§ Mr. Skeetasked the Minister for Overseas Development what was the total of United Kingdom aid, including technical aid, granted to the Sudan in each of the past five years and the amount actually committed to projects; and if he will list the projects which have benefited from British aid in the same period.
§ Mr. PrenticeTotal disbursements of United Kingdom aid in the past five financial years, with an estimate of disbursements for the current financial year, are as follows:
£ 1970–71 381,000 1971–72 723,000 1972–73 749,000 1973–74 705,000 1974–75 1,596,000 1975–76 5,057,000 The following are the major projects approved in the last five years, together with the amounts of United Kingdom aid committed to them:
638W
£ Road from Wad Medani to Kosti 9,049,000 Irrigation pumps, Northern Province 3,144,000 Rural development, South Darfur 839,000
£ Grain stores, Southern Region 700,000 Dam gates and dredger, Sennar 630,000 Anti-rinderpest campaign 520,000 Landing system, Khartoum Airport 247,000 There have been over 100 other smaller projects approved, nearly all financed from our technical assistance programme.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Minister for Overseas Development to what extent British public funds in the last three years have contributed to (a) agricultural development, (b) communications and (c) manufacturing in the Sudan.
§ Mr. PrenticeOur aid programme to the Sudan has given priority to the development of natural resources and communications. As the hon. Member will see from my answer to his preceding Question, all the major projects approved in recent years have been in these sectors. We have not assisted at all in the manufacturing sector; opportunities in this sector are limited, and we consider that natural resources and communications should continue to have priority for the use of our funds.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Minister for Overseas Development if he will compare the total aid granted by the United Kingdom to the Sudan in the past year with that derived from other EEC countries.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe last year for which figures produced by OECD are available is 1974. The amounts disbursed in that year were as follows, in millions of $:
Belgium 0.04 Denmark 0.39 Germany 22.41 Italy 0.18 Netherlands 4.52 United Kingdom 2.71 EEC multilateral aid 2.62 Total 32.89