§ Mr. Hicksasked the Minister of Overseas Development what was the total amount of overseas aid given by the EEC, in addition to that allocated by individual member Governments, before the United Kingdom became a member; and what are the equivalent figures for 1973 and 1974, respectively.
§ Mrs. HartAccording to the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, Community development assistance totaled 213 million units of account in 1972. One unit of account equals approximately US $1. On the best available information to date we believe this figure rose to approximately 282 million units of account in 1973.
Complete figures for 1974 are not available, but the 1974 Community budget included 334 million units of account for regular development assistance and a subsequent 125 million units of account towards the United Nations 453W emergency measures. A substantial proportion of these sums will have been disbursed in 1974, together with approximately 180 million units of account disbursed from the first three European Development Funds.
§ Mr. Hicksasked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will give details of the arrangements made by the EEC since January 1973 to assist the developing countries on a medium- and long-term basis; and if she will list those individual developing countries which have EEC development aid since 1973 on a bilateral basis, giving details of the amount of aid and type of project assisted.
§ Mrs. HartNo comprehensive statement at present exists which lists the recipients of the various kinds of Community aid. Copies of the Commission's most recent papers on overall development policy have been placed in the Library; details of food aid agreements are published in the European Community's series of command papers; and details of the Community's general preferences are published annually by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. As I told the House on 3rd February, I shall make arrangements for the text of the newly signed Lomé Convention to be made available to it at the earliest possible date, and I shall supplement this with copies of the Commission's detailed publications on the first three European Development Funds.
The Community's contributions to the UN emergency measures are being distributed to about 20 developing countries, including India as a major recipient. Disbursements under the Community's Additional Financial Protocol with Turkey will only begin when ratification is complete. Agreements with other Mediterranean developing countries are still under negotiation.
Official Development Assistance Other Official Flows Private Flows Total Flows Country Year £m. Per cent. of GNP £m. Per cent. of GNP £m. Per cent. of GNP £m. Per cent. of GNP Austria … … 1970 84 05.9 3 0.02 77 0.54 164 1.15 1971 83 0.53 4 0.03 130 0.83 218 1.38 1972 107 0.59 2 0.01 70 0.38 178 0.98 1973 117 0.44 1 0.00 27 0.10 144 0.55