Government do not propose to act alone.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III towards the increased untying of aid.
§ Mr. WoodThe Government will maintain their support for the general principle that aid should be untied. It believes that action must be taken by all major donors on a joint and reciprocal basis. Her Majesty's Government will examine with other donors the possibilities of easing procurement restrictions on this basis.
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III towards the linking of special drawing rights to development finance.
(2) whether he will make a statement on the proposals which Her Majesty's Government will be submitting to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III on the need for supplementary and compensatory financing schemes to assist the less developed countries.
§ Mr. WoodI would refer the hon. Gentleman to my reply to the hon. Member for East Ham, South (Mr. Oram) on 14th February.—[Vol. 831, c. 24–5.]
§ Mr. Juddasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the policy which Her Majesty's Government will adopt at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development III to- 236W wards increased regional co-operation between developing countries.
§ Mr. WoodIn general Her Majesty's Government welcome such co-operation, and stand by the comprehensive declaration of support for such schemes which Britain and other developed countries made at U.N.C.T.A.D. II.